Mangadha v Commissioner for Fair Trading [2021] NSWCATOD 55

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Mangadha v Commissioner for Fair Trading [2021] NSWCATOD 55 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 7 May 2021 Decision date: 07 May 2021 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: N S Isenberg RFD, Senior Member Decision: (1) The application in respect of the Mutual Recognition Act Decision is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. (2) The applications in respect of the Home Building Decisions are dismissed pursuant to s 55(1)(b) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 as the proceedings are misconceived and lacking in substance. Catchwords: JURISDICTION - Mutual Recognition (New South Wales) Act 1992 - extent of Tribunal's jurisdiction – continuation of proceedings misconceived and lacking in substance when substantive reasons for application no longer apply. Legislation Cited: Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth). Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW) Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) Mutual Recognition (New South Wales) Act 1992 (NSW) Cases Cited: Nil Texts Cited: Nil Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Josphat Mangadha (Applicant) Commissioner for Fair Trading (Respondent) Representation: Applicant (Self-Represented) Department of Customer Service (Respondent) File Number(s): 2021/00002545 Publication restriction: Nil

Reasons for decision

Background 1. On 20 October 2020 the applicant in these proceedings, Mr Josphat Mangadha, applied to NSW Fair Trading (Fair Trading), pursuant to the Mutual Recognition (Wales New South Wales) Act 1992 (MR Act) for an individual contractor licence in New South Wales in the categories of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning on the basis that he then held a current license certificate registration for that category of residential building work in another Australian state or territory, namely Western Australia. Mr Mangadha, included with his application a certified copy of his Refrigeration and Air Conditioning licence issued by the Government of Western Australia. 2. On 3 November 2020 Fair Trading informed Mr Mangadha by an emailed letter that his application had been refused (Mutual Recognition Act Decision). The reason given by Fair Trading was, in summary, that although the MR Act allowed an individual holding a current occupational license or registration in one state or territory to be issued with a comparable license or registration in another state or territory, s 23(1)(c) of the MR Act effectively provided that New South Wales could refuse an application if it decided that there was no equivalent licence in New South Wales to the licence Mr Mangadha held in Western Australia. 3. The letter informed Mr Mangadha, that if he disagreed with Fair Trading's decision he could apply, within 28 days from notification of the Mutual Recognition Act Decision, to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a review of that decision. The letter also stated "For further information please contact the Administrative Appeals Tribunal call 1800 228 333 or access the following link http://www.aat.gov.au/contact-us". Attached to the letter was an excerpt of sections 19, 21, 23 and 34 of the MR Act. 4. Also on 3 November 2020, Mr Mangadha applied to Fair Trading for an individual contractor's licence in the categories of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning under the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) (the Licence). Mr Mangadha's application was rejected by Fair Trading by letter dated 2 December 2020 (the Home Building Act Decision). Mr Mangadha then sought an internal review by Fair Trading of the contractor licence application. On 23 December Fair Trading, by letter affirmed the rejection of 2 December (the Home Building Review Decision). 5. By application dated 30 December 2020, filed 4 January 2021, (the Tribunal Application) Mr Mangadha applied to the Tribunal for administrative review of the Mutual Recognition Decision, the Home Building Act Decision and the Home Building Review Decision. Mr Mangadha claimed "There is too many inconsistencies and inaccuracies in all the decisions that I would like addressed."