Quarry Street Pty Ltd v Minister Administering the Crown Land Management Act 2016 [2023] NSWLEC 62

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Quarry Street Pty Ltd v Minister Administering the Crown Land Management Act 2016 [2023] NSWLEC 62 Hearing dates: 17 May 2023 Date of orders: 9 June 2023 Decision date: 09 June 2023 Jurisdiction: Class 4 Before: Preston CJ Decision: The Court orders: (1) The proceedings are dismissed. (2) The applicant is to pay the respondents' costs of the proceedings. Catchwords: Judicial review – Aboriginal land claim – Minister's decision to grant claim - claimable Crown lands - whether land claimed was lawfully used or occupied – land leased and subleased – whether sublessee's use of land lawful – whether Minister misconstrued statutory provision or lease in deciding use not lawful – lessee's submissions objecting to land claim – whether Minister owed lessee procedural fairness to consider submissions – whether Minister shown to have failed to do so Legislation Cited: Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) ss 36(1), 36(5) Cases Cited: Annetts v McCann (1990) 170 CLR 596; [1990] HCA 57 Avon Downs Pty Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1949) 78 CLR 353; [1949] HCA 26 Board of New South Wales v Osmond (1986) 159 CLR 656; [1986] HCA 7 City of Ryde Council v State of New South Wales (2019) 242 LGERA 211; [2019] NSWLEC 47 Council of the City of Newcastle v Royal Newcastle Hospital (1957) 96 CLR 493; [1957] HCA 15 Dranichnikov v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2003) 77 ALJR 1088; [2003] HCA 26 Plaintiff M1/2021 v Minister of Home Affairs (2022) 96 ALJR 497; [2022] HCA 17 Probuild Constructions (Aust) Pty Ltd v Shade Systems Pty Ltd (2018) 264 CLR 1; [2018] HCA 4 Ryde Municipal Council v Macquarie University (1978) 139 CLR 633; [1978] HCA 58 Stambe v Minister for Health (2019) 270 FCR 173; [2019] FCA 43 Wingfoot Australian Partners Pty Ltd v Kocak (2013) 252 CLR 480; [2013] HCA 43 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Quarry Street Pty Ltd (Applicant) Minister Administering the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (First Respondent) La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council (Second Respondent) New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (Third Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr C Lenehen SC and Ms R Graycar (Applicant) Ms Z Heger and Ms C Akthar (First Respondent) Mr M Wright SC (Second and Third Respondents)