Blue Sky Capital Ventures Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Lake Macquarie [2007] NSWLEC 790

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Blue Sky Capital Ventures Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Lake Macquarie [2007] NSWLEC 790

APPLICANT Blue Sky Capital Ventures Pty Ltd PARTIES : RESPONDENT Council of the City of Lake Macquarie

FILE NUMBER(S) : 10261 of 2007

CORAM: Pain J

KEY ISSUES: Appeal :- s56A appeal - whether error of law because of breach of procedural fairness - whether Commissioner denied procedural fairness in refusing leave to cross examine single expert - whether directing single expert to meet with a party's expert in absence of other party amounts to a breach of procedural fairness - whether reasonable apprehension of bias - whether Commissioner erred in law in conducting process called "voir dire"

Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 s 79C Evidence Act 1995 s 189 LEGISLATION CITED: Land and Environment Court Act 1979 s 56A Land and Environment Court Rules 1996 Pt 1 r 5A Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 sch 7

Ainsworth v Criminal Justice Commission (1992) 175 CLR 564; Annetts v McCann (1990) 170 CLR 596; Attorney General of the State of New South Wales v Quin (1990) 170 CLR 1; Australian Postal Corporation v Hayes (1989) 87 ALR 283; Blue Sky Capital Ventures Pty Limited v Council of the City of Lake Macquarie [2007] NSWLEC 507; Brown v Commissioner of Taxation (2001) 119 FCR 269; Burwood Municipal Council v Harvey (1995) 86 LGERA 389; Bushell v Secretary of State for the Environment [1981] AC 75; Campbelltown City Council v Toth (2004) LGERA 336; Carstens v Pittwater Council (1999) 111 LGERA 1; Concrete Pty Limited v Parramatta Design & Developments Pty Ltd (2006) 81 ALJR 352; CASES CITED: Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (2000) 205 CLR 337; GPI Leisure Corp Ltd v Herdsman Investments Pty Ltd (No 3) (1990) 20 NSWLR 15; Hill v Green (1999) 48 NSWLR 161 ; Kioa v West (1985) 159 CLR 550; Kira Holdings Pty Ltd v Liverpool City Council (2004) 132 LGERA 97; Lovell v Lovell (1950) 81 CLR 513; House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499; Micallef v ICI Australia Operations Pty Limited [2001] NSWCA 274; R v Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (1980) 144 CLR 13; Ramsay v Australian Postal Commission (2005) 147 FCR 39; Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Ex Parte Lam (2003) 214 CLR 1; Segal v Waverley Council (2005) 64 NSWLR 177