Shellharbour City Council v Minister for Local Government (No 2)

Land and Environment Court New South Wales Amendment notes Medium Neutral Citation: Shellharbour City Council v Minister for Local Government (No 2) [2016] NSWLEC 119 Hearing dates:2 and 9 June 2016, further written submissions filed 24 June 2016Date of orders: 20 September 2016 Decision date: 20 September 2016 Jurisdiction:Class 4Before: Moore J Decision: See orders at [120] Catchwords: JUDICIAL REVIEW – proposal for amalgamation of local government areas – Minister’s referral of proposal to Departmental Chief Executive for examination and report– inquiry required to be held – Chief Executive appoints Delegate to conduct inquiry – whether reasonable public notice given of the holding of inquiry – whether identification of locations of public inquiry sessions adequate – whether inquiry held in accordance with Act – whether examination and report on proposal in accordance with Act – whether an affected council denied procedural fairness by Delegate – review and comment on Delegate’s report by Boundaries Commission – whether review conducted in accordance with Act – whether affected council denied procedural fairness by Boundaries Commission – publicly accessible material in support of proposal represented that KPMG analysis and modelling was independent – whether representations misleading – whether allegedly misleading representations invalidated statutory process of amalgamation – whether failure to provide all KPMG analysis and modelling material meant the council was denied procedural fairness Legislation Cited: Local Government Act 1993 ss 204, 213, 218, 218A, 218B, 218C, 218D, 218E, 218F, 218F(1), 218F(2), 218F(6), 218F(7), 218F(8), 260, 261, 262, 263, 263(1), 263(2), 263(2A), 263(2B), 263(3),...