Alcan (NT) Alumina Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Territory Revenue

The High Court of Australia heard an appeal concerning a stamp duty assessment made by the Commissioner of Territory Revenue against Alcan (NT) Alumina Pty Ltd. The dispute arose from Alcan's acquisition of all shares in Gove Aluminium Ltd (GAL), which held Crown leases containing options to renew. The Commissioner assessed stamp duty based on the value of "all land" to which GAL was entitled at the time of acquisition.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the definition of "land" for the purposes of stamp duty assessment under section 56N(2)(b) of the Taxation (Administration) Act (NT) included options to renew leases. This required the Court to interpret the meaning of "land" and "lease" as defined within the Act, and to consider whether a specific definition of "lease" in a general interpretation provision could be displaced by a contrary intention evident in the charging provision.

The Court reasoned that the definition of "lease" in section 4(1) of the Act expressly excluded an option to renew a lease. It held that this exclusion was not displaced by any contrary intention in section 56N(2)(b), which referred to "all land" to which the corporation was entitled. The Court concluded that, in the absence of a clear indication to the contrary, the specific definition of "lease" must be applied, meaning that options to renew were not to be included in the valuation of "land" for stamp duty purposes.

The appeal was allowed with costs. The orders of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory were set aside, and in their place, the appeal to that Court was dismissed with costs. The respondent was ordered to pay the costs of the appellant in the proceedings before Mildren J.