Ashe and Decision Maker

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application by Mr Ashe seeking review of a decision concerning his application for permission to install signage at Orange Regional Airport. The dispute arose from correspondence between Mr Ashe and an employee of Orange City Council regarding his ride-sharing business.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the decision made by the Orange City Council. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the decision was one that could be reviewed under the relevant Act, and if the Act conferred jurisdiction upon the Tribunal to hear such a matter.

The Tribunal reasoned that its jurisdiction is not general but is conferred by specific enactments. Subsection 42A(4) of the Act allows the Tribunal to dismiss an application if it is satisfied that the decision is not reviewable. The Tribunal found that the correspondence did not constitute a decision reviewable by it, as any decision appeared to have been made by a local government body, and no enactment provided the Tribunal with jurisdiction to review such a decision. The Tribunal noted that the New South Wales Ombudsman might be a relevant entity to consider Mr Ashe's matter.

Consequently, the Tribunal dismissed the application pursuant to subsection 42A(4) of the Act for lack of jurisdiction.