Cameron v Woollahra Municipal Council

The case of *Cameron v Woollahra Municipal Council* concerned an appeal to the New South Wales Court of Appeal regarding a decision to issue a construction certificate. The appellants, Mr Cameron and others, sought judicial review of this decision, alleging jurisdictional error. The primary respondent was Woollahra Municipal Council, which had issued the certificate.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the decision to issue the construction certificate was legally unreasonable, thereby constituting a jurisdictional error, and whether the appellants were entitled to an extension of time to commence their judicial review proceedings. The Court also considered the implications of the decision in *Burwood Council v Ralan Burwood Pty Ltd (No 3)* [2014] NSWCA 404 in circumstances where jurisdictional error had been established.

The Court of Appeal found that the decision to issue the construction certificate was not legally unreasonable and therefore did not involve jurisdictional error. Consequently, the appellants were not entitled to an extension of time to commence their judicial review proceedings. The Court applied established principles of administrative law concerning jurisdictional error and the requirements for granting extensions of time for judicial review.

The appeal was dismissed, and the appellants were ordered to pay the first respondent's costs of the appeal.