Cavo Pty Ltd v Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development

Cavo Pty Ltd and others (the appellants) appealed to the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, Court of Appeal, against a decision of the primary judge who had dismissed their challenge to the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development's (the Minister) approval of a development application. The core of the dispute concerned whether a report on the economic impact of the development constituted an "associated document" under section 30 of the *Planning and Development Act 2007* (ACT), and whether the appellants had been denied procedural fairness or natural justice in relation to the Minister's decision.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine several legal issues, including whether the economic impact report was an associated document that ought to have been published under the Act, whether the Minister's decision was invalid due to a failure to publish this report, and whether the appellants had any entitlement to natural justice in this context. Further, the Court considered whether any practical injustice resulted from the alleged failure to publish the report, whether the Minister failed to take account of relevant considerations, and whether the Minister's decision was unreasonable or constituted an error of law.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. It reasoned that the economic impact report was not an associated document for the purposes of section 30 of the *Planning and Development Act 2007* (ACT) and therefore its non-publication did not render the Minister's decision invalid. Furthermore, the Court found that the appellants had not been denied procedural fairness or natural justice, as they had not demonstrated any practical injustice arising from the Minister's decision-making process. The Court concluded that the Minister had not acted unreasonably or made an error of law.