Griffiths & Anor v Minister for Lands, Planning & Environment & Anor

The applicants, Griffiths and another, brought proceedings against the Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment and another respondent. The dispute concerned the validity of a decision made by the Minister to refuse to grant a mining licence. The matter was heard by the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Minister's decision to refuse the mining licence was vitiated by a failure to afford the applicants procedural fairness. Specifically, the court considered whether the applicants had been given adequate notice of the grounds upon which the Minister was proposing to refuse the licence and a sufficient opportunity to respond to those grounds.

The High Court held that the Minister's decision was invalid due to a breach of procedural fairness. Their Honours found that the Minister had relied on adverse information concerning the applicants' financial capacity and past conduct, which had not been disclosed to the applicants prior to the decision being made. The court reiterated the principle that a party affected by a decision must be informed of the case they have to meet and be given an opportunity to answer it. The failure to provide this opportunity meant the decision could not stand.