Minister Administering the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 v Lloyd

The Minister administering the *Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979* (NSW) appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal against a decision of the Land and Environment Court concerning the validity of a development consent. The dispute centred on whether the consent, granted by the Minister, was invalid due to a failure to comply with certain procedural requirements of the Act.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the Minister's purported grant of development consent was a nullity, and therefore invalid, by reason of the Minister's failure to obtain the concurrence of the Minister for Planning and Environment as required by section 90(1)(b) of the *Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979* (NSW) at the time the consent was granted.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Gleeson CJ, Mahoney JA, and Sheller JA, held that the failure to obtain the required concurrence rendered the development consent invalid. The Court reasoned that section 90(1)(b) imposed a mandatory condition precedent to the valid exercise of the Minister's power to grant consent. The absence of this concurrence meant that the Minister had not been empowered to grant the consent, and therefore the purported grant was a nullity. The Court applied the principle that where a statute prescribes a specific procedure for the exercise of a power, and that procedure is not followed, the exercise of the power is invalid.

The appeal was allowed, and the decision of the Land and Environment Court was set aside. The Court declared that the development consent was invalid.