Minister Administering the Mining Act 1978 (WA) v McKern & Ors

The Minister Administering the Mining Act 1978 (WA) appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The dispute concerned the validity of a mining lease granted by the Minister to McKern & Ors. The Supreme Court had found that the Minister's decision to grant the lease was vitiated by a failure to afford procedural fairness to certain objectors.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Minister, in exercising the power to grant a mining lease under the *Mining Act 1978* (WA), owed a duty to afford procedural fairness to objectors to the grant of that lease. Specifically, the Court considered whether the statutory scheme established by the *Mining Act* implied such a duty, notwithstanding the absence of an express statutory requirement.

The High Court held that the statutory framework of the *Mining Act* did not impose a duty on the Minister to afford procedural fairness to objectors. French CJ and Bell J reasoned that the Act provided a comprehensive code for the grant of mining leases, and the procedural steps outlined within it were exhaustive. Their Honours concluded that the Minister's role was primarily administrative and that the legislative scheme did not contemplate or require the Minister to act in a quasi-judicial manner by affording objectors a hearing or an opportunity to respond to submissions made by the applicant for the lease. The Court found that the Supreme Court had erred in implying a duty of procedural fairness where the legislature had not intended one.

The appeal was allowed, and the orders of the Supreme Court of Western Australia were set aside.