Reocrete Pty Ltd v PM-3 Pty Ltd

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Reocrete Pty Ltd v PM-3 Pty Ltd [2025] QCATA 28

PARTIES:

REOCRETE PTY LTD ACN 611467899

(applicant/appellant)

v

PM-3 PTY LTD ABN 71618389816

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

APL010-24

ORIGINATING APPLICATION NO/S:

Q755-23

MATTER TYPE:

Appeals

DELIVERED ON:

25 March 2025

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Member Goodman

ORDERS:

1.     Leave to appeal is granted.

2.     The appeal is allowed.

3.     The Order dated 13 December 2023 is set aside. 

4.     The Tribunal will consider whether to transfer the matter to the building list or to dismiss the application pursuant to section 47 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009(Qld) (QCAT Act) because:

(a)   The Applicant filed an Application for Minor Civil Dispute.

(b)  The facts pleaded and the nature of the claim suggest that the claim may be a building dispute as defined in the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld) (the QBCC Act).

(c) Building disputes are not included in the definition of “minor civil dispute” under section 12 of the QCAT Act and therefore may fall outside the Tribunal’s minor civil dispute jurisdiction.

(d) Section 77(2) of the QBCC Act mandates that, before a building dispute can be referred to the Tribunal, the parties must engage with the dispute resolution process established by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), if such a process is available.

5.     Each party has until 4pm on 30 April 2025 to provide to the Tribunal and to each other either:

(a) Written evidence from the QBCC demonstrating compliance with the dispute resolution process under section 77(2) of the QBCC Act, or a letter or other document from the QBCC confirming that no dispute resolution process is available for this dispute; or

(b) Written submissions setting out why the matter is not a building dispute and can properly be heard within the Tribunal’s minor civil dispute jurisdiction.

6.     The Tribunal will decide the jurisdiction issue on the papers, without an oral hearing, after 30 April 2025.  A decision or further directions will issue at that time.

CATCHWORDS:

APPEAL AND NEW HEARING – APPEAL – GENERAL PRINCIPLES – RIGHT OF APPEAL – WHEN APPEAL LIES – ERROR OF LAW – leave to appeal – where adjudicator failed to determine application for leave to be represented – where adjudicator failed to provide adequate reasons for decision

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld), s 28, s 28(3), s 29, s 95, s 121, s 143

Hempel v Richardson & Wrench Hervey Bay [2018]

QCATA 170
QUYD Pty Ltd v Marvass Pty Ltd [2009] 1 Qd R 41
Cachia v Grech [2009] NSWCA 232
Glenwood Properties Pty Ltd v Delmoss Pty Ltd [1986] 2 Qd R 388
McIver Bulk Liquid Haulage Pty Ltd v Fruehauf Australia Pty Ltd [1989] 2 Qd R 577
Chandra v Queensland Building and Construction Commission [2014] QCA 335

SZBEL v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (2006) 228 CLR 152

APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION: This matter…