Sino Iron Pty Ltd v Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport

Sino Iron Pty Ltd and its subsidiary Korean Steel challenged a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport to designate Mineralogy as the port operator for the Port of Cape Preston under the Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act 2003 (Cth). The appellants argued that Mineralogy lacked the ability to be an effective port operator, particularly due to a commercial conflict with the Citic parties. Additionally, they contended that the Secretary failed to consider the physical and operational features of the port and did not take into account the views of the Citic parties, as required by section 14(2) of the Act. The appellants also claimed that the Secretary breached the duty of procedural fairness by not providing them an opportunity to be heard.

The court considered whether the Secretary correctly interpreted the statutory requirement under section 14(2)(c) to take into account the views of persons responsible for managing the operations of the port. The court held that the Secretary misunderstood the statutory requirements and failed to consider the views of the Citic parties, leading to an error in the decision-making process. The court found that the Secretary's failure to consider the views of the Citic parties, who were responsible for managing the operations of the port, constituted a significant procedural error. Furthermore, the court noted that the Citic parties did not have a sufficient interest in the question of who should perform the public function of port operator to have an enforceable right to be heard under common law principles of procedural fairness.

The court concluded that the appeal should be upheld, and the decision of the Secretary to designate Mineralogy as the port operator should be set aside. The orders of the court included setting aside the Secretary's decision and directing that Mineralogy pay the appellants' costs of the appeal.