Slater v Telstra Corporation Limited

Slater filed an appeal against Telstra Corporation Limited, with the nature of the dispute centred around a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) regarding Telstra's obligations under the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth). The High Court of Australia was tasked with reviewing the Tribunal's decision and determining whether it was legally sound.

The court was required to decide whether the AAT had properly exercised its discretion under section 37 of the Act. The appeal hinged on whether the AAT had correctly considered whether Telstra should provide a program to assist Slater, as opposed to dismissing the application outright. Furthermore, the court had to examine if the Tribunal's failure to consider the exercise of the discretion was a legal error warranting the appeal's success.

The court held that the AAT had indeed erred in its decision-making process by not considering the exercise of the discretion under section 37. The Tribunal should have evaluated whether Telstra should provide the program or remit the matter back to Telstra for consideration. As a result, the appeal was partially successful. The court set aside the primary judge's order dismissing Slater's application to the AAT, and instead, remitted the matter back to the Tribunal for reconsideration according to law and in line with the court's reasons. Additionally, Telstra was ordered to pay Slater's costs of the appeal, and the costs order made on 4 April 2001 was set aside with no order for the costs of the proceeding.