WÄRtsilÄ Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 003 736 892) v Primero Group Ltd (ACN 149 964 045)

Wärtsilä Australia Pty Ltd sought judicial review of a decision of an adjudicator who had determined that a payment claim made by Primero Group Ltd was valid under the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 1999 (Cth). The court was required to determine whether the adjudicator had jurisdiction to determine the validity of the payment claim and whether the payment claim was valid. The primary issue was whether Primero had provided the specified documents to Wärtsilä and made them available for inspection by 28 February 2020. The court found that Primero had not provided the documents to Wärtsilä in the manner required by the subcontract, as Wärtsilä was unable to download the documents in their entirety from the hyperlink provided by Primero. The court held that the adjudicator had jurisdiction to determine the validity of the payment claim, but the payment claim was invalid because Primero had not provided the documents to Wärtsilä in the manner required by the subcontract. The court granted Wärtsilä’s application for judicial review and quashed the adjudicator’s determination. The court ordered that the parties bear their own costs of the application for judicial review.