Watkins v Queensland Building Services Authority

The matter before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) is an application by Mr Russell Ian Watkins, a builder holding a licence under the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991, to review a decision by the Queensland Building Services Authority (Authority) to approve a statutory insurance claim made by a building owner, Ms Ralph, in relation to residential building work performed by Mr Watkins at Ormiston, Brisbane. Mr Watkins also sought an extension of time to commence the substantive application. The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether section 61 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (QCAT Act) allows the Tribunal to extend the time limits in section 86(2) of the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 (QBSAA), and whether the prohibition in section 86(2) of the QBSAA is substantive or procedural.

Dr J R Forbes, Member, found that the application for review should be read beneficially to refer to at least two categories of decisions that the Tribunal has power to review under the QBSAA. However, the application was filed more than three years after the subject decision was made and must fail unless the Tribunal allows an extraordinarily long extension of time. The Member declined to follow an interlocutory decision of the District Court that section 61 of the QCAT Act enables the Tribunal to extend the time limits in section 86(2) of the QBSAA. The Member held that the prohibition in section 86(2) is substantive and a condition of jurisdiction, and that section 61 of the QCAT Act may not be used to escape it. The application for review was incurably out of time and the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain it.

The final orders of the Tribunal were that the application for extension of time and the application for review were dismissed.