Woollahra Municipal Council v Minister for Local Government & Ors

Woollahra Municipal Council sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Local Government to dismiss the Council's elected councillors and appoint administrators. The dispute concerned the validity of the Minister's decision, which was made pursuant to section 231 of the *Local Government Act 1993* (NSW). The Council contended that the Minister's decision was vitiated by jurisdictional error. The matter was heard by the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Minister had validly exercised the power conferred by section 231 of the *Local Government Act 1993* (NSW) to dismiss the elected councillors of Woollahra Municipal Council. This involved determining whether the Minister's satisfaction that the Council had failed to comply with the Act or any other Act, or had acted in a way that was contrary to the public interest, was a jurisdictional prerequisite for the exercise of that power, and if so, whether that prerequisite had been met.

The High Court held that the Minister's satisfaction under section 231 was not a jurisdictional fact, but rather a condition precedent to the exercise of the power that was not amenable to curial review. The Court reasoned that the statutory language indicated that the Minister's satisfaction was a matter for the Minister's judgment, and that the grounds for dismissal were broad enough to encompass the Minister's assessment of the Council's conduct. Consequently, the Court found that the Minister had not committed jurisdictional error in dismissing the councillors. The application for judicial review was dismissed.