In 1986 the Commission made numerous recommendations on the reform of the procedural aspects of judicial review and the provision of statements of reasons (see Project No 26(II)). Almost 20 years later the topic resurfaced and, in light of the developments made to this area of law on the Commonwealth level as well as the Western Australian Government’s intention at the time to reform the law relating to the review of administrative decisions on their merits by the creation of the State Administrative Tribunal, it was clearly time to review the field once again.
Terms of Reference
In 2001, the Commission was asked to inquire into the deficiencies of the current law relating to the judicial review of administrative decisions and to make recommendations with respect to the reform of
- the substantive grounds upon which the lawfulness of an administrative decision might be challenged;
- the practices and procedures pertaining to judicial review of administrative decisions including the appropriate extent of the jurisdictions of the various courts of the state to entertain challenges to the lawfulness of administrative decisions; and
- the law governing the extent to which Western Australians are entitled to obtain a statement of reasons for an administrative decision.
Outcomes
Confirmation of receipt of the Final Report was acknowledged by the Attorney General during Parliamentary proceedings on 4 March 2003.
