10 Dec 2014
The Authority erred in law by excluding the $50 without first determining whether the expense fell within the specific categories of allowable costs in cl 2.1 of the Ministerial Direction; that error warranted answering the stated question in the affirmative and no rehearing was required given the trivial amount and conceded outcome.
19 Aug 2013
The High Court held the Board acted within law and discretion: its factual conclusion that the WLR designation was not a viable, credible alternative and could not co-exist with the Expressway justified excluding the WLR from the environment and the permitted baseline; the Board had regard to the Minister's reasons; no legal error was shown and the appeal was dismissed.
23 Oct 2006
The Court held that 'special circumstances' in the definition of 'allowable costs' means circumstances that are unusual or outside the norm; consequently the costs listed in paragraphs (a)–(h) are included as allowable costs but other costs qualify only if they arise from such unusual circumstances, a construction that prevents overlap with standard costs and avoids double-counting.