Damian Clothier KC (with K McAuliffe-Lake) appeared for the Appellant/Cross-appellant, instructed by Allens.
The central issue in this case was whether the Land Court erred in its assessment of compensation payable under s 281 of the Mineral Resources Act 1989 (Qld) for the grant of mining lease ML 700033, particularly in its use of carrying capacity as a valuation metric and its rejection of expert valuation evidence.
The Court unanimously held that the Land Court had erred in adopting a valuation methodology based on carrying capacity, which was not relied upon by either party and was considered unreliable by both expert valuers. The Court found that the proper valuation should have been based on comparable sales and orthodox valuation methods, and that the landowners were denied procedural fairness. The appeal was allowed and the cross-appeal dismissed.
The judgment can be read by clicking here
