Jurisdiction of the SAT (State Administrative Tribunal) clarified

The Supreme Court of Western Australia recently confirmed that the State Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) did not have the jurisdiction to find that a local government council member had committed a minor breach under the Local Government Act 1995 (LGA) that was different to the breach alleged in a complaint to the Local Government Standards Panel (Panel), in the case of RE v Local Government Standards Panel [2015] WASC 51.

The Tribunal's Decision

The appellant was a councillor of a metropolitan council (City). In 2012 the Mayor of the City made a complaint alleging that the appellant had breached regulation 7(1) of the Local Government (Rule of Conduct) Regulations 2007 (WA) (Regulations). The complaint was referred to the Panel.