4 Boys (NSW) v ILGA [2022] NSWSC 1689
Section 34(4) of the Gaming Machines Act allowed ILGA to increase a venue’s gaming machine threshold. There was no express power to revoke a decision to increase, but s 48(1) of the Interpretation Act 1987 provided that statutory functions ‘may be exercised … from time to time as occasion requires’.
Did this confer a revocation power? Yes, said Adamson J (at [79-80]) – it implicitly conferred a revocation power6 and was not displaced by contrary intention7. Although the Gaming Machines Act did provide for other revocation powers, those provisions dealt with different aspects of the regulatory regime and did not restrict revocation under s 34(4).
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Footnotes:
6 Parkes 7 NSWLR 332 (at 335), cf s 33 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
7 s 5(2) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).