Right to be heard

Per Kirby J in Allesch v Maunz [2000] HCA 40

It is a principle of justice that a decision-maker, at least one exercising public power, must ordinarily afford a person whose interests may be adversely affected by a decision an opportunity to present material information and submissions relevant to such a decision before it is made. The principle lies deep in the common law. It has long been expressed as one of the maxims which the common law observes as "an indispensable requirement of justice" Re Brook and Delcomyn (1864) 16 CB (NS) 403 at 416 per Erle CJ [143 ER 1184 at 1190]. The maxim is audi alteram partem, audiatur et altera pars. See Broom, A Selection of Legal Maxims, 10th ed (1939) at 65; cf Cameron v Cole (1944) 68 CLR 571 at 589; The Commissioner of Police v Tanos (1958) 98 CLR 383 at 395-396.. It is a rule of natural justice or "procedural fairness" Kioa v West (1985) 159 CLR 550 at 583.. It will usually be imputed into statutes creating courts and adjudicative tribunals R v The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge ("Dr Bentley's Case") (1723) 1 Str 557 [93 ER 698]; Cooper v Wandsworth Board of Works (1863) 14 CB (NS) 180 [143 ER 414]; Hopkins v Smethwick Local Board of Health (1890) 24 QBD 712.