Consideration
34The Commissioners' reasoning in reaching the conclusion at [33(e)] above that the Court has no power to increase the statutory valuation except where an applicant contends that the VG's values are too low under s 34(1)(a), may be reorganised as follows:
(a)As the VG has no right of cross-claim, if the applicant fails to discharge its onus of proving its case under s 40(2), the mandated consequence under s 40(1)(a) is that the appeal must be dismissed and the statutory valuation confirmed: at [79], [81], [85]-[87].
(b)It is only if the applicant discharges its onus of proof under s 40(2), that it is necessary to consider which of the options available to the Court in s 40(1) should be engaged and in what fashion: at [78].
(c)If the applicant discharges its s 40(2) onus of proof, there is at least a presumption (if not an obligation) on the judicial valuer to make some appropriately responsive order of the nature envisaged by s 40(1)(a)-(c): at [80], [82], [84].
(d)Therefore, there can never be resultant order that substitutes a higher statutory valuation for that contained in the VG's determination, except in a "very rare" case where the applicant seeks a higher valuation under s 34(1)(a): at [82]-[87].
35I generally agree with this reasoning except for step (d), which is critical to the outcome of the appeals. A preliminary comment may be made that the onus of proving that the VG's valuation is wrong was established prior to its express enactment in s 40(2) of the VLA: Flack v The Valuer-General (1952) 18 LGR 157 at 158 (Sugerman J). Usually, the burden is one of establishing that the valuation objected to is too high. However, the burden may be one of proving any of the grounds of objection in s 34(1). Cases where an applicant seeks a higher valuation under s 34(1)(a) typically arise in the not uncommon context of rent review provisions in leases where increases in rent are geared to increases in the VG's valuations.
36On the Commissioners' construction step (d) at [34] above, s 40(1)(b) does not empower the Court to increase land value except where the applicant contends under s 34(1)(a) that the VG's value is too low. The implicit premise appears to be that the applicant's "case" to be proved under s 40(2) can only be that the value assigned by the VG is too high or that it is too low - leading to the Commissioners' conclusion that if it is contended and proved to be too low then it cannot be increased. I disagree with the premise. The applicant's "case" under s 40(2) may concern any of the eight grounds of objection listed in s 34(1). One of those grounds is that the VG's value is too high: s 34(1)(1). Another ground is that it is too low: that ground also appears in s 34(1)(a). Another ground is that the apportionment of valuations is not correct: s 34(1)(c). This incorrect apportionment ground is referable to ss 26 and 28. An applicant's apportionment case arises where there is a s 26 combined valuation of adjoining parcels of land, a s 28 apportionment between the two, and the applicant contends under s 34(1)(c) that the apportionment is not correct. The correct apportionment is merely a mechanical, arithmetical task to reflect the proportion that the area of each part bears to the area of the whole: s 28(2). If the VG errs in that apportionment, it is likely due to a clerical error in the course of carrying out that task.
37Where the applicant proves its case that the apportionment is not correct, the consequence under s 28(2) is that the value of one parcel of land in the combined s 26 valuation (of adjoining parcels of land) decreases and the value of the other parcel increases. Construed harmoniously in context, s 40(1)(b) then empowers the Court to responsively give full effect to the correct apportionment in order to heed the command in s 28(2) that: "The value of each part is to bear the same proportion of the value of the whole as the area of each part bears to the area of the whole". Particularly given the mandatory terms of s 28(2), in an apportionment case the Court is not only empowered but required to give full effect to the apportionment. If I am in error as to it being "required" to do so, then in my view the only reasonable discretionary response under s 40(1)(b) is to do so.
38This construction is reinforced by three further considerations. First, it is reinforced by s 40(1)(c), which empowers the Court "to remit the matter to the Valuer-General for determination in accordance with the Court's finding or decision". If, as I think it does, s 40(1)(c) empowers the Court in an apportionment case to remit the matter to the VG for determination in accordance with the Court's decision as to the correct apportionment, it would be decidedly odd if the Court could not itself make that determination under s 40(1)(b).
39Secondly, the construction adopted by the Commissioners prevents the Court from giving full effect to the correct apportionment and results in what they described as a "mathematical absurdity. It is a well-known principle of statutory interpretation that constructions leading to absurd results are to be avoided, if possible: Roy Morgan Research Centre Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (Vic) [2001] HCA 49, (2001) 207 CLR 72 at [17]. It is not unduly flattering to the legislature to say that it is unlikely to have intended a mathematical absurdity.
40Thirdly, in principle, determination that the VG's apportionment is incorrect should carry with it power to give full effect to the corrected apportionment - not just one side of the apportionment benefitting the objector by reducing the value of one part of the whole land the subject of the s 26 combined valuation.
41Take a simple hypothetical appeal where the correctness of the s 28 apportionment to two adjoining parcels of land of a s 26 combined valuation is the only ground of objection, and the s 26 combined valuation is $100,000. If under s 28 the VG incorrectly apportions 70% and 30% but the Court finds that the correct apportionment is 60% and 40%, then the value of one part of the whole decreases from $70,000 to $60,000 and the value of the other part of the whole increases from $30,000 to $40,000. The applicant has discharged its s 40(2) onus of proving its apportionment case. On the Commissioners' construction - which I do not accept - as applied to this hypothetical, the appeal in relation to the first part will be allowed because its value decreases as a result of the correct apportionment, but the appeal in relation to the other part must be dismissed because there is no power in the Court to increase the value of that part and therefore the VG's $30,000 valuation must be confirmed. In my opinion, appropriately responsive orders under s 40(1)(b) would give full effect to the apportionment by decreasing the value of one part and increasing the value of the other.
42The present appeals are no different in principle from the one I have hypothesised, notwithstanding that it was also part of the applicant's case that the s 26 combined valuations were too high. The correct apportionment issue under s 34(1)(c) became part of the applicant's case, at least during the hearing when it emerged that the VG had made an incorrect apportionment. The Commissioners squarely addressed and accepted that apportionment case. They made partially responsive orders under s 40(1)(b) based on the correct apportionment, by reducing the annual values of the Kogarah PID. In my opinion, they fell into error in not doing the same in respect of the Rockdale PID.
43The VG makes the sweeping submission that in an appeal by a person entitled to object, the VG can always contend for a higher valuation than that to which the appeal relates. The submission is contrary to the view that I have earlier expressed and also contrary to the view of the Commissioners. The submission is largely based on s 39 which provides that: "The appellant's and respondent's cases on an appeal are not limited to the grounds of the objection". I construe the "respondent's" case as meaning the VG's defensive case in opposing the appellant's case based on any of the grounds in s 34(1), given that the VG has no right of cross-appeal and there is no provision equivalent to s 40(2) requiring the VG to prove its case. For example, if an appellant's only case is that the VG's value is too high, it is not open to the VG to contend in the appeal that it should be higher.
44This is contrary to the assumption made, without any reasoning, by commissioners of the Court in three earlier cases. However, I do not attach significant weight to them because they contain little if any reasoning to support the assumption. In each the applicant objected to the VG's value on the ground that it was too high and the commissioner assumed that the Court may on appeal increase the land value. They are not apportionment cases. In Falk v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [1999] NSWLEC 301 Nott C made a brief comment that it appeared to be open to the Court (although it was not required to do so) to determine a particular land value in excess of that to which objection was taken: at [24]. However, as the objection was that the land value was too high, he considered it appropriate to simply disallow the objection: at [26]. In Marcus Cornelius Noorbergen v Valuer-General [2004] NSWLEC 243 at [1], [29]-[30] Watt C decided that the value was higher than that determined by the VG and, without any discussion, valued it at that higher figure. In Falk v Valuer-General [2005] NSWLEC 141 at [65]-[66] Moore C (as he then was) commented that if the VG proposed to contend for a higher value than that to which objection is taken, the onus to establish a higher value shifts to the VG. However, he did not consider it appropriate to impose a higher value in the circumstances of that case: at [71].
45In the present case, the only s 26 VG combined valuations of the whole that the Commissioners increased were for the 2007 and 2008 base dates. Given the VG's position that it does not seek to increase s 26 VG combined valuations (discussed earlier), and as the VG submits, the VG's s 26 combined valuations for those base dates should not be increased but the correct s 28 apportionment of 60.13% and 39.87% should be applied to them.
46In the case of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 base dates, the correct apportionment should be applied to the Commissioners' lower s 26 valuations for those years.
47Since the VG's incorrect apportionment was approximately 70% for the Kogarah PID and 30% for the Rockdale PID, whereas the correct apportionment was found to be approximately 60% and 40%, the result for all years is that the value of the Kogarah PID decreases and the value of the Rockdale PID increases: see [16] above. In accordance with the construction that I have adopted, the correct apportionment will be fully reflected in the orders of the Court not only by decreasing for each year the value of the Kogarah PID but also by increasing the value of the Rockdale PID.