Cambria Green Agriculture & Tourism Management Pty Ltd v Attorney-General

Cambria Green Agriculture & Tourism Management Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision made by a statutory authority. The Attorney-General acted as contradictor in the proceedings. The primary dispute concerned the costs awarded to the Attorney-General following the applicant's successful application to quash the statutory authority's decision.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the applicant, having succeeded in quashing the decision of the statutory authority, should be ordered to pay the Attorney-General's costs on an indemnity basis. This involved considering the circumstances under which a successful party might be deprived of their costs, particularly when the Attorney-General acts as a contradictor in proceedings for prerogative relief.

The court reasoned that the usual rule that a successful party should recover their costs was displaced in this instance. The court found that the Attorney-General's role as contradictor, while permissible, did not automatically warrant an award of indemnity costs against the applicant. The court considered that the evidence presented on the application for prerogative relief was better than that which had been before the statutory authority, and this factor weighed against an indemnity costs order. Ultimately, the court quashed the order that the applicant pay the Attorney-General's costs on an indemnity basis. The court ordered that each party was to bear their own costs of the appeal.