Commissioner of Taxation and Bertrand and Anor

The proceedings involved the Commissioner of Taxation seeking leave to intervene in a dispute between the applicant (referred to as the wife) and the respondents (referred to as the husband and anor). The core of the dispute, as indicated by the wife's further amended Initiating Application, concerned orders sought by the wife, to which the Commissioner of Taxation was now a party.

The court was required to determine the procedural steps necessary for the Commissioner of Taxation to formally respond to the wife's application and to address the issue of costs associated with a prior application filed by the wife. Specifically, the court needed to decide on the timeframe for the Commissioner's response, whether an affidavit was required, and how the costs of the earlier application would be handled.

Baumann J granted the Commissioner leave to intervene and ordered that the Commissioner file and serve a response to the wife's application within fourteen days, being relieved from the requirement to file an affidavit in support. The court further stipulated that if any party wished to pursue costs for the application filed on 25 October 2019, written submissions were to be filed within fourteen days, with opposing submissions due within twenty-eight days, and the matter would otherwise be dealt with in chambers on the papers. If no specific application for costs was made within fourteen days, the costs of that application would be reserved for determination by the trial judge.