Drummond v Canberra Institute of Technology (No 2)

Drummond filed an application for leave to appeal against a judgment from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in the matter of Drummond v Canberra Institute of Technology (No 2). The underlying dispute involved issues under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The Federal Court was required to determine whether Drummond was entitled to an order for costs in relation to the application for leave to appeal, and if so, the appropriate amount of those costs.

The court considered whether section 570 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) applied to the proceeding despite the appellate jurisdiction, and whether exceptional circumstances existed to warrant an award of costs. The court held that section 570 applied as the proceeding related to a matter arising under the Fair Work Act. However, the court found that Drummond had not instituted the proceeding vexatiously or without reasonable cause, nor had Drummond engaged in any unreasonable act or omission that caused the respondent to incur costs. Consequently, the court determined that there were no exceptional circumstances justifying an award of costs against Drummond.

The court ordered that there be no order as to costs in respect of Drummond’s application for leave to appeal. Drummond was not required to pay any costs to the respondent for the application for leave to appeal. The parties were subsequently invited to provide submissions regarding a potential variation of the costs order under rule 39.05 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) and section 570 of the Fair Work Act.