Hawk and Linfox Armaguard Pty Ltd (Compensation)

The Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for costs by the applicant, Hawk, against the respondent, Linfox Armaguard Pty Ltd. The dispute arose from a prior substantive decision of the Tribunal concerning compensation, where the applicant sought to have an error of law corrected and costs awarded.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed the power to correct an error of law made in its substantive decision and, consequently, whether it could award costs under section 67(9) of the *Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988* (Cth) in circumstances where such an error was rectified.

The Deputy President reasoned that it was contrary to the interests of justice and undesirable for parties to be compelled to lodge an appeal to achieve an outcome that could be properly addressed within the existing proceedings. Applying relevant authority, the Tribunal determined that it was obliged to order costs in favour of the applicant. The Tribunal therefore substituted a previous paragraph in its decision with a new one, explicitly ordering the respondent to pay the applicant's costs, to be taxed by the Registrar in the absence of agreement.