Save Surfers Paradise Inc v Gold Coast City Council

Save Surfers Paradise Inc, a community organisation, opposed the sale of a carpark by the Gold Coast City Council. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of Queensland. The central issue was whether the Council should bear the costs of the proceedings, or if the applicant should pay its own costs, or if each party should bear their own costs. The applicant had been unsuccessful on most grounds of its application, but successful on one.

The Court examined the general rule that costs follow the event, as well as the discretion to refuse a costs order against the applicant. The applicant had been successful on one ground of its originating application, which raised the question of whether costs should follow the event. The Court also considered whether the proceedings were in the public interest, and whether the successful respondent Council ought to incur costs to public funds. The Court found that the applicant's proceedings were not in the public interest, and that the applicant should bear the costs of the application filed on 1 March 2018 in relation to paragraphs 1(a), 1(d) and 1(e) of the originating application.

Accordingly, the Court ordered that paragraphs 1(a), 1(d) and 1(e) of the originating application be set aside, and that the applicant pay the respondent's costs of the application filed on 1 March 2018 in relation to those paragraphs. The Court also ordered that the costs of the application filed on 1 March 2018 otherwise be each party's costs in the continuing proceeding. The applicant was given 28 days to file and serve a statement of claim in accordance with the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules.