George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Where the Commonwealth is a party to a litigation, like any litigant, ordinarily costs follow the event. In the event that the Commonwealth were to be successful, ordinarily it would seek to recover its costs from the other party. There are exceptions to that: where a party is litigating to test a public interest issue, there are sometimes exceptions. This is not one of them. Of course you can ask at the appropriate time, whether through estimates or by question on notice or without notice but, for the reasons I explained before, I am not in a position to commit the Commonwealth to a position other than the normal position, nor would it be appropriate for me to do so.

Question negatived.

Bill agreed to.

Bill reported without amendments; report adopted.