Ascot v Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia

Ascot was the applicant in proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) seeking a review of a decision by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (the Board). The Board had made a decision under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Qld) regarding the applicant’s registration as a registered nurse. The applicant sought to withdraw his application for review. The Board opposed the application to withdraw on the basis that it had incurred significant costs in the proceedings. The Board applied for an order for the applicant to pay the Board’s costs.

The primary issue for the court was whether the applicant’s application to withdraw should be granted and whether the Board’s application for an order for costs should be granted. The court considered the statutory provisions governing the making of costs orders in tribunal proceedings and the principles to be applied in determining whether such orders should be made.

The court found that the applicant’s application to withdraw should be granted. The court also found that the Board’s application for an order for costs should be refused. The court considered that the statutory provisions governing the making of costs orders in tribunal proceedings were discretionary rather than mandatory and that the court should only make such orders where the interests of justice required it. The court considered that there were no exceptional circumstances in which it should order the applicant to pay the Board’s costs.

The court ordered that the name of the respondent be amended to the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia. The court also granted the applicant leave to withdraw his application for review of the Board’s decision. The court refused the Board’s application that the applicant pay its costs.