Below is a listing of other appeals heard by the South Australian Civil & Administration Tribunal (SACAT) since November 2023.

  • Date of Decision

    9 November 2023

    Order of the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

    The Tribunal dismissed the application for review and dismissed the applicant’s application for costs.

    Decision

    The applicant initially sought a review of a decision made by RevenueSA in relation to the Emergency Services Levy. During proceedings, further information submitted by the applicant’s representatives resulted in RevenueSA reviewing its original decision in the applicant’s favour.

    The applicant refused to withdraw his review application, and submitted an application for costs.

    The Tribunal dismissed the applicant’s application for review on the basis it no longer had any utility and dismissed the applicant’s application for costs for the following reasons:

    • The Tribunal rebuked the applicant’s assertion that RevenueSA did not act as a model litigant in reconsidering its decision.
    • There is no provision in the Emergency Services Funding Act 1998 empowering the Tribunal to award costs of proceeding taken under that Act.
    • RevenueSA adhered to the objectives of section 8 of the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2016 (the SACAT Act) in conducting itself in a manner that avoided the Tribunal and the applicant from wasting resources.
    • There is no proper basis to depart from the default position under the SACAT Act that each party bears their own cost.
    • The Tribunal refused to admit into evidence a telephone recording made by the applicant of his communication with RevenueSA because of its questionable probative value.
    • The applicant’s age and disability were not relevant to his entitlement to costs under the SACAT Act.
    • The role of the Tribunal is to conduct a merits review and not to make findings in the nature of a declaration in respect of decisions which are no longer operational.

    Catchwords

    SACAT – Application for Costs

    Case Summary

    Nash v Revenue SA [2023] SACAT 90