Where a government party seeks an extension of time to reactivate an abandoned appeal on a point of public interest, the court may impose a condition that the government party undertake to pay the respondent's costs irrespective of the outcome. The existence of the Appeal Costs Act 1998 (Vic) does not render such an undertaking unnecessary. A costs undertaking can only be given prospectively, not retrospectively, and so the question cannot be deferred to the hearing of the appeal.
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