The Court held that in summary criminal proceedings for WHS offences before the NSW Industrial Court, the general costs discretion under s 181 of the IR Act is excluded by s 168(4), confining the Court's costs power to the specific regime in Ch 4 Pt 5 Div 4 of the CP Act, including s 257F. While the Court accepted that 'adjournment' in s 257F is not limited to adjournments of the trial itself and extends to pre-trial directions hearings, the motion failed because the costs incurred in preparing for and attending the directions hearings were not 'additional costs' caused by the adjournment of the matter at the conclusion of those hearings — they were instead caused by the need to re-list the matter, which is a distinct concept. The Court left open that costs arising from the adjournment of a directions hearing itself (as opposed to costs of attending a hearing necessitated by a party's default) could satisfy the dual causal nexus under s 257F.
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