Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011

For the purposes of this Act, a person takes genuine steps to resolve a dispute if the steps taken by the person in relation to the dispute constitute a sincere and genuine attempt to resolve the dispute, having regard to the person’s circumstances and the nature and circumstances of the dispute.

Examples of steps that could be taken by a person as part of taking genuine steps to resolve a dispute with another person, include the following:

notifying the other person of the issues that are, or may be, in dispute, and offering to discuss them, with a view to resolving the dispute;

responding appropriately to any such notification;

providing relevant information and documents to the other person to enable the other person to understand the issues involved and how the dispute might be resolved;

considering whether the dispute could be resolved by a process facilitated by another person, including an alternative dispute resolution process;

if such a process is agreed to:

agreeing on a particular person to facilitate the process; and

attending the process;

if such a process is conducted but does not result in resolution of the dispute—considering a different process;

attempting to negotiate with the other person, with a view to resolving some or all the issues in dispute, or authorising a representative to do so.

Subsection (1) does not limit the steps that may constitute taking genuine steps to resolve a dispute.