Queensland Consolidated Acts Queensland Consolidated Acts(1) A Magistrates Court may require the parties or their representatives to attend before it to enable the court to decide whether the parties' dispute should be referred to an ADR process.
(2) This section also applies if—
(a) a party applies to a Magistrates Court for an order referring a dispute to an ADR process; or
(b) the parties are otherwise before a Magistrates Court.
(3) The court may, by order (referring order), refer the dispute for mediation or case appraisal.
(4) Without limiting the court's discretion, the court may take the following matters into account when deciding whether to refer a dispute to case appraisal—
(a) whether the costs of litigating the dispute to the end are likely to be disproportionate to the benefit gained;
(b) the likelihood of an appraisal producing a compromise or an abandonment of a claim or defence;
(c) other circumstances justify an appraisal.
(5) If the court decides to refer the dispute to a mediator under the Dispute Resolution Centres Act 1990, it is sufficient if the order appoints the director of a specified dispute resolution centre as mediator.