Peter Slipper and James Ashby.Credit:Andrew Meares,Wolter Peeters
The department said in a letter on June 19"Mr Ashby chose to instigate the legal action"and legal action"always contains an element of risk in relation to both the outcome and the costs involved".
"The payment of legal expenses is a matter to be managed between an individual and their legal
representative,"the letter says.
"Mr Ashby chose to pursue litigation where alternate,and potentially more economical options were available to him to seek a remedy in relation to his matter."
Mr Ahsby was employed as a political adviser to Mr Slipper,then speaker of the House of Representatives,between December 2011 and October 2012.
In April 2012,Mr Ashby filed proceedings against Mr Slipper in the Federal Court alleging he had been sexually harassed in the workplace. Mr Slipper denied the claims.
After a series of hearings,including his case being thrown out of court as an abuse of process before the Full Court of the Federal Court overturned that decision and allowed the case to proceed,Mr Ashby dropped the suit less than a fortnight before the trial.
Mr Ashby's lawyers,Sydney barrister John Hyde Page and law firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers,say in court documents"the Commonwealth’s treatment of the parties to the 2012 proceeding was
inequitable".