Schroder-Turk v Murdoch University [2019] FCA 1152

Schroder-Turk v Murdoch University [2019] FCA 1152

Although the Court assumed in the applicant's favour that it had broad discretionary power to make an order affecting the operation of s 16 of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (WA), it was not a judicial exercise of that discretion to grant a blanket, pre-emptive exemption from s 16(3) that was unlimited as to time and divorced from particular disclosures, persons and circumstances. The PID Act's object of protecting the identity of persons in respect of whom disclosures have been made, together with the hypothetical nature of the identified risks and the availability of case by case mechanisms, meant the appropriate course was to warn persons accessing filed documents rather than...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
29 July 2019
Procedural Posture
Fair Work Division Proceeding Concerning Alleged Adverse Action and Alleged Contravention of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (wa) / Interlocutory Application Concerning Confidentiality and Disclosure in Proceedings
Outcome
The interlocutory application filed on 14 June 2019 was otherwise dismissed, but directions were made requiring a warning notice to be affixed to filed documents and liberty to apply was granted.
Legal Topics
['confidentiality of Proceedings' 'access to Court Documents' 'open Justice' 'public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (wa) S 16' 'federal Court Power to Make Interlocutory Orders']
['practice and Procedure' 'employment and Industrial Relations' 'public Interest Disclosure'] ['confidentiality of Proceedings' 'access to Court Documents' 'open Justice' 'public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (wa) S 16' 'federal Court Power to Make Interlocutory Orders']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Fair Work Division Proceeding Concerning Alleged Adverse Action and Alleged Contravention of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (wa) / Interlocutory Application Concerning Confidentiality and Disclosure in Proceedings

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the Court had power to make an order that neither s 16(1) nor s 16(3) of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (WA) prevented publication of information or documents deriving from the proceeding or reference to matters connected with the statement of claim.' 'Whether the discretion to make such an order should be exercised in light of open justice, risks to third parties, and the objects of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (WA).' 'Whether a notice should be affixed to filed documents warning non-parties about possible prohibitions on disclosure under s 16 of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (WA).']

Ratio Decidendi

Although the Court assumed in the applicant's favour that it had broad discretionary power to make an order affecting the operation of s 16 of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (WA), it was not a judicial exercise of that discretion to grant a blanket, pre-emptive exemption from s 16(3) that was unlimited as to time and divorced from particular disclosures, persons and circumstances. The PID Act's object of protecting the identity of persons in respect of whom disclosures have been made, together with the hypothetical nature of the identified risks and the availability of case by case mechanisms, meant the appropriate course was to warn persons accessing filed documents rather than...

Court Disposition

The interlocutory application filed on 14 June 2019 was otherwise dismissed, but directions were made requiring a warning notice to be affixed to filed documents and liberty to apply was granted.

Orders

  • ['All documents filed in court by the parties must contain on the front page the specified notice warning non-parties to consider obtaining legal advice before disclosing information in, from, or concerning the document because ss 16(1) and (3) of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (WA) may apply.' 'The...