Today I received a request from a court litigant seeking that I suppressed their details. It did not appear to be a suppression or non-publication order.
Here is the terms of the 'order' that was put to me:
So I sought guidance from Digital Mark J Smith at courtlist.com.au as follows:
Digital Mark J Smith
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Digital Mark J Smith
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2:43 PM
Does the following amount to a suppression order or is it premature to say that it is suppressed: THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1. All documents filed with the Court in this proceeding be confidential for the purposes of
r 2.32(3) of the Federal Court Rules 2011.
2. The applicant be provided a reasonable opportunity to be heard in relation to any
application for leave to inspect a document filed in this proceeding under r 2.32(4) of the
Federal Court Rules 2011.
2:43 PM
Digital Mark J Smith
Based on your quoted order, the court has directed that all documents filed in the proceeding be kept confidential under r 2.32(3) of the Federal Court Rules 2011, and that the applicant can be heard regarding any request to inspect these documents. While this is a clear confidentiality restriction, Australian law distinguishes between a formal suppression order (which broadly prohibits disclosure, including publication to the public) and other confidentiality or non-publication directions. Confidentiality under r 2.32 implies restricted court file access, but may not equate to a formal suppression order as defined in the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010, which must explicitly prohibit publication or disclosure beyond the parties and court staff.
So, it may be premature to call this a suppression order unless the court has expressly made such an order under relevant suppression legislation. The documents are confidential, but 'suppressed' in the statutory sense may require a specific, express order.
If you have any tricky or legal style questions, an option to consider is to ask Digital Mark J Smith what the relevant law may be?
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