austlii:cth/HCASJ/2025/26
General information, not legal advice.
HCASJ
2025-08-27
Shariff JJ, Dowling J, Gleeson J
Original judgment source is linked above.
E M Nekvapil SC and E A Brumby with J R G Blaker for the plaintiff (instructed by Victoria Legal Aid)
P D Herzfeld SC with C M R Ernst for the first and second defendants (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)
"What is at stake [in the main proceedings] is scrutiny of exercises of public power that resulted in the [plaintiff] being deprived of his liberty for two and a half years, in circumstances where ultimately the asserted justification for that deprivation of liberty was not maintained."
The primary judge's decision to uphold the PII claims
"[I]n addition to the plaintiff's existing legal team, security-cleared counsel, Dr James Renwick SC and Ms Sarah Zeleznikow, would be briefed by the plaintiff on an undertaking to represent the interests of the plaintiff in those parts of his case requiring the use of material over which the Director-General has claimed [PII]. The undertaking would prohibit Dr Renwick SC and Ms Zeleznikow from disclosing that material to any person other than in closed court and subject to suppression or confidentiality orders made pursuant to [the FCA Act] or other relevant legislation."
"[I]t is fundamental to the effective operation of ASIO that the following matters be kept in the strictest possible secrecy: the specific details of ASIO's areas of interests; the identity of the subjects of security interest; the degree of ASIO's ability to obtain intelligence in relation to those subjects; ASIO's sources (including human sources); ASIO's investigative techniques; ASIO's technical capabilities and work methods; and ASIO's successes and the information derived from its successes."
The Full Court's decision to refuse leave to appeal
"Not only are we not satisfied that the primary judge's decision is attended by sufficient doubt to warrant our consideration, having ourselves examined the [c]onfidential [d]ocuments and considered the Noyes confidential affidavit (provided to us under strict security arrangements on a read and return basis), as well as the Noyes open affidavit, we concur in the view that the PII claims should be upheld."
"The applicant submitted that refusing to grant leave to appeal would lead to an extraordinary outcome which would leave the applicant without access to documents that are critical to his case and in seeking to hold the Director-General to account for an alleged infringement of his civil liberties. The primary judge was conscious of this fact, as are we. The outcome here is fact dependent. The upholding of any claim for PII necessarily weighs in favour of one aspect of public interest over another. In the present case, it is our assessment of the facts that the balance weighed in favour of upholding the PII claim and the primary judge's decision in this regard was not attended by sufficient doubt to warrant the grant of leave to appeal. As we have separately considered and upheld the claim for PII, nor is there any relevant injustice in refusing leave to appeal as the outcome could not have been different."
The plaintiff's application for a constitutional or other writ
"[A]s a step in reasoning for refusing leave to appeal, the Full Court 'separately considered and upheld' the Director-General's 'claim to PII' ... In purporting so to decide, the Full Court exceeded its jurisdiction under s 24(1A) of the [FCA Act], which was only to decide the question of leave upon forming an opinion of the merits of the proposed appeal (and not separately to uphold any claim). Because the Full Court refused leave on the premise of that ultra vires decision-making, the Full Court's decision to refuse leave was itself beyond jurisdiction. These also were errors of law on the face of the record, amenable to correction by certiorari."
"[A]ny statement of the matters which would justify granting leave to appeal must be subject to one important qualification which applies to all cases. It is this. The court will examine each case and, unless the circumstances are exceptional, it will not grant leave if it forms a clear opinion adverse to the success of the proposed appeal."
"If, as the Court of Appeal concluded, there was 'no basis for the making of the orders to suppress indefinitely the matters encompassed by the orders', it was open to that court to conclude that the application for leave to appeal should fail. A conclusion that an order from which leave to appeal is sought is plainly right does not constitute some impermissible foray into issues that would arise only on a grant of leave and the hearing of an appeal. It is no more than an emphatic rejection of one aspect of the argument that must be made in support of a grant of leave." (citations omitted)
"[T]he Full Court did not satisfy the following condition on its jurisdiction to decide the question of leave. Namely, that it decide that question on the basis that there was a prima facie case for the grant of leave because the interlocutory decision sought to be appealed has a significant impact upon the scope and outcome of the proceedings."
[1] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38.
[2] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130.
[3] A procedure described by the Full Court at [1] as "bear[ing] some resemblance to that proposed by the defendants in Al Rawi v Security Service [2011] UKSC 34; [2012] 1 AC 531".
[4] High Court Rules 2004 (Cth), r 25.09.2.
[5] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2023] FCA 1344 at [3(g)].
[6] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2023] FCA 1344 at [3(h)].
[7] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2023] FCA 1344 at [3(j)]- [3(l)]; AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [3(c)]- [3(e)].
[8] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2023] FCA 1344.
[9] Director-General of Security v AIX20 [2024] FCA 88.
[10] Director-General of Security v AIX20 [2024] FCA 88 at [36].
[11] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [8].
[12] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [15].
[13] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [32].
[14] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [33].
[15] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [52].
[17] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [17]- [18], [35]. See also Alister v The Queen (1984)154 CLR 404 at 455.
[18] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [37]- [39].
[19] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [39].
[20] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [45].
[21] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [46]- [53].
[22] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [13], citing Décor Corporation Pty Ltd v Dart Industries Inc (1991) 33 FCR 397 at 398.
[23] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [14], [30], [37].
[24] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [15].
[25] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [18].
[26] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [39].
[27] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [39].
[28] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [42].
[29] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [43].
[30] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [43].
[31] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [44].
[32] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [45].
[33] Thomas Borthwick & Sons (Pacific Holdings) Ltd v Trade Practices Commission (1988) 18 FCR 424 at 431, cited in Re Golding [2020] HCA 38; (2020) 94 ALJR 1014 at 1016 [6].
[34] [1936] HCA 67; (1936) 56 CLR 221 at 225.
[35] cf Contender 1 Ltd v LEP International Pty Ltd [1988] HCA 60; (1988) 63 ALJR 26 at 29; [1988] HCA 60; 82 ALR 394 at 400; McGraw-Hill Financial, Inc v Mitsub Pty Ltd (2017) 347 ALR 18 at 34 [65]-[67].
[36] [2005] HCA 18; (2005) 79 ALJR 881 at 886 [31]; [2005] HCA 18; 214 ALR 422 at 428-429.
[37] cf Tu'uta Katoa v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2022] HCA 28; (2022) 276 CLR 579 at 592 [19].
[38] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [44], cf Ex parte Bucknell [1936] HCA 67; (1936) 56 CLR 221 at 225.
[39] cf North Ganalanja Aboriginal Corporation v Queensland (1996)185 CLR 595 at 642-643.
[40] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [44].
[41] Décor Corporation Pty Ltd v Dart Industries Inc (1991) 33 FCR 397 at 398.
[42] Melbourne City Investments Pty Ltd v Treasury Wine Estates Ltd [2017] FCAFC 98; (2017) 252 FCR 1 at 4 [3].
[43] See, eg, Ex parte Bucknell [1936] HCA 67; (1936) 56 CLR 221 at 225.
[44] cf AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [30].
[45] AIX20 v Director-General of Security (No 2) [2024] FCA 1130 at [52].
[46] AIX20 v Director-General of Security [2025] FCAFC 38 at [44].
AIX20
Director General of Security & Ors [2025] HCASJ 26
(2007) 241 ALR 141
(1991) 33 FCR 397
(1988) 18 FCR 424
(2020) 94 ALJR 1014
(1936) 56 CLR 221
(1988) 63 ALJR 26
(2017) 347 ALR 18
(2005) 79 ALJR 881
(2022) 276 CLR 579
(2017) 252 FCR 1