Whether the prospective applicant should be permitted to rely upon documents the subject of a Harman obligation; and whether the prospective applicant reasonably believes he may have the right to obtain relief against the prospective respondent
42 Whether the prospective applicant can establish that he reasonably believes he may have the right to obtain relief against the prospective respondent will largely depend upon whether he is permitted to rely upon several documents the subject of a Harman obligation to the Supreme Court of Queensland. Accordingly, it is convenient to consider the second and third issues identified above together.
43 As r 7.23(1)(a) of the Rules requires a prospective applicant to establish that they reasonably believe they may have the right to obtain relief, the prospective applicant should identify the prospective right to obtain relief. This is somewhat difficult to discern from the prospective applicant's material.
44 The prospective applicant has filed an affidavit annexing a draft proposed application under s 5 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) (the ADJR Act). At the hearing, the prospective applicant handed up a document entitled, "Overview of the violation of enacted protection mechanisms within Commonwealth statute being the Australian Crime Commission Act" (the Overview Document). I understand the Overview Document to describe grounds upon which the prospective applicant may allege that his compulsory examination was conducted in contravention of the ACC Act and the relief he may seek in respect of such contraventions. I understand that document to have overtaken his draft ADJR Act application.
45 The Overview Document was accompanied by a series of documents, described by the prospective applicant as Exhibits 1-30. The contents of those documents are described in the Overview Document. As it appeared that some of those documents may have been the subject of Harman obligations, I made an interim order pursuant to s 37AF of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (the Federal Court Act) that the Overview Document and the accompanying documents not be disclosed to any person other than the prospective respondent without further order of the Court. It is now apparent that some parts of the Overview Document can be published without revealing the contents of the documents it describes.
46 In the Overview Document, the prospective applicant states, relevantly:
9. The relief and adjudication sought of the Court through a pending application under s. 57 of the ACC Act, substituting s. 11(1)(c) of the Act, which will be joined with a parallel application under 39B(1A) of the Judiciary Act 1903, is to determine ultimately and conclusively the level of unlawfulness and the accumulative effect (or as a whole) of such unlawfulness in the violation of the protection mechanisms or safeguards enacted under provisions ss. 24A, 28 (7), 28(1), 25A(3), 25A (7), 25A(9), 25A(12), 25A (13), 25A(14) and 30(5) within Commonwealth Statute (the ACC Act), has or has had upon the accusatorial nature of the criminal trail process and Constitutional right to a fair trial according to law.
10. If the Court is of the belief there are or were violations of protection mechanisms or safeguards within the ACC Act, exist in fact and declarations are made inconsideration to those violations of protection mechanisms or safeguards, within enacted provisions Commonwealth statute (the ACC Act), the question that will arise for this Court to consider within a parallel application, under provisions within 39B (1A) of the Judiciary Act 1903 are;
- Draft only Question 1/ - Does the cumulative effect of the multitude of violations of protection mechanisms or safeguards enacted within Commonwealth statute (the ACC Act) result in "gross unlawfulness" apt to bring the administration of justice into disrepute?
- Draft only Question 2/ - Does the cumulative effect of the multitude of violations of protection mechanisms or safeguards enacted within Commonwealth statute (the ACC Act) result in a "defect in the process so profound as to offend the integrity and functions of the Court"?
- Draft only Question 3/ - Has the constitutional validity of a fair trial according to law been violated by the accumulative effect of the multitude of violations of protection mechanisms or safeguards enacted within Commonwealth statute (the ACC Act) implemented by Parliament to protect and uphold that constitutional entrenched fair trial right?
11. Moreover a "Writ of Mandamus" will be sought once declaration is made, pertaining to the highly prevalent suggestion that fraud exists. The Prospective applicant will assert within grounds, as the High Court has in many a case stated:
- A decision which involves fraud is "regarded in law, as no decision at all".
- Fraud "unravels everything" or "vitiates all judgements", once it is proved.
(Footnotes omitted.)
47 Section 57 of the ACC Act operates to require that an application for an order of review under the ADJR Act in respect of a matter arising under the ACC Act be lodged for filing within five business days after the prospective applicant becomes aware of the matter, or within any further period allowed by a court in special circumstances. The prospective applicant foreshadows that he may apply for an extension of time and other relief under the ADJR Act and for relief under s 39B of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth).
48 As I understand it, the relief the prospective applicant asserts he may claim includes declarations that the ACC contravened ss 24A, 28(1), (7), 25A(3), (7), (9), (12), (13), (14), 30(5) and 49 of the ACC Act, and declarations about the effect of such contraventions upon the validity of the criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of Queensland. The prospective applicant may also seek mandamus, although he has not specified against whom that order will be sought and what unperformed duties might be ordered to be performed.
49 The Overview Document sets out the allegations of contraventions of the ACC Act that the prospective applicant may make and the material upon which he claims to have formed a reasonable belief that he may have a right to obtain relief in respect of those contraventions. The prospective applicant's claims of possible contraventions may be summarised as follows:
(1) Section 28(1) provides that an examiner may summon a person to appear before an examiner at an examination. The prospective applicant alleges that although the summons issued required him to attend for examination on 22 October 2010, he was in fact required to give evidence on 28 October 2010. The prospective applicant relies, in part, upon a transcript of the compulsory examination to establish that he has a reasonable belief that he may have the right to obtain relief in respect of contraventions of this provision.
(2) Section 24A provides that an examiner may conduct an examination, "for the purposes of a special ACC operation/investigation". Section 28(1A) provided that, "before issuing a summons … the examiner must be satisfied that it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so". Section 28(7) provides that, "the powers conferred by this section are not exercisable except for the purposes of a special ACC operation/investigation". The prospective applicant proposes to allege that when the summons was issued, there was no special ACC operation/investigation, the only investigation on foot being one conducted by the Australian Federal Police (the AFP). The prospective applicant relies upon correspondence between staff of the ACC and the AFP to establish that he has a reasonable belief that these provisions may have been contravened. In Strickland (A Pseudonym) v Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (2018) 266 CLR 325, the High Court held at [71]-[73] and [130] that the ACC does not have power to conduct a coercive examination for the purposes of assisting a police investigation.
(3) Section 49 provides, relevantly, that, "the ACC shall be assisted in the performance of its functions by … members of the Australian Federal Police whose services are made available to the ACC". The prospective applicant asserts that he will swear that he was, "never provided with the ACC summons (0416/10) at the time of service", by, "the purported seconded AFP officer". He seeks documents, "requesting the AFP services being made available or seconded to the ACC". It is quite unclear as to how the prospective applicant claims that s 49 may have been contravened. The prospective applicant relies upon the summons to establish that he has a reasonable belief that he may have the right to obtain relief in respect of contraventions of that provision.
(4) Section 25A(3) provides that an examination, "must be held in private and the examiner may give directions as to the persons who may be present during the examination or a part of the examination". Section 25A(7) provides that if a person other than a member of the staff of the ACC is present at an examination, the examiner must inform the witness that the person is present and give the witness an opportunity to comment on the presence of the person. Section 25A(14) makes it an offence for a person to be present at an examination unless entitled to be present by reason of a direction given by the examiner. The prospective applicant relies upon a transcript of the compulsory examination and communications between staff of the ACC and the AFP to assert that some 16 AFP officers were "clandestinely viewing" the examination without authorisation from the examiner.
(5) Section 25A(9) of the ACC Act provided, relevantly, that an examiner may direct that any evidence given before the examiner or the contents of any documents produced to the examiner must not be published except to such persons as the examiner specifies. In a hearing before Ann Lyons J, the prosecutor indicated that he had, and could hand up, two of the co-accused's ACC examinations that had been transcribed and compact discs of the video of the remaining material. The prospective applicant alleges that the CDPP and the prosecutor were in possession of the transcript of his examination in contravention of s 25A(9). The prospective applicant relies, in part, upon a transcript of the examination hearing.
(6) Section 30(5) of the ACC Act provides that the answer to a question asked in a compulsory examination, "is not admissible in evidence against the person in … a criminal proceeding". The prospective applicant claims that a transcript of his compulsory examination was used in the hearing before Ann Lyons J in contravention of that provision. To establish that matter, he relies upon extracts from a restricted transcript of the hearing before Ann Lyons J.
(7) Underlying these claims is the fact that, despite the ACC Act not authorising an examiner to require a person charged with a Commonwealth indictable offence to answer questions about the subject matter of the charged offence, the prospective applicant's compulsory examination was conducted after he had been charged.
50 At this stage, it is necessary to consider the provenance of some of the documents the prospective applicant relies upon to assert the reasonableness of his belief that there may have been contraventions of the ACC Act giving rise to a right to obtain relief. Those documents include a transcript of the compulsory examination, correspondence between staff of the ACC and the AFP, and a "restricted" transcript of proceedings before Ann Lyons J in the criminal proceeding.
51 On 12 September 2012, the prospective applicant issued a subpoena directed to the ACC in the criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of Queensland requiring the production of various documents, including documents evidencing dealings between the ACC and the AFP relating to the prospective applicant's examination, a transcript of the compulsory examination and documents identifying AFP members involved in the examination and any non-publication and dissemination directions made by the ACC. A number of documents were produced to the Court by the ACC.
52 On 19 September 2012, Ann Lyons J ordered that the documents supplied in response to the subpoena be placed in an envelope and marked, "Not to be opened without an order of the Court or a Judge", and that the prospective applicant be permitted to copy and uplift those documents.
53 On 29 January 2013, Ann Lyons J ordered, pursuant to s 25A(12) of the ACC Act, that a certificate issue requiring the evidence given before the examiner to be produced to the Court. Her Honour also ordered, pursuant to s 25A(13) of the ACC Act, that the evidence be made available to the prospective applicant's legal practitioners.
54 On 30 January 2013, Ann Lyons J ordered that the ACC provide further documents pursuant to the subpoena and that the prospective applicant's legal representatives be permitted to copy and inspect those documents.
55 On 23 April 2013, Ann Lyons J made consent orders stipulating that the transcript of the compulsory examination produced by the ACC on 29 January 2013 to the prospective applicant's counsel was not to be disclosed or used except by further order of the Court.
56 On 29 August 2014, the prospective applicant issued a subpoena directed to the ACC requiring production of further documents. On 6 November 2014, Mullins J (as her Honour then was) ordered the production of some documents to the prospective applicant pursuant to that subpoena.
57 The prospective applicant relies upon documents to establish the reasonableness of his belief that there may have been contraventions of the ACC Act which include communications between the staff of the ACC and the AFP and the examination transcript. He has not directly admitted that he obtained these documents following their production to the Supreme Court pursuant to the subpoenas of 12 September 2012 and 29 August 2014 and the certificate issued on 29 January 2013. However, the applicant has not explained the source of those documents. The orders of 19 September 2012 and 29 and 30 January 2013 permitted the prospective applicant or his lawyers to access those documents. In the absence of any such explanation, I infer that he obtained those documents as a result of the production of the documents under the processes of the Supreme Court.
58 The prospective applicant also relies upon extracts of a transcript of a hearing before Ann Lyons J. The extracts are stamped "Restricted". I infer that her Honour made an order restricting publication of the transcript to the parties to the criminal proceedings or their lawyers. That order has not been placed before the Court.
59 In Harman v Secretary of State for Home Department [1983] 1 AC 280, the House of Lords identified a doctrine that has become known as the "Harman obligation". That doctrine was summarised by Hayne, Heydon and Crennan JJ in Hearne v Street (2008) 235 CLR 125 at [96] as follows:
Where one party to litigation is compelled, either by reason of a rule of court, or by reason of a specific order of the court, or otherwise, to disclose documents or information, the party obtaining the disclosure cannot, without the leave of the court, use it for any purpose other than that for which it was given unless it is received into evidence. The types of material disclosed to which this principle applies include documents inspected after discovery, answers to interrogatories, documents produced on subpoena, documents produced for the purposes of taxation of costs, documents produced pursuant to a direction from an arbitrator, documents seized pursuant to an Anton Piller order, witness statements served pursuant to a judicial direction and affidavits.
(Citations omitted.)
60 The rationale for the obligation was explained by Lord Denning MR in Riddick v Thames Board Mills Ltd [1977] QB 881 at 896:
Compulsion is an invasion of a private right to keep one's documents to oneself. The public interest in privacy and confidence demands that this compulsion should not be pressed further than the course of justice requires. The courts should, therefore, not allow the other party - or anyone else - to use the documents for any ulterior or alien purpose. Otherwise the courts themselves would be doing injustice.
61 The obligation is owed to the court, not merely to the party producing the documents, and it is generally for the court to control, modify or release a party from the implied undertaking: Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd v Lovell (1998) 19 WAR 316 at 321, 338. Breach of the obligation is punishable as a contempt of court: see, for example, Harman at 313, Hearne at [126].
62 The range of circumstances that may constitute a breach of the obligation are broad. Any use that would, "promote some private interest ... not within the parameters of the action which brought about their disclosure" would breach the obligation: Bailey v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [1995] 1 Qd R 476 at 485. Use in subsequent or separate proceedings may be a breach of the obligation: Holpitt Pty Ltd v Varimu Pty Ltd (1991) 29 FCR 576 at 578.
63 In Holpitt, the applicants in a proceeding before the Federal Court filed a notice of motion seeking to use documents obtained on discovery in other proceedings before the Federal Court. Justice Burchett indicated at 577 that the notice of motion, "should properly have been taken out in the proceedings in which the implied undertaking to the court was given". However, his Honour considered it appropriate to determine the application as all parties had agreed to that course and as both proceedings were in the Federal Court.
64 In Commissioner of Taxation v Rawson Finances Pty Ltd [2015] FCA 628, the applicant sought leave to use in a proceeding in the Federal Court, parts of the respondent's affidavit filed in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Justice Flick, relying on Holpitt at 577 and Transfield Philippines Inc v Pacific Hydro Ltd [2006] VSC 175 at [133]-[134], held at [7] that any application for a party to be relieved from the implied undertaking should be made in the proceedings in which the undertaking was given. His Honour evidently did not regard the application as one for relief from the implied undertaking since he proceeded to determine the application. His Honour concluded at [14] that, "the good administration of justice requires that the leave sought by the Commissioner should be granted".
65 In Transfield Philippines Inc, Hollingworth J observed at [113] that her Honour was unaware of a case where a court had determined an application to be released from the implied undertaking given to a different court. Her Honour was not persuaded that the Court had "inherent jurisdiction" to release a party from the implied undertaking.
66 In Patrick v Capital Finance Pty Ltd (No 4) [2003] FCA 436, the applicant sought to rely upon a letter discovered in County Court proceedings to demonstrate the inadequacy of the respondent's discovery in Federal Court proceedings. Justice Tamberlin referred to Esso Australia Resources Ltd v Plowman (1995) 183 CLR 10 at 33, where Mason CJ (Dawson and McHugh JJ agreeing) observed:
No doubt the implied obligation must yield to inconsistent statutory provisions and to the requirements of curial process in other litigation, eg discovery and inspection, but that circumstance is not a reason for denying the existence of the implied obligation.
67 Justice Tamberlin held at [20]:
There is a clash of two important public interest considerations in this case. First, there is the public interest in protecting the discovery process in the interest of encouraging openness and frankness in discovery made in the County Court proceeding by way of consistent and effectively enforced assurance to the party faced with compulsory discovery that the documents will not be used for any other purpose than the purpose for which they were discovered in that court. Second, there is the competing important public interest in the due and proper administration of justice in the proceedings before this Court by ensuring compliance with its orders. In these circumstances if the document was one which ought to have been discovered I am not persuaded either as a matter of power, discretion or comity that release of the undertaking must or should be first obtained from the County Court.
68 In Australian Medic-Care Co Ltd v Hamilton Pharmaceutical Pty Ltd (No 3) [2008] FCA 976, Lander J ordered discovery and production for inspection of two witness statements created for the purposes of other proceedings. The respondent sought an order for inspection of the witness statements produced by the applicant and another party to proceedings in Hong Kong. The other party in the Hong Kong proceedings raised no objection. The applicant sought to rely upon the Harman obligation owed to the Hong Kong court to resist the production of the witness statements. His Honour, referring to the dicta of Mason CJ in Esso, held:
[20] The point which the Chief Justice made and which was applied in Patrick v Capital Finance Pty Ltd (No 4) [2003] FCA 436 is that, notwithstanding the implied undertaking, if rules of court of a jurisdiction apply to a party who has a document in that party's possession by reason of a process in another jurisdiction, that party is still obliged to comply with the processes in the second jurisdiction and make discovery of the document if it be an application for discovery and production if production follows upon discovery. For that reason, in my opinion, the document should be produced.
[21] Secondly, there has been no suggestion made by the applicant that the applicant could not obtain a release from the implied undertaking in the High Court of Hong Kong. Indeed, the applicant has sought and obtained a release in relation to other documents.
…
[22] Whilst those documents are subject to the implied undertaking referred to in O 24 r 14A of the Hong Kong Rules, in my opinion, consistent with the decisions in Esso Australia Resources Limited v Plowman 183 CLR 10 and Patrick v Capital Finance Pty Ltd (No 4) [2003] FCA 436, the applicant should make production of those documents in this jurisdiction. No doubt the applicant will, at or before making production, apply to the High Court of Hong Kong for a release from the implied undertaking in relation to those documents. I should say that the defendants in the Hong Kong proceedings have indicated they have no objection to the documents being produced.
69 In Clifford v Vegas Enterprises Pty Ltd [2009] FCA 1204, the respondent sought discovery in Federal Court proceedings of all documents and evidence filed in the Family Court relating to certain shares. Justice Barker ordered that the Family Court documents should be discovered. His Honour said at [30]:
Even without the existence of the public domain exception, this Court has the power to grant leave for the documents used in the Family Court proceedings to be used in this Court.
(Citations omitted.)
70 In Bondelmonte v Bondelmonte [2017] FamCA 924; (2017) 57 Fam LR 567, Watts J had ordered that the registrar of the Family Court request that a Federal Court file be produced to the Family Court, and the file was duly produced. The wife made an application to the Family Court for an order allowing her to inspect the file. His Honour at [78] considered that a question arose, "as to whether this court has the implied power to release the wife from the Harman obligation owed to the Federal Court". His Honour held at [94] that the Family Court had an implied power to facilitate the expeditious and just conduct of the case by making an order allowing the wife, a party to the proceedings, to inspect the documents. His Honour decided to exercise that power in circumstances where the wife's application to the Federal Court for access to documents produced by the husband in that Court had not been resolved.
71 These cases have generally distinguished between, on one hand, an application to a court for release of a party from an implied undertaking given to a different court and, on the other hand, an application to a court to use in that court documents that are the subject of an implied undertaking given to a different court. In the former case, the application should properly be made to the court to which the undertaking was given. In the latter case, the court to which the application is made may allow use of the documents in its discretion. The use of such documents has been allowed where, for example, doing so is, "in the interests of justice", or, "in the good administration of justice", or is to, "facilitate the expeditious and just conduct of the case".
72 In the present case, the prospective applicant seeks to make use of documents that are subject to an implied undertaking given by him to the Supreme Court of Queensland. The question is not whether the prospective applicant should be released from the undertaking given to the Supreme Court. It is whether the prospective applicant should be permitted to rely upon the documents in circumstances where the prospective applicant has not sought or obtained a release of the implied undertaking from the Supreme Court.
73 This is not a case comparable to Patrick v Capital Finance where the Federal Court allowed the use of a document discovered in a proceeding in another court in order to ensure compliance with the Federal Court's orders for discovery. Nor is it a case like Australian Medic-Care where the party whose document was subject to an undertaking in another court did not object to its production and where it was anticipated that an application for release from the undertaking would subsequently be made to the other court and would be uncontroversial. Nor is it a case like Bondelmonte where inspection of documents was allowed where there would otherwise be an unwarranted delay in seeking a release of the undertaking from the other court.
74 The prospective applicant asserts that he applied to the Court of Appeal for release from his Harman obligation. He points to a transcript of an application before McMurdo JA where he sought that all documents concerning him held within the Court's sealed files be made available to him for preparation and presentation before the High Court. Justice McMurdo indicated that he would be prepared to make such an order subject to ascertaining the attitude of the ACC. That was not, however, an application to allow the prospective applicant to use such documents for the purpose of his application for preliminary discovery in this Court.
75 The prospective applicant has not explained why he has not sought release of his undertaking to the Supreme Court of Queensland to enable him to use the relevant documents in his application for preliminary discovery. Nor has he suggested that there is any obstacle to making an application for that release. In addition, a number of the documents the prospective applicant wishes to rely upon in support of his application for preliminary discovery appear to be the subject of extant non-publication orders made by the Supreme Court, including a specific order stipulating that the transcript of the compulsory examination not be disclosed or used except by further order of the Supreme Court. The prospective applicant should not be permitted to act inconsistently with the orders of the Supreme Court by making use in this proceeding of documents subject to those orders. In my opinion, the prospective applicant should not be permitted to rely upon the documents the subject of the prospective applicant's Harman obligation to the Supreme Court unless and until he is released from that obligation by that Court.
76 I have summarised the prospective applicant's Overview Document in which he describes his claims of possible contraventions of the ACC Act and the material upon which he claims to have formed a reasonable belief that he may have a right to obtain relief in respect of those contraventions.
77 In respect of the prospective applicant's allegations of possible contraventions of ss 24A, 28(1), 28(1A), 28(7), 25A(3), (7), (9), (14) and 30(5) of the ACC Act, the prospective applicant seeks to rely upon the transcript of his compulsory examination, correspondence between the staff of the ACC and the AFP, or the "restricted" transcript of proceedings before the Supreme Court. However, I decline to allow the prospective applicant to rely upon those documents.
78 It is necessary to examine whether there is any other evidence before the Court that establishes reasonable grounds for the prospective applicant's belief that the ACC Act may have been breached. In my opinion, no reasonable grounds for any such belief have been established in respect of ss 24A, 28(1), 28(1A), 28(7), 25A(3), (7), (9), (14) and 30(5) of the ACC Act.
79 There are two allegations of possible contraventions of the ACC Act which do not rely upon documents that are the subject of Harman obligations owed to the Supreme Court.
80 The first is the prospective applicant's allegation of contravention of s 49 of the ACC Act, which provides, relevantly, that, "the ACC shall be assisted in the performance of its functions by … members of the Australian Federal Police whose services are made available to the ACC". The prospective applicant seems to allege that although he was served with the examination summons, he was "never provided with" the summons by the "purported seconded AFP officer". He may be asserting that he ought to have been left with a copy of the summons, or that the AFP officer was not in fact seconded to the ACC, or both. He seeks to rely upon a copy of the summons apparently produced by the ACC under subpoena in the criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court. However, a solicitor for the ACC has voluntarily annexed a copy of the summons to an affidavit read in the application for preliminary discovery. That copy is not subject to any Harman obligation and can be taken into account. Nevertheless, it is quite unclear as to how it is the prospective applicant asserts that s 49 may have been contravened. I am not satisfied that the prospective applicant has demonstrated any reasonable grounds for his belief that there may have been a contravention of s 49 of the ACC Act.
81 Secondly, I am satisfied that the prospective applicant has demonstrated reasonable grounds for his belief that there was no lawful basis for his compulsory examination in circumstances where he had been charged prior to that examination. I accept that in proceedings under s 5(1) of the ADJR Act and s 39B of the Judiciary Act, the prospective applicant may establish a basis for a declaration that the examiner had no lawful authority to conduct the compulsory examination. The grant of declaratory relief is discretionary and the court should generally be satisfied, at least, that the question is a real and not merely a hypothetical or theoretical one before making such an order: Ainsworth v Criminal Justice Commission (1992) 175 CLR 564 at 581-582; Forster v Jododex Australia Pty Ltd (1972) 127 CLR 421 at 437-438. In the present case, it seems doubtful that the prospective applicant could establish any practical benefit from the making of a declaration that there was no lawful authority to conduct the compulsory examination, particularly when that was accepted by the Supreme Court in the criminal proceedings. Nevertheless, I am unable to exclude the possibility that such a declaration may be made. I accept that the prospective applicant has shown reasonable grounds for the belief that he may have a right to obtain relief in respect of the unlawfulness of the compulsory examination.