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Practice Note Number 31

Publication, Anonymisation and Suppression: Guideline

Practice Note for Date:
08/11/2011


    ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS TRIBUNAL

    PUBLICATION, ANONYMISATION AND SUPPRESSION: GUIDELINE


    1. Purpose
    This Guideline provides information about publication, anonymisation and suppression of information by the Tribunal.

    2. Relevant Legislation
    The main provisions that apply are s75 and s126 of the     Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 (ADT Act).

    3. General Rule
    3.1     Publication of information by Tribunal. The Tribunal routinely publishes hearing lists and decisions.
    Hearing lists are published in the daily newspapers, on the Tribunal’s website and are displayed at the Tribunal. The Tribunal’s decisions are routinely published on the Tribunal’s website, on the CaseLaw NSW website and by other web based and text publishers.

    3.2 Publication of information by third parties. Hearings of the Tribunal are open to the public, including the media. Third parties can access documents or things in the registry with the permission of the Registrar in consultation with the President (rule 42). Generally these requests are only granted after the matter has finished. The kinds of documents provided may include pleadings, evidence, decisions and transcripts. Anyone can publish information about cases obtained either at a hearing or from documents made available by the Registrar unless specific legislation or a suppression order restricts publication.

    3.3 Request for non-publication. If a party or witness wishes to have all or part of the hearing held in private or any aspect of a case suppressed, including their name, they need to apply to the Tribunal (s75). The request should be in writing giving reasons to support it and a copy provided to the other party. The request must be made before the proceedings have finished.

    3.45 The Tribunal may make a suppression order of its own motion.

    4. Community Services Division, Guardianship and Protected Estates List and Privacy Matters
    4.1 Statutory restrictions (s126) apply to publication by persons (other than the Tribunal) in certain types of cases. These include:
      proceedings in the Community Services Division of the Tribunal,

      appeals to an Appeal Panel from a decision made by the Tribunal in the Community Services Division,
      proceedings in relation to an external appeal made under section 67A of the Guardianship Act 1987 or s 50 of the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009,
      proceedings in relation to a reviewable decision made under the s 62 or 70 of the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009;
      other proceedings that may be prescribed by the regulations.

    4.2 Additionally it is the Tribunal’s policy to anonymise the name of the applicant in certain types of cases. The applicant’s name is replaced with a set of initials that are not those of the applicant. In some instances this anonymisation will extend to other parties or witnesses in the case, depending on the circumstances. Anonymisation routinely occurs in the following matters:
      under the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998: the applicant’s name is anonymised in lists and decisions. Also relevant is section 578A of the Crimes Act 1900 which prohibits the publication of any matter, which identifies, or is likely to lead to, the identification of the complainant victim in a prescribed sexual offence.
      under the Guardianship Act 1987 and the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009: the person the subject of the order and any family members’ names are anonymised in lists and decisions.
      in all applications under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 the applicants’ names are anonymised in lists and decisions. An applicant may agree to having his or her name published.

    5. Government Information (Public Access) Act Matters
    In those applications under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 involving the revelation of an individual’s personal information the practice is to consider the question of anonymisation or suppression at the first planning meeting. The Tribunal lists will show the applicant’s name until a decision is made about anonymisation, or a suppression order is sought (see 3.3).



    Issued: 11August 2011
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