Section 5F of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) confers jurisdiction on the Court of Criminal Appeal to review both the making and refusal of non-publication orders in criminal proceedings. The exception to the open justice principle based on 'some other public interest for whose protection Parliament has modified the open justice rule' does not encompass all statutory protections of confidential information; the statutory protection must specifically modify the open justice rule. An offender's HIV status, while relevant to sentencing under R v Penalosa-Munoz, does not automatically warrant a non-publication order, particularly where the disclosure was voluntary, no evidence of specific harm was adduced, and suppression would impede the public's ability to understand the basis of sentencing.
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