Where Cabinet documents relate solely or substantially to a particular commercial contract and the dispute arising from it, do not concern policy, and are not current or controversial, the public interest in the due administration of justice may outweigh the public interest in preserving Cabinet confidentiality, even though the documents were used in the preparation of Cabinet Minutes. However, records of actual Cabinet deliberations and decisions retain their pre-eminent claim to confidentiality and require exceptional circumstances for disclosure. The Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 130 and 131A, are not engaged where the entity claiming the immunity is not the person subject to the disclosure requirement, even if the disclosing entity has the status of the Crown.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 56 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 56 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.