The Court held that ongoing suppression orders over NDIA's internal CRA Calculator Tool spreadsheets were necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice under s 37AG(1)(a) of the Federal Court of Australia Act, primarily because the material originated under a confidentiality order of the former Administrative Appeals Tribunal that remained extant and unchallenged, and permitting publication would create an inconsistency between the two regimes that could bring the administration of justice into disrepute. Charlesworth J rejected the proposition that the open justice principle is only engaged when material is used in open court, holding instead that it applies from the moment documents are lodged or filed, though its weight varies with the circumstances. The Court also held that neither the Privacy Act nor the NDIS Act confidentiality provisions independently justified suppression, and that the risk of confusion or inconvenience to other NDIS participants from disclosure did not meet the necessity threshold.
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