Marshall v Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (No 4)

[2026] VSC 659

Supreme Court of Victoria

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

1. Open Courts
1. Redactions or addendum to judgment
1. Whether redaction or addendum an appropriate measure in the administration of justice
1. IBAC tendered evidence of the information considered by IBAC in reaching a reasonable suspicion as to corrupt conduct to third parties

Where a judgment refers to evidence of unsubstantiated allegations against non-parties who had no opportunity to be heard in the proceeding, and those allegations were never put to them during the underlying investigation, the court may add an explanatory addendum to the judgment to prevent it being misunderstood to the prejudice of those non-parties.
An investigative body tendering decision records in judicial review proceedings has an obligation to alert the court where allegations contained in those records were not put to the persons concerned during the investigation, so that the court can frame its reasons appropriately.
Redaction of a published judgment is a measure of last resort, but limited redaction is warranted where allegations were never put to a non-party, the addendum alone is insufficient to prevent quotation out of context, and the non-party's reputational and health interests would be harmed.