Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003

If, in any legal proceeding, an issue arises relating to the disclosure of any information, document or other thing and (but for this section) a person would be entitled to require another person to disclose that information, document or thing, the court may excuse that person from the requirement to disclose if satisfied that—

the information, document or thing is counter-terrorism intelligence; and

the public interest in preserving secrecy or confidentiality outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Without limiting the matters the court may consider for the purposes of subsection (1), the court must consider the following—

the importance of the information, document or thing in the legal proceeding;

if the legal proceeding is a criminal proceeding, whether the party seeking disclosure is the accused or the prosecutor;

if the legal proceeding is a criminal appeal proceeding, including an application for leave to appeal, whether the party seeking disclosure was the accused or the prosecutor in the judgment or order from which the appeal is brought;

the nature of the offence, cause of action or defence to which the information, document or thing relates, and the nature of the subject matter of the proceeding;

the likely effect of disclosure of the information, document or thing and the means available to limit its publication;

whether the substance of the information, document or thing has already been disclosed;

if the proceeding is a criminal proceeding and the party seeking disclosure is the accused, whether the order is to be made subject to the condition that the prosecution be stayed.

In deciding whether to excuse a person under this section from a requirement to disclose, the court may inform itself in any way it thinks fit.

In this section—

inspection, production or discovery of documents; and

giving of evidence; and

answering of interrogatories; and

provision of particulars;