Hocking v Director-General of the National Archives of Australia [2019] FCAFC 12

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Hocking v Director-General of the National Archives of Australia [2019] FCAFC 12 Appeal from: Hocking v Director-General of National Archives of Australia [2018] FCA 340

File number: NSD 530 of 2018

Judges: ALLSOP CJ, FLICK AND ROBERTSON JJ

Date of judgment: 8 February 2019

Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – applicant sought access under the Archives Act 1983 (Cth) (the Act) to records, being the originals of correspondence received by, and contemporaneously made copies of correspondence sent by, the former Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, or his Official Secretary, to and from The Queen by means of Her Private Secretary – whether those records a "Commonwealth record", being records that were the property of the Commonwealth, such that public access to them was governed by Div 3 of Pt V of the Act CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – consideration of relationship between the Governor-General and the Commonwealth – consideration of relationship between the Governor-General and The Queen of Australia

Legislation: Archives Act 1983 (Cth) ss 2A, 3, 5, 6, 31, 33, 36, 56, 58 Australian Constitution ss 2, 61

Cases cited: Kline v Official Secretary to the Governor General [2013] HCA 52; 249 CLR 645 Nixon v Sampson 389 F. Supp. 107 (1975) Sue v Hill [1999] HCA 30; 199 CLR 462 United States v First Trust Company of St Paul 251 F.2d 686 (1958) Twomey A, The Veiled Sceptre: Reserve Powers of Heads of State in Westminster Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2018) Watts P and Reynolds FMB, Bowstead and Reynolds on Agency (21st ed, Thomson Reuters, 2018)