Re David, Alan and Mary and the Director General Family and Community Services [2014] NSWSC 1077

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Re David, Alan and Mary and the Director General Family and Community Services [2014] NSWSC 1077 Hearing dates: 6 November 2013, 10 February 2014 Date of orders: 03 November 2014 Decision date: 03 November 2014 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Slattery J Decision: See paragraph [119] Catchwords: EQUITY - confidentiality - breach of duty of confidentiality - defences - plaintiff seeks an injunction to prevent the defendant from disclosing information to the NSW Police - whether defendant is obliged under s 316 Crimes Act to disclose the information - whether the defendant has a "reasonable excuse" not to disclose the information Legislation Cited: Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998, ss, 23, 27, Chapter 16A, 90 Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss, 61, 66C, 316 Evidence Act 1995, ss 126B, 126F, 138, 128 Cases Cited: A v Hayden (No. 2) (1984) 156 CLR 532 Commonwealth v John Fairfax & Sons Limited (1981) 147 CLR 39 Herne v Street [2008] HCA Re David, Alan and Mary and the Director General, Family and Community Services [2013] NSWSC 1319 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: (Aunt) [not published] First Defendant: Director General, Family and Community Services Second Defendant: (Mother) [not published] Third Defendant: (Father) [not published] Fourth Defendant: Independent Children's Lawyer Ananda Hall Fifth Defendant: Children's Court NSW (Bidura) Sixth Defendant: (Grandmother) [not published] Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: M. W. Anderson First Defendant: K.J. Edwards Second Defendant: n/a. Third Defendant: S. M. Leis Fourth Defendant: R. Francois Fifth Defendant: n/a. Sixth Defendant: n/a.