AMI Australia Holdings Pty Ltd v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd

AMI Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, the owner of Sky News, sought an interlocutory injunction against Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd, preventing the publication of certain information concerning a parliamentary committee hearing. The Federal Court of Australia was tasked with deciding whether the injunction should be varied to permit the publication of a report of the hearing. The central issue for the Court was whether evidence based on parliamentary proceedings could be admitted in proceedings to which one of the parties to the parliamentary proceedings was not a party. The Court also had to determine whether such evidence would infringe section 16(3) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (Cth).

The Court held that the evidence in question was relevant and admissible, and did not infringe section 16(3) of the Act. The Court reasoned that the evidence was not being used to prove that something was said in Parliament, but rather to prove that something was said outside of Parliament. Therefore, it did not infringe the provisions of section 16(3) which prohibit the admissibility of evidence of what was said in parliamentary proceedings. The Court also found that the evidence was relevant to the issues in the case and could not be excluded on the basis of its origin. Consequently, the application to vary the interlocutory injunction was dismissed.

The Court's decision clarified the scope of section 16(3) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (Cth) and confirmed that evidence based on parliamentary proceedings can be admitted in proceedings to which one of the parties to the parliamentary proceedings is not a party, provided that the evidence is not being used to prove what was said in Parliament. The Court's decision also emphasised the importance of considering the relevance and admissibility of evidence when deciding whether to admit it in proceedings.