BTJ17 & Ors v Minister for Immigration & Anor (No.2)

This matter concerned an application by the applicants, BTJ17 and others, for a non-publication order under section 88F of the *Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999* (Cth) in proceedings against the Minister for Immigration and another. The application sought to prevent the publication of certain information relating to the applicants.

The central legal issue before Cameron J was whether the court should exercise its discretion to grant a non-publication order under section 88F of the Act. This required the court to balance the fundamental principle of open justice against the need to protect the safety of the applicants.

Cameron J considered the competing interests, acknowledging the strong presumption in favour of open justice. However, his Honour found that the evidence presented by the applicants established a real risk to their safety if their identities were published. This risk was sufficiently serious to outweigh the public interest in open justice in this specific instance. Accordingly, his Honour determined that a non-publication order was necessary to protect the applicants.

The court made orders for the non-publication of information identifying the applicants.