Commonwealth of Australia v Toohey

The Commonwealth of Australia was the plaintiff in proceedings before the High Court of Australia, with Mr. Toohey listed as the respondent. The dispute concerned an urgent application for an ex parte injunction to restrain the publication of information relating to the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. While the matter was listed for mention, Mr. Toohey's solicitors indicated that their client's interests were not affected and he would not be represented.

The primary legal issue before the Court was to ascertain the circumstances surrounding an incident where a government officer allegedly questioned persons in the public gallery of the Court and required them to provide their names. This occurred shortly before the Court sat to hear the urgent application for an injunction. The Court was also required to consider whether to place statements relating to this incident on the public file.

The Court was informed that the judge who heard the injunction application had not acceded to a request to sit in camera and had not required any members of the public present to identify themselves. However, the Chief Justice had been informed of the alleged questioning of members of the public. Following this, statements were obtained from court staff, and copies were provided to the parties' solicitors and the government officer involved. The Court was then asked to consider placing these statements on the public file, to which the Commonwealth's counsel had no objection. The Commonwealth sought to further inform the Court through a statement prepared by Dr. Gary Rumble, a solicitor involved in the matter, which was to be read by the Court.