Fleming and Fleming

In the matter of Fleming and Fleming, McClelland J of the Supreme Court of New South Wales considered an application concerning the disclosure of a report prepared by Dr B. The dispute involved the father's legal representatives seeking leave to provide a redacted copy of this report to specific parties for use in apprehended violence order (AVO) proceedings initiated by the New South Wales Police against the father in the Local Court.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether to grant leave for the disclosure of Dr B's report, and under what conditions, to facilitate the AVO proceedings. This involved balancing the need for relevant evidence to be available to the parties and the court in the AVO proceedings against the potential for wider publication or misuse of the report's contents.

McClelland J reasoned that disclosure was permissible, subject to strict conditions designed to protect the report's confidentiality. The Court ordered that the father's legal representatives could provide a redacted copy of the report to the father, his legal representatives, the New South Wales Police, their legal representatives, and the presiding Magistrate in the AVO proceedings. Crucially, prior to release, the report had to be redacted to remove material not reasonably related to the AVO proceedings, with any disagreements to be resolved by the Court. Furthermore, the father and his legal representatives were required to provide a written undertaking to the Supreme Court not to publish the report's contents beyond the AVO proceedings without further leave, and to seek an order from the Local Court restricting its use solely for the purposes of those proceedings.