Merlo v Queensland Law Society Inc (No 2)

The case of Merlo v Queensland Law Society Inc (No 2) involves an application by Merlo seeking a review of the Queensland Law Society's decision to refuse his application for the renewal of a solicitor unrestricted employee practising certificate. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) was tasked with determining whether the reasons for the decision should be published in part or in full, or if the applicant should be de-identified. The respondent argued that the issues required the Tribunal to consider highly sensitive and personal information regarding the applicant's financial and medical history, criminal record, children, and Family Court proceedings.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether a statutory ground for a non-publication order under section 66 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 was satisfied, given that the information was "confidential information". The Tribunal also had to weigh the open justice principle and the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) against the need for non-publication orders. After considering the submissions from both parties and the potential impact on the proceedings in the Family Court, the Tribunal concluded that certain parts of the reasons and materials should be subject to a non-publication order to protect the applicant's privacy and the interests of justice.

The Tribunal made orders that substantial parts of the materials before it, including the draft reasons, should be subject to a non-publication order. However, specific exceptions were made to facilitate the applicant's appeal and the respondent's consideration of an appeal. Additionally, the Tribunal granted the applicant's request to provide an anonymised version of the Tribunal’s decision to the Family Court to aid in the progress of that proceeding. The final orders included provisions for the redaction of certain paragraphs from the reasons and limited the publication of the materials to the parties and their legal representatives until further order. The Tribunal also made an order for the publication of these reasons, excluding specific paragraphs, to be kept confidential until further order.