Oreb v Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The appeal was brought by Peter Oreb and Ingrid Webber, who sought to appeal suppression orders made by the primary judge in proceedings against the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The suppression orders required the appellants' names and their association with companies in liquidation to remain confidential. The primary judge made the suppression orders to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice, on the basis that the appellants' reputations and businesses would be adversely affected if their names and associations were disclosed. The appellants argued that the suppression orders should remain in place as they were necessary to protect their reputations and businesses. The Full Court found that the suppression orders were beyond the Court's jurisdiction to make and should be set aside. The Court found that order 1 was cast in terms that were too broad, as it bound anyone from disclosing the identity of the appellants and companies with which they were associated, and thus was not confined to the facts or circumstances of the proceedings below. The Court found that the suppression orders went beyond what was necessary to protect any legitimate interests of the appellants in the administration of justice. By the time of the making of the suppression orders, the appellants' names and evidence had been publicly disclosed in connection with the proceedings without any prior limitation on their publication. The Court set aside the suppression orders and ordered the appellants to file an amended notice of appeal that names them by their actual names and not by pseudonym.