SSVJ v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (Pseudonym Orders)

[2024] FCA 1362

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SSVJ v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (Pseudonym Orders) [2024] FCA 1362  

File number:	NSD 1154 of 2024
Judgment of:	PERRAM J
Date of judgment:	25 November 2024
Date of publication of reasons:	26 November 2024
Catchwords:	PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – pseudonym orders – where applicant the subject of a protection finding – whether orders reasonably necessary to protect applicant’s safety
Legislation:	Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) ss 37AF, 37AG(1)(c)
Division:	General
Registry:	New South Wales
National Practice Area:	Administrative and Constitutional Law and Human Rights
Number of paragraphs:	7
Date of hearing:	Determined on the papers
Solicitor for the Applicant:	Legal Aid
Solicitor for the Respondent:	Sparke Helmore Lawyers

ORDERS

NSD 1154 of 2024

BETWEEN:

SSVJ

Applicant

AND:

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

ORDER MADE BY:	PERRAM J
DATE OF ORDER:	25 NOVEMBER 2024

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1.Pursuant to s 37AF(1) of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (‘the Act’), and on the ground in s 37AG(1)(c) of the Act, the applicant be assigned the pseudonym ‘SSVJ’.

2.By 31 January 2025, the parties file amended versions of those documents on the Court file which refer to the applicant by name so that the applicant’s name is redacted or replaced by the pseudonym ‘SSVJ’.

3.Pursuant to s 37AF(1) of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (‘the Act’), and on the ground in s 37AG(1)(c) of the Act, the documents on the Court file for the proceeding be suppressed until 31 January 2025.

Note:   Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

PERRAM J:

1. On 25 November 2024 I made orders under s 37AF of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (‘the FCA Act’) to assign a pseudonym to the applicant in this proceeding and to suppress the documents comprising the Court file until 31 January 2025. These are my reasons for taking that course.

2. The applicant is a refugee from South Sudan.  The underlying proceeding concerns the respondent’s decision to cancel his refugee visa.  In a precursor to this proceeding before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’) the applicant was known by a pseudonym, ‘SSVJ’.

3. The applicant’s representatives contacted my Chambers requesting that an order be made under s 37AF to pseudonymise the applicant in the present proceeding, on the ground that a pseudonym was required to protect his safety under s 37AG(1)(c) of the FCA Act. The respondent consented to that request.

4. To establish the ground in s 37AG(1)(c) the applicant’s representatives relied on a protection finding made in respect of the applicant and directed me to parts of the evidence on which that finding was based. It is not necessary to recount that evidence. It suffices to note that the protection finding was made on the basis that the applicant is a member of a particular social group comprising westernised, long-absent South Sudanese men of fighting age without established tribal links.

5. I was satisfied in light of that finding that the applicant might be imperilled by the continuing disclosure of his name in this proceeding and that a pseudonym order under s 37AF is required to protect his safety. It was appropriate that the same pseudonym be used in this Court as in the Tribunal.

6. To avoid the continuing disclosure of the applicant’s name in existing documents on the Court file I directed the parties to amend documents which currently refer to the applicant by name so that they no longer do so. It was correspondingly necessary to suppress the Court file under s 37AF to allow the parties time for this to occur.

7. It was for the above reasons that I made the orders on 25 November 2024.

I certify that the preceding seven (7) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment of the Honourable Justice Perram.

Associate: 

Dated:       26 November 2024