Zarins & Mylne (No 3)

In *Zarins & Mylne (No 3)*, Berman J of the Supreme Court of South Australia considered an application by the respondent concerning the disclosure of certain documents filed in family court proceedings to various criminal justice bodies. The dispute centred on whether the respondent should be permitted to provide a list of specified affidavits and orders to the Director of Public Prosecutions, their criminal law solicitors, South Australia Police, and the Magistrate’s Court of South Australia, or any superior court to which criminal proceedings might be referred.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether to grant permission for the disclosure of these documents, which were filed in the context of family law proceedings, to agencies involved in potential or ongoing criminal proceedings. This involved balancing the need for confidentiality in family law matters against the public interest in the administration of criminal justice and the potential relevance of the disclosed documents to criminal investigations or prosecutions.

Berman J determined that the respondent should be permitted to provide the listed documents to the specified criminal justice bodies. The court's reasoning, though not explicitly detailed in the provided text, implies a finding that the public interest in facilitating criminal investigations and prosecutions outweighed the usual confidentiality protections afforded to family court documents in this specific instance. The court also ordered that the application filed on 4 July 2013 be otherwise dismissed.