Victorian Court rules legal professional privilege trumps all

The Victorian Court of Appeal has found that legal professional privilege trumps any right to know in a case in which a woman who was subjected to repeated domestic violence and involved in the murder of her husband, had been refused a pardon on compassionate grounds. The Court in effect ruled against disclosure of the advice given to the Attorney General on whether to grant a pardon by three senior legal counsel.

The decision reverses a Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision that even though the documents were exempt, disclosure to the person directly affected was in the public interest.

The punters might have another view about the balance of the interests involved.