Concealing Material Evidence - Supreme Court of Victoria Case Study NSD 1654/2018

Phillip Sweeney made this Freedom of Information request to Federal Court of Australia

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The request was refused by Federal Court of Australia.

Dear Federal Court of Australia,

Included in an Affidavit affirmed on 7 August 2019 was Affidavit Exhibit PCS17 which was a letter dated 7 August 2019 to Senator Rex Patrick titled "Re: Serious Disparagement of a Whistleblower."

Senator Patrick has been a champion for improving protections for Whistleblowers.

Reference was made to proceedings initiated by a whistleblower Anthony Charles Quinn in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Key Deeds related to a Defined Benefit occupational pension scheme established by a Trust Deed made on the 23 December 1913 in the State of South Australia which were material evidence were concealed in these proceedings.

This concealment led to a case of perverting the cause of justice.

In Victoria, the offences of perverting the course of justice or attempting to pervert the course of justice are common law offences and the penalties applicable to them are codified in Section 320 of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).

ASIC has been provided with copies of these Deeds and ASIC is now seeking to conceal these same Deeds which are material evidence from the Federal Court in NSD 1654/2018.

NULIS Nominees (Australia) Ltd has been since 1 July 2016 the legal entity responsible for the administration of this Defined Benefit occupational pension scheme.

ASIC is the plaintiff and NULIS is one of the defendants in NSD 1654/2018.

The Affidavit affirmed on 7 August 2019 was sent by Express Mail and received by the Federal Court on 8 August 2019 as confirmed by Australia Post.

This Affidavit was not filed on the Court file and so there was no Order to remove this Affidavit from the Court file.

I do not seek a copy of the Affidavit or a copy of Affidavit Exhibit PCS38.

I am seeking copies of any emails, letters, memorandum or other correspondence that would reveal why this Affidavit was not filed (while other Affidavits from the 'Interested Person' had been filed) and what has now become of this Affidavit and associated Exhibits.

This evidence will assist in establishing if there has been another attempt to pervert the course of justice, similar to that involving Mr Quinn in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Yours faithfully,

Phillip Sweeney

External FOI, Federal Court of Australia

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UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Sweeney,

Please find a letter acknowledging receipt of your request attached to this email.

Kind regards,

FOI Officer
Federal Court of Australia

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External FOI, Federal Court of Australia

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Sweeney,

Please find, attached to this email, correspondence in relation to your FOI request.

Kind regards

FOI Officer
Federal Court of Australia

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Phillip Sweeney

Dear External FOI,

I am seeking an internal review. Some affidavits that I sent to the Registrar were placed on the Court file, while others were not.

The management of documents and their safekeeping is the hallmark of "administration". How can a court function if there is no integrity in document management and important documents such as affidavits "go missing" and there is no record of when the documents were received when they were placed on the Court file and what happened to the affidavits and other documents when they were removed from the Court file or were never placed on the Court file in the first place for no apparent reason.

It is a matter of public interest if the Federal Court does not have a robust document handling system which will need to brought to the attention of the Attorney-General, the Hon Christian Porter MP.

Yours sincerely,

Phillip Sweeney

External FOI, Federal Court of Australia

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    FOI Internal Review Decision Sweeney Phillip 30.9.2019 request FINAL.pdf

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UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Sweeney,

Please find, attached to the email, correspondence in relation to your FOI request.

Yours sincerely,

John Mathieson | Deputy Principal Registrar
Principal Registry | Federal Court of Australia
Law Courts Building, Queens Square, Sydney NSW

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