A court has granted Victoria’s anti-corruption agency a gag order preventing The Age from publishing information contained in a draft report from its secret probe into Andrews government grants given to a Labor-linked union before the 2018 election.

The Supreme Court of Victoria extended the interim injunction awarded to the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission on Friday, which followed the watchdog obtaining an urgent injunction on Wednesday night, without The Age appearing in court.

The Supreme Court has granted IBAC an injunction against The Age. Credit:The Age

The agency rushed to court on Wednesday night for the last-minute injunction, after The Age sent a series of questions to several individuals relating to the previously unreported IBAC investigation earlier that day.

The Age revealed on Friday afternoon that a key focus of IBAC’s investigation into the grants – worth $3.4 million – is what role the premier and some of his advisers played in promising the money to the Health Workers Union, despite objections from Health Department officials.

That article was based on information gathered outside IBAC’s draft report.

On Friday afternoon Justice Greg Garde granted IBAC an injunction to restrain The Age from publishing information that “may have been derived” from a draft report from the investigation.

IBAC had sent the confidential draft findings to individuals involved in the probe, so they could respond before the commission finalised and released a public report.

IBAC’s barrister Emrys Nekvapil, SC, told the court during the Wednesday night hearing that the commission believed somebody provided with its report “must have then passed on the report, or at least read out or conveyed information from that report … to a journalist at The Age”.

Nekvapil said that IBAC had learnt about the impending story on Wednesday from one of the parties The Age had contacted for a right of reply earlier that day.

Thursday’s hearings were closed to the public after Nekvapil successfully argued that hearing the application for an injunction in public could reveal the very information IBAC was trying to keep under wraps.

Age acting editor Michael Bachelard leaving the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday.Credit:Paul Jeffers

“The affidavit itself might undermine the whole point of the proceeding, were it to be disclosed beyond what’s necessary,” he said.

Acting for The Age, lawyer Justin Quill said on Thursday the newspaper did not “in any way accept that these [suppression] orders are necessary, or the ultimate orders are necessary”, but agreed that moving to closed court would allow the matter to proceed.

Under the IBAC Act, a person who is sent a copy of a draft report is prohibited from disclosing information contained in that report. The offence is punishable by a 12-month jail term, a fine of $22,190, or both.

On Friday evening, IBAC released a statement saying no public examinations were held as part of the investigation as it did not meet the organisation’s thresholds to do so.

“When IBAC drafts a report arising from an investigation, relevant people involved in the investigation will be given an opportunity to respond to IBAC’s preliminary findings,” the statement said. “These responses must then be considered before IBAC finalises the report.”

“IBAC is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of investigations until a report is finalised.

“This natural justice process is critical. It would be quite unfair to these persons if preliminary findings or other private information were to become public. Reputations may be unfairly damaged, or witness welfare harmed. No public interest is served in preliminary findings being published. It is for such reasons that IBAC took the necessary step of seeking an injunction.

“IBAC recognises that the outcomes of our investigations are in the public interest, but it is critical our investigations are shared publicly only after all fair and proper processes have been followed.”

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