Justice Lee said the substantive details of the dispute and the nature of the allegations raised by former chief legal counsel Rebecca Farrell and group secretariat and corporate legal Amelia Berczelly against Super Retail Group’s (SRG) CEO were “out of the bag”.

SRG, owner of major brands Supercheap Auto, rebel, BCF and Macpac, flagged it would appeal Justice Lee’s decision.

Appearing before Justice Michael Wigney on Thursday (19 September), SRG counsel Zoe Hillman said that no matter which way the substantive proceedings conclude, the suppression order would be important to shield the parties’ confidentiality.

“The circumstances arise for the SRG parties because if Farrell is found to be correct … then in her own case, the parties entered into an enforceable settlement agreement, which included a term that the agreement be kept confidential,” Hillman said.

Hillman added that if details were given to media, Farrell would allegedly not be able to perform her obligations to that agreement.

On the other hand, Hillman said that if the substantive proceedings found there was no such agreement, “without prejudice communications” about it could make its way into the hands of the media.

Hillman said that if leave to appeal is allowed and can take place before a full court bench, there would be “short, crisp legal arguments”.

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In response, Farrell’s counsel, Shane Prince SC, said the proposition that Hillman’s concerns were not addressed by Justice Lee in his original suppression order judgment was “not right”.

“His Honour clearly addressed the proposition that there was something unique about the settlement discussion,” Prince said.

Prince pointed to one paragraph, in which Justice Lee said a point about evisceration after disclosure “does not have any substance”.

Justice Lee said that if it was ultimately found that there was a bargain struck, “the loss of confidentiality of the terms secured by the bargain will be lost for one reason alone: it will be the result of the SRG parties acting wholly inconsistently with the bargain, despite its existence, and requiring it to be specifically enforced”.

Prince said the matter does not “warrant a referral to a full court”.

Counsel from Fairfax Media and Nationwide News have been granted leave to intervene in the suppression appeal proceedings.

Justice Wigney said that while he regretted the “trouble and expenses” it may cause, he reserved his decision to make inquiries about whether a full court bench can be convened at “very short notice” to deal with what he said is a “fairly narrow issue”.