A notice to produce cannot be used for the purposes of 'fishing' or for the purpose of determining a preliminary question as to whether a party has a supportable case; the party issuing the notice bears the onus of establishing that the documents sought have a legitimate forensic purpose and apparent relevance to the issues.

Discovery, production and inspection of documents is not available as of right in WAIRC; it is only available if the Commission makes an order under s27(1)(o) of the IR Act 1979 (WA) and only if such order is 'just'

The expression 'just' means 'right and fair, having reasonable and adequate grounds to support it, well-founded and conformable to a standard of what is proper and right', or 'just according to law'

The Commission has inherent jurisdiction to refuse an order for discovery or production of documents when to do so would be unnecessary and oppressive

For discovery, it is the applicant who must establish that it is just for such an order to be made

A document is discoverable if it may lead to a train of enquiry that may advance one party's case or damage the case of the other

Where a person is entitled to invoke penalty privilege in proceedings, confidentiality and privacy of documents may be preserved by limiting inspection to solicitors and counsel in the proceedings, supported by the implied undertaking that documents produced in legal proceedings not be used for any collateral or ulterior purpose

Where an application is made for general discovery, orders for discovery and inspection should only be made if just and consistent with equity, good conscience and the substantial merits of the case.

Union membership records contain private and confidential information; provisions enabling inspection (such as s63(7)) must be strictly construed due to the self-evident private nature of such records.

Where discovery of confidential union membership records is sought, the applicant must establish that making such an order is just and consistent with equity, good conscience and the substantial merits of the case in order to overcome the confidentiality objection.

Where the integrity of an electoral roll and its correspondence with a union's membership register are central and squarely put in issue in an application alleging election irregularities, discovery and inspection of those records is just as a matter of equity, good conscience and substantial merits.

The Commission is not a court of pleadings; where directions are made for filing of written evidence in advance and witnesses will be exposed to cross-examination, the broad outline of an applicant's case is sufficient to put the respondent on notice of the case to be met.