The details of how Australia Day honours are selected will stay secret, following a High Court ruling on Friday.
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The court unanimously dismissed an application to force the Governor-General to release documents relating to Order of Australia nominations.
The decision ends Karen Kline's six year fight against the Governor-General's office.
The Queensland nurse's crusade began when the Order of Australia council rejected a nomination she suggested in 2007.
She then made a bid to access information relating to that rejection and used freedom-of-information laws to request a number of documents, including "working manuals, policy guidelines and criteria" used by the council to make its decision.
Both attempts were refused by the Governor-General's office, which used its exemption from the FOI act to suppress all documents other than those relating to matters "of an administrative nature".
Ms Kline challenged the decision, arguing the guidelines for award assessment were administrative in nature.
She went to the High Court in October after she was rejected by both the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the full bench of the Federal Court.
But the court found documents relating to the Governor-General's substantive powers and functions were excluded from disclosure.
The four judges - Justice Susan Crennan, Justice Susan Kiefel, Justice Virginia Bell and Justice Stephen Gageler – said documents related to "matters of an administrative nature" concerned the management and administration of the office resources or the provision of logistical support.
The court found the documents requested by Ms Kline could be kept secret.
