Chief Justice Richard Niall criticises ‘misleading and selective’ report
Richard Niall, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and chair of Courts Council, expressed disappointment in a recently released report and rejected a claim that the courts frequently breached the Open Courts Act 2013.
“Like all judicial officers, I welcome and encourage scrutiny of judicial decisions,” he said in a statement responding to the report. “Regrettably this report gives a misleading and selective picture.”
Niall said the report – reflecting input from interviews with 12 journalists across five media outlets – included misleading claims, selective citations, and suppression order data debunked as incomplete and misleading.
He added that the report failed to reflect the scale and scope of the courts’ relationship with the media, engage with the director of public prosecutions’ response, or apparently try to engage with legal professionals who have sought suppression orders.
“The cardinal principle is always to have court hearings in open court save in confined and narrow circumstances,” Niall said in the statement.
He noted that a small portion of the over 350,000 cases before the courts and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) per year have orders restricting the publication of specific details, often for a limited period.
Niall explained that the restrictions in such orders aim to:
He noted that the Open Courts Act 2013 permitted news media organisations to ask the courts to revisit their orders.
“Public and open hearings are a fundamental part of the justice system and we recognise that media reporting is an important part of our constitutional democracy,” Chief Justice Niall said in the statement.
He emphasised the courts’ commitment to working alongside journalists to make the courts’ work as open and transparent as possible and to help the public comprehend the state’s justice system.
“You only need to click on a news site or turn on the television or radio to know that court reporting provides a significant source of news in Victoria — we will always welcome and support that,” Niall said.
He explained that the courts retain staff, often former journalists, to assist reporters. He noted that:
