Category: Suppression

Because the onus is on the media to get it right and an honest mistake is no defence to a charge of contempt, by and large courts have persisted with sloppy methods of notifying suppression orders to news rooms and in-house legal advisers ... more

Jurors should not be regarded as exceptionally fragile and prone to prejudice. Court of Appeal takes a firm hand with trial judges who coddle juries. A resounding win for open justice ... more

Magistrate’s suppression of the DPP’s opening address in the Bradley John Murdoch committal was valid. However, the suppression of photos of Murdoch was made without jurisdiction ... more

Newspapers improve procedures to guard against breaching suppression orders, yet the courts have an uneven, and often outmoded, system of notifing these orders ... more

Media commentary about Carl Williams and his family not likely to prejudice their imminent trials. Justice Cummins extols the robustness of the jury ... more

Magistrate applied the wrong test in suppressing the name of a murdered police informer. Justice Whelan in the Victorian Supreme Court quashes suppression order ... more

Fairfax challenges power of District Court to suppress publication of a guilty verdict where a second trial of the same accused is pending ... more