Page 1282 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 2012
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to reflect upon the guilt of two men who had been charged following a well-publicised incident at the Belconnen Remand Centre on Friday, 31 January.
She went on to say:
His comments have been construed as contempt of court and a clear breach of the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary.
I will just read out a number of sentences from the speech:
We are here today, Mr Speaker, because Simon Corbell, the Attorney-General of the ACT, has sought to subvert the laws of the ACT for his own base political gain.
Further:
This was a live matter before the courts and the attorney was breaking all the rules, all the laws, all the conventions.
I think it is worth pointing out where Mrs Dunne sought to address that issue of free speech which we have heard a lot about today:
In Australia we have laws that set the boundaries between a right to a fair and unprejudiced trial and freedom of expression. The distinction between a fair trial and free speech was highlighted by Brennan J in R v Glennon in the High Court. His Honour said:
Free speech is not the only hallmark of a free society, and sometimes it—
that is, free speech—
must be restrained by laws designed to protect other aspects of public interest. Thus the law of contempt of court strikes a balance between the two competing public interests ... The integrity of the administration of justice in criminal proceedings is of fundamental importance to a free society.
His Honour went on to say:
Freedom of public expression with reference to circumstances touching guilt or innocence is correspondingly limited.
She said here:
I repeat that Mr Brennan said:
Freedom of public expression with reference to circumstances touching guilt or innocence is correspondingly limited.
Further in the speech she said:
Mr Speaker, in this country we do not make public statements about the guilt or innocence of people, and people of influence do not make these statements because it is seen to prejudice the right to a free trial.
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