‘Crisis point’: study reveals systemic state secrecy
Public interest journalism has reached a “crisis point” in one state, with research revealing widespread overuse of suppression orders.
Researchers from Monash University in Melbourne have highlighted how “serious” systemic barriers prevent Victorian journalists from holding powerful institutions and individuals to account.
“Based on a review of previous studies and interviews in this project, we conclude that public interest journalism in Victoria is at a crisis point,” authors Alicia McMillan and Johan Lidberg wrote.
“This is especially true for court reports across the state.”
All 12 senior journalists interviewed for the study, commissioned by the Melbourne Press Club, said Victorian courts routinely flouted the Open Courts Act “with impunity”.
“If courts in Victoria continue down the path of increasing secrecy, they risk losing public trust and jeopardizing the concept of natural justice,” the report said.
While the authors acknowledged the research was limited because no chief justices in Victoria’s main courts agreed to be interviewed, they said the law had “largely failed” to improve open justice since its introduction in 2013.
“Suppression orders have increased, access to documents has become more difficult and the attitude of some judicial officials towards journalists has deteriorated significantly,” Ms McMillan said.
“Reform is urgent and necessary.”
The study cited data from the Alliance for Freedom of Journalists showing that Victoria was responsible for 521 of 1,113 suppression orders issued across Australia in 2023, followed by South Australia (308), NSW (133), the Northern Territory (52) and the ACT (43).
In 2012, 259 restraining orders were granted in Victoria.
In one high-profile example, media were prevented from identifying Tom Silvagni, son of AFL champion Stephen, for 18 months after he was accused of assaulting a woman at his family’s Melbourne home.
Silvagni was convicted of two counts of rape on December 5, but the restraining order was not lifted until December 10 after the case sparked community outrage.
The report also found Victoria’s freedom of information system was “broken” and access to government resources had deteriorated “significantly” over the past 10 years, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Victorian government media advisors were providing “background” information that was not directly attributable to reporters, and access to Victoria Police human resources was “increasingly difficult”.
“Anyone who works in journalism in Melbourne knows that secrecy, oppression and distortion have come before openness and disclosure in many of our institutions,” press club president Michael Bachelard said.
The study’s 10 recommendations included a review of aspects of the Open Courts Act, which allows accredited journalists to record court proceedings by default, and freedom of information reforms.
