JA v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1367

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: JA v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1367 Hearing dates: 27 September 2024 Date of orders: 29 October 2024 Decision date: 29 October 2024 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Faulkner J Decision: See [23] Catchwords: COURTS AND JUDGES – Application for suppression and non-publication orders under the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) – Prohibition on publication already enlivened by s 15A of the Children's (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) – necessity – appropriateness of further orders – application refused Legislation Cited: Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), s 15A Court Suppression and Non-publication Act 2010 (NSW), ss 7, 8 Firearms Act 1996 (NSW), s 74A Cases Cited: MA v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1366 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: JA (Plaintiff) State of New South Wales (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: D Tang (Plaintiff)

Solicitors: Justice and Equity Centre (Plaintiff) Wotton + Kearney (Defendant) File Number(s): 2024/00129662 Publication restriction: Section 15A Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW): The plaintiff and her children are not to be identified except in accordance with that Act.

JUDGMENT 1. These proceedings are brought by a Sydney resident who I will refer to as the plaintiff. The plaintiff has made an application for suppression orders under s 7(1) of the Court Suppression and Non-publication Act 2010 (NSW). I will refer to that statute as the CSNO Act. The orders are alternatively sought pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of the Court. 2. The defendant neither consents nor opposes the application. 3. The application was heard at the same time as a corresponding application in MA v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWSC 1366 because the parties have common representation and there is no material difference in the issues raised. Like the application in MA v State of New South Wales, the application in these proceedings raises a question about the interaction between the CSNO Act and s 15A of the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW). I will refer to that statute as the CCP Act. 4. For the reasons given in MA v State of New South Wales, the orders sought in these proceedings are not necessary and the application is to be dismissed.