State of New South Wales v Bowdidge (No 2) (Application by Nationwide News Pty Ltd) [2020] NSWSC 159

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: State of New South Wales v Bowdidge (No 2) (Application by Nationwide News Pty Ltd) [2020] NSWSC 159 Hearing dates: 18 February 2020 Date of orders: 03 March 2020 Decision date: 03 March 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Hamill J Decision: (1) Order (3) made on 19 December 2019 is varied so as to allow Lucy Hughes-Jones, a journalist employed by Nationwide News Pty Ltd, to have access (including photocopying access) to the following documents: (a) The written submissions of the plaintiff filed 7 November 2019, (b) The written submissions of the defendant filed 25 November 2019, (c) The plaintiff's written submissions in reply filed 5 December 2019, and (d) The transcript of proceedings of 12 December 2019. (2) The plaintiff and the defendant to the primary proceedings may first have access to the documents to determine whether any redactions are appropriate. Catchwords: CIVIL LAW – high risk offender proceedings – riddled with acronyms – media application to access file – where documents tendered in open court – where order made restricting access – exercise of discretion – reports of experts and risk assessment reports – where offender obliged to attend appointments – desirability of high risk offenders providing honest history – where reports and evidence not subject to challenge or scrutiny – written submissions of parties – comprehensive summary of material – past media coverage – click-bait – open justice – highfalutin observations – exceptional case – middle course steered Legislation Cited: Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) Practice Note SC Gen 2 Cases Cited: Attorney General of New South Wales v Kereopa (No 3) [2017] NSWSC 929 Attorney-General for NSW v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2007) 73 NSWLR 635; [2007] NSWCCA 307 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v ABB Transmission and Distribution Limited (No 3) [2002] FCA 609 Ewert v Canada [2018] 2 SCR 165 Hogan v Australian Crime Commission (2010) 240 CLR 651; [2010] HCA 21 John Fairfax Publication Pty Ltd v District Court of New South Wales (2004) 61 NSWLR 344; [2004] NSWCA 324 Nationwide News Pty Limited v Qaumi [2016] NSWCCA 97 New South Wales v Brian Alan Bowdidge [2015] NSWSC 717 R v Dirani (No 33) [2019] NSWSC 288 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 15) (Non-publication order) [2016] NSWSC 318 Rinehart v Welker [2011] NSWCA 403 State of New South Wales v Bowdidge [2018] NSWSC 1615 State of New South Wales v Bowdidge [2019] NSWSC 1843 State of New South Wales v Brian Bowdidge [2019] NSWSC 85 State of New South Wales v Holschier (No 4) [2019] NSWSC 393 State of New South Wales v Reed [2011] NSWSC 981 State of New South Wales v Wainwright (Preliminary) [2019] NSWSC 1603 State of NSW v Kay [2017] NSWSC 274 Category: Consequential orders (other than Costs) Parties: State of New South Wales (Plaintiff) Nationwide News Pty Ltd (Applicant) Brian Alan Bowdidge (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: A. Hughes (Defendant)