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EVIDENCE ACT 1906 - SECT 36C

36C .         Names of complainants not to be published

        (1)         Subject to subsections (5) and (6) after a person is accused of a sexual offence no matter likely to lead members of the public to identify the complainant and, in the case of a complainant who is attending a school, no matter likely to lead members of the public to identify the school which the complainant attends, in relation to that accusation shall be published in a written publication available to the public or be broadcast, except by leave of the court which has or may have jurisdiction to try the person accused for that offence.

        (2)         If any matter is published or broadcast in contravention of subsection (1), the following persons, namely —

            (a)         in the case of a publication in a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, any editor and any publisher of the newspaper or periodical; and

            (b)         in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it; and

            (c)         in the case of a broadcast, any body corporate which transmits or provides the programme in which the broadcast is made and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of an editor of a newspaper,

                shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of, in the case of an individual, $5 000 or, in the case of a body corporate, $25 000.

        (3)         For the purposes of this section a person is accused of a sexual offence if —

            (a)         the person is charged in a prosecution notice or an indictment with committing a sexual offence; or

            (b)         the person appears before a court charged with a sexual offence; or

            (c)         a court before which the person is appearing commits him for trial on a new charge alleging a sexual offence,

                and references in this section to an accusation alleging a sexual offence shall be construed accordingly.

        (4)         In this section —

        broadcast means a broadcast by wireless telegraphy of a sound or visual images intended for general reception, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

        complainant , in relation to a person accused of a sexual offence or an accusation alleging a sexual offence, means the person against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed; and

        written publication includes a film, a sound track and any other record in permanent form but does not include an indictment or other document prepared for use in particular legal proceedings.

        (5)         Nothing in this section prohibits the publication or broadcasting, in consequence of an accusation alleging a sexual offence, of matter consisting only of a report of legal proceedings other than —

            (a)         proceedings at, or intended to lead to, or on an appeal arising out of, a trial at which the accused is charged with that offence; or

            (b)         proceedings under the High Risk Serious Offenders Act 2020 relating to the accused.

        (6A)         The giving of leave under this section does not affect the operation of subsection (1) at any time before the leave is given.

        (6)         Nothing in this section prohibits the publication or broadcasting of matter identifying a complainant if —

            (a)         prior to the publication or broadcasting that complainant authorised in writing the publication or broadcasting of the matter; and

            (b)         at the time the complainant authorised the publication or broadcasting, he or she was at least 18 years old and was not a person who, because of mental impairment (as defined in The Criminal Code ), is incapable of making reasonable judgments in respect of the publication or broadcasting of such matters,

                proof of which lies on the publisher or broadcaster.

        [Section 36C inserted: No. 145 of 1976 s. 6; amended: No 74 of 1985 s. 16; No. 14 of 1992 s. 13; No. 71 of 2000 s. 9; No. 59 of 2004 s. 89; No. 84 of 2004 s. 41 and 80; No. 17 of 2016 s. 48; No. 29 of 2020 s. 121.]



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