ABC TV The 7:30 Report Transcript 20/04/00 NT Chief Magistrate in trouble over juvenile hearing MAXINE McKEW: The job of NT Chief Magistrate Hugh Bradley is in jeopardy after a case went against him in the Supreme Court yesterday. Mr Bradley was being challenged because he had refused to disqualify himself from hearing a juvenile matter. The Supreme Court prohibited him from continuing and said it was arguable a case of perceived bias could be made against him. The court cited the circumstances in which the Chief Magistrate's salary package, far more lucrative than that of his predecessor, had been negotiated in secret with the Territory Government. The Chief Magistrate's appointment followed the introduction of the NT's controversial mandatory sentencing laws and, unlike some other magistrates, Mr Bradley has not been a public critic of the laws. Murray McLaughlin reports. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Aboriginal Legal Aid lawyer Michael Jones had long been troubled by remarks from the bench of NT Chief Magistrate Hugh Bradley -- like when Mr Bradley was required to jail for a year a third-time property offender for stealing a towel: "You've been to court many times before. It may be that it's a person such as you that the mandatory sentencing law was enacted (sic) -- It is the constant disregard for the property of others which has resulted in the government taking the action it has with regard to mandatory imprisonment." MICHAEL JONES, NORTH AUSTRALIA ABORIGINAL LEGAL AID SERVICE: On regular occasions he made very, very strange decisions, made very, very weird statements in court that effectively aligned himself, in my view, to the CLP Government policy. I started to collect transcripts of these court proceedings because I was very worried that my clients were possibly not getting a fair hearing. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Then, five weeks ago, this program revealed that Mr Bradley had secured a secret and special pay deal when he was appointed Chief Magistrate by then Attorney-General Shane Stone in early 1998. The implications of the deal would draw criticism from the Law Council, the nation's peak law body, from judicial groups and from all the full-time judges of the NT Supreme Court. RICHARD ACKLAND, LEGAL JOURNALIST: As far as I'm aware, it's unprecedented for a judicial officer, let alone a chief magistrate, to enter into a secret pay deal with the government of the day. This was a pay deal that was over and above the normal terms and conditions set by the Remuneration Tribunal for the Chief Magistrate in the Territory. So, in other words, it involved a hands-on, almost face-to-face negotiation with the government of the day that appointed him. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Revelations at the pay deal gave Michael Jones a cue to move against Mr Bradley. MICHAEL JONES: That particular '7:30 Report' contained material that really stimulated my concern about the deal -- what was the deal? MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Secrecy surrounding the deal became the basis of an application by Michael Jones to have Chief Magistrate Bradley disqualify himself from a juvenile case late last month because of perceptions of bias. MICHAEL JONES: She was a 15-year-old girl who was charged with a very serious property offence and I advised her that, in my view, on this day her liberty was at stake -- she might go to Don Dale because of Mr Bradley's perceived bias. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Mr Bradley declined to disqualify himself and so unravelled the action which had its denouement in the Supreme Court at Darwin yesterday. Mr Justice Olney found that, prima facie, the manner of Mr Bradley's appointment, particularly his pay deal, could give rise to a perception that he could be compromised and, on the suggestion of Mr Bradley's own lawyer, Justice Olney prohibited the Chief Magistrate from continuing to sit on the juvenile case in question. MICHAEL JONES: Everything upon which our society is built concerns the independence of judges and magistrates to fearlessly interpret the law and apply it without looking over their shoulders at governments of the day barking out some particular policy. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The collapse of the action yesterday means that the Aboriginal Legal Aid team still has not got access to the paperwork which established Mr Bradley's contract. The contract expired last month and the Government says Mr Bradley's employment has now been regularised. DENIS BURKE, NT CHIEF MINISTER: Well, it was an arrangement that was put in place by the previous chief minister. I inherited the arrangement. To my mind, there's nothing untoward in the arrangement, simply that from a perception point of view. I don't believe in fixed terms for chief magistrates. He was employed on a fixed term. That has now expired and he will be employed on an open term with a package, as recommended. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Steve Southwood was Law Society president early last year when he got wind that Mr Bradley's appointment might be irregular. He met Mr Bradley and was assured that everything was aboveboard. STEVE SOUTHWOOD, PAST PRESIDENT, NT LAW SOCIETY: What I wasn't told by him, fundamentally, was that his salary and remuneration arrangements as at the time of his appointment had only been, in effect, set for two years, not over the full term of his appointment, and that was contrary to my understanding when I left the meeting with him. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Yet Mr Bradley said in court last month that his appointment was not for a limited term, that he was appointed and remunerated in the ordinary way, that talk of a secret package was untrue. In the Supreme Court yesterday, Michael Maurice QC, leading the case against Mr Bradley, said the Chief Magistrate had shown almost complete lack of candour about the circumstances of his appointment and had made misleading and deceptive statements about them from his bench. John Reeves QC, for Mr Bradley, said allegations which amounted to a substantial attack on his client were rejected and without foundation. But the end of the court action yesterday is not the end of trouble for Mr Bradley. STEVE SOUTHWOOD: I think Mr Bradley has a responsibility to his fellow magistrates to ensure that there is full and frank disclosure provided because, unfortunately, any opprobrium which continues to be attached to his appointment does reflect on them, he being a member of their court. And that's most unfortunate. MICHAEL JONES: The upshot is that Mr Bradley is now harpooned. His integrity is without doubt in the balance. It is questionable. We still do not know what the deal was. We still do not know what the deal is, or what it might be. It still has the appearance of a performance-based package. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The fallout continues seriously to affect the administration of justice in the NT. Michael Jones and other solicitors at the North Australia Aboriginal Legal Aid Service will be moving for Mr Bradley to disqualify himself every time one of their clients appears before him. And the Legal Service late today lodged another application to the Supreme Court -- this time to have Mr Bradley's appointment declared invalid on the ground that it was made for an ulterior purpose. MAXINE McKEW: The NT Chief Minister and Attorney-General, Mr Denis Burke, would not comment today, citing the fact that he has yet to be briefed on Mr Bradley's position. Equally, our call to Mr Bradley for comment was referred to his solicitor, who did not respond. email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] � 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
