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Vic Bar demands greater clarity around police informants
The Victorian Bar has demanded the public be informed of the personal details of those involved in the Lawyer X scandal for the purposes being considered as part of the Royal Commission into Police Informants.
Grace Ormsby
It comes after LIV president Stuart Webb called for the release of the names of lawyers working as police informants last week.
He said the provision of that information “is vital in order to stem uninformed public speculation which can only have a tendency to undermine confidence in the administration of justice and the integrity of the legal profession in Victoria”.
As for the recent decision by the High Court to extend the prohibition on disclosure of Lawyer X’s name, Dr Collins QC said “the considerations are clearly outlined by the High Court in its judgment in AB v CD [2018] HCA 58”.
“They are the public interest in preserving the anonymity, and protecting the safety, of police informers, and the public interest in the integrity of the criminal justice system,” he explained.
“To those public interests might also be added public confidence in the administration of justice and in the integrity of members the legal profession,” the president continued.
With the first directions hearing having taken place on 15 February, “the Victorian Bar welcomes the royal commission”, Dr Collins QC said.
“It is vital that, among other matters, the role of Victoria Police in cultivating, and then deploying information provided by informants who owed obligations of confidentiality, and the implications of the use of information provided by informants in breach of their obligations of confidentiality in trials that resulted in convictions, are fully investigated,” he continued.
