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Lawyers hint Porter’s barrister could face disciplinary complaints
Lawyers for the woman who took Christian Porter’s leading barrister to the Federal Court hinted that they may make a disciplinary complaint as the court decides whether to keep material from the proceedings permanently suppressed.
Naomi Neilson
Following the Federal Court decision to remove barrister Sue Chrysanthou from Christian Porter’s legal team, both parties returned to court on Thursday, 17 June for a two-day case management hearing to determine if some or all of the material from a heavily redacted trial should be permanently suppressed.
Mr Porter’s barrister Christopher Withers SC is in favour of the material being made public, including text messages sent by Ms Dyer. Ms Dyer, on the other hand, is seeking to have most, if not all, court documents permanently suppressed.
However, her barrister Michael Hodge QC indicated that they are also seeking to have a “carve out” of the suppression that would allow confidential documents to be used for the purpose of professional disciplinary investigation or proceedings.
“We’ve put that exception in there because having reflected upon it, there may well be the possibility that there would be such a proceeding or investigation arising in this case,” Mr Hodge said. “That’s why we’ve added this carve out – so that nobody who is making a complaint or subject to an investigation would be in effect impeded from dealing with a disciplinary body based on the confidential orders.”
If allowed by the court, this would permit anyone seeking advice about a complaint and anyone undertaking an investigation to receive the relevant material.
On Thursday, News Limited failed in its bid to obtain restricted access to court documents on the grounds that there was an “extraordinary” public interest. Justice Thawley said he was already “adequately assisted” in deciding which parts of the evidence should be made public by both parties and dismissed the media bid.
A week ago, the Federal Court ordered that Mr Porter’s legal team pay the costs of Ms Dyer’s action. Mr Porter’s team argued that they should only have to pay 70 per cent of the costs, but this was ultimately shut down by Justice Thawley.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
