New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CHILDREN (CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS) ACT 1987 - SECT 11

11 Publication and broadcasting of names

(1) The name of any of the following persons must not be published or broadcast in a way that connects the person with the criminal proceedings concerned:

(a) any person who:

(i) appears as a witness before a court in any criminal proceedings, or to whom any criminal proceedings relate, and

(ii) was a child when the offence to which the proceedings relate was committed,

(b) any person who is mentioned in any criminal proceedings in relation to something that occurred when the person was a child,

(c) any person who is otherwise involved in any criminal proceedings and was a child when the person was so involved,

(d) any person who is a brother or sister of a victim of the offence to which the proceedings relate, where that person and the victim were both children when the offence was committed.

(1A) The prohibition in subsection (1) applies to the publication or broadcast of the name of a person:

(a) whether the publication or broadcast occurs before or after the proceedings concerned are disposed of, and

(b) even if the person is no longer a child, or is deceased, at the time of the publication or broadcast.

(2) A reference in subsection (1) to criminal proceedings does not include a reference to proceedings held before a court other than the Children’s Court in respect of a traffic offence.

(3) A person who publishes or broadcasts the name of any person the publication or broadcasting of which is prohibited by subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: 500 penalty units (in the case of a corporation) or 50 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, or both, in any other case.

(4) Subsection (1) does not prohibit:

(a) the publication or broadcasting of an official report of the proceedings of a court that includes the name of any person the publication or broadcasting of which would otherwise be prohibited by subsection (1), or

(b) the publication or broadcasting of the name of a person:

(i) in the case of a person who is a child under the age of 16 years at the time of publication or broadcasting-with the consent of the court concerned, or

(ii) in the case of a person who is of or above the age of 16 years at the time of publication or broadcasting-with the consent of the person, or

(c) the publication or broadcasting of the name of a person who has been convicted of a serious children’s indictable offence, if the publication or broadcasting is authorised by a court under subsection (4B), or

(d) the publication or broadcasting of the name of a deceased child with the consent of a senior available next of kin of the child, but only if it appears to the senior available next of kin, after making such inquiries as are reasonable in the circumstances, that no other senior available next of kin objects to the publication or broadcasting of the name.

(4A) The consent of the court referred to in subsection (4) (b) (i) shall not be given except with the concurrence of the child or (if the child is incapable of giving concurrence) where the court is of the opinion that the public interest so requires.

(4B) A court that sentences a person on conviction for a serious children’s indictable offence may, by order made at the time of sentencing, authorise the publication or broadcasting of the name of the person (whether or not the person consents or concurs).

(4C) A court is not to make an order referred to in subsection (4B) unless it is satisfied:

(a) that the making of such an order is in the interests of justice, and

(b) that the prejudice to the person arising from the publication or broadcasting of the person’s name in accordance with such an order does not outweigh those interests.

(4D) The burden of establishing the matters referred to in subsection (4C) (a) and (b) lies on the prosecuting authority.

(4E) A court that makes an order referred to in subsection (4B) must indicate to the person, and make a record of, its reasons for doing so.

(4F) A senior available next of kin who is charged with, or is convicted of, an offence to which the criminal proceedings concerned relate cannot give consent, or object, to the publication or broadcasting of the name of a deceased child as referred to in subsection (4) (d).

(4G) In considering whether to give consent to the publication or broadcasting of the name of a deceased child as referred to in subsection (4) (d), a senior available next of kin must, if the publication or broadcasting of the name of a brother or sister of the deceased child is prohibited under subsection (1) (d):

(a) make such inquiries as are reasonable in the circumstances to obtain the views of that brother or sister regarding the publication or broadcasting of the name of the deceased child, and

(b) take into account the impact of such a publication or broadcasting on that brother or sister.

(5) For the purposes of this section, a reference to the name of a person includes a reference to any information, picture or other material that identifies the person or is likely to lead to the identification of the person.

(6) For the purposes of this section, a reference to a person who appears as a witness before a court in any criminal proceedings includes a reference to a child who gives evidence in the form of a recording in proceedings in accordance with Division 3 of Part 6 of Chapter 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 .

(7) In this section, "senior available next of kin" of a deceased child means:

(a) a parent of the child, or

(b) if the parents of the child are dead, cannot be found, or for some other reason cannot exercise their parental responsibilities to the child:

(i) a person who, immediately before the death of the child, had parental responsibility (within the meaning of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 ) for the child, or

(ii) in the case of a child who was in the care of the Director-General of the Department of Community Services immediately before his or her death-the Director-General.