The Wire

Earlier this week the South Australian government was unsuccessful in it’s bid to suspend parliamentary privilege. Now a parliamentary committee has made a recommendation which also threatens the public’s right to know. They want to suppress the names of all accused criminals, until the person is either convicted or acquitted. University of South Australia Law Professor Rick Sarre says the law doesn’t fit well in a national context, because suppression orders end at the state borders. This means the name of an accused could be published in all other states, but not in South Australia. The Advertiser’s court reporter Sean Fewster says his job would become almost impossible.