{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F693343af-a043-4bdb-88ef-54da1b1fbd9b","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Episode 179 \u2013 An ill-tempered mule that kicks innocent children","description":"The Ruddock Report is morally and ethically flawed from beginning to end. It was conceived the bastard offspring of two different animals, the father being the Right Wing horse of the Liberal Party and which forced itself on the weakened mother, the moderate donkey in the same herd. It was then nurtured on a steady diet of religious freedom propaganda by a panel stacked with theists. The result is an ill-tempered mule that kicks innocent children. With any luck, the Ruddock Report will prove to be a sterile\u00a0beast and end up in a knackery after an election in May 2019.
\nWe will get on to the Ruddock Report later but first …
\n2:10\u00a0 Suppression Orders
\nHere at the IFVG podcast, we are ahead of the game.
\nLast week we spoke about juries and the benefits of judge-only trials for complicated trials and the discussion segued across to discuss judge-only trials in cases where wide publicity may bias a jury against a defendant.
\nLo and behold, a few days later, a judge in a high profile Victoria case ordered the media not to report any details about the case.
\nA good idea, or not?
\nFrom The New York Times
\nBut the global nature of the internet has blurred the lines, giving local judges the power to threaten any website accessible to local residents, regardless of where the site or its journalists are based.
\nThat includes The Times: The Times is not publishing the latest news of the case online, and it blocked delivery of the Friday print edition to Australia, to comply with the judge\u2019s order. The Times\u2019s lawyers in Australia have advised the organization that it is subject to local law because it maintains a bureau in the country.
\nTwo Times journalists who have been covering the case would be at risk. The judge in the case has threatened journalists with contempt of court charges, which can bring up to five years in prison.
\nSome publications that have published the news have no full-time staff in Australia and face no such risk. Even naming them appears to be illegal.
\nAndrews government considers ‘judge-only’ trials for criminal cases
\nThe Andrews Government will consider introducing judge-only trials in Victoria in a move that some lawyers believe could enhance the right to a fairer court hearing.
\nDespite a number of high profile cases over the years, Victoria remains one of the few places where well-known defendants do not have the option of requesting that a judge alone oversee their criminal trial\u00a0\u2013 unlike their counterparts in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.
\nHowever, this could soon change, with Ms Hennessy telling\u00a0The Age: \u201cI have asked the Department of Justice and Community Safety for advice on the need for judge-alone trials in Victoria, given their availability in other states and territories.\u201d
\n8:38 Andrew Broad resigns from Morrison ministry over bombshell sex scandal allegations
\nAssistant minister Andrew Broad has quit the frontbench in the wake of a sex scandal that could rock the Morrison government, amid claims he met a “sugar baby” in overseas hotels on a trip funded by taxpayers.
\nMr Broad has been named in a\u00a0New Idea\u00a0magazine feature that says he spent time in Hong Kong with a “blonde beauty” who used the online alias “Sweet Sophia Rose” on a website to connect young women with wealthier older men.
\nMr Broad was the first Coalition MP to call for former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce to resign in February after details of an affair wi...","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}