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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-17 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Removal of Magistrate

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:21): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: This morning, on the government's recommendation, Her Excellency the Governor removed Mr Simon Milazzo from office as a magistrate. In April 2021, the Office of the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity published a report on its inquiry into harassment and discrimination in the legal profession. A legal practitioner who had participated in that inquiry then came forward and made a complaint about the conduct of a sitting magistrate, Mr Milazzo.

Three other women then reported allegations that Mr Milazzo engaged in inappropriate conduct with sexual connotations. The reports were initially made to the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, the Chief Justice and the Chief Magistrate. Ultimately, the allegations were handled pursuant to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner Act 2015. Under that act, the former commissioner conducted a preliminary examination into the allegations.

Having been satisfied that an inquiry into the conduct was both necessary and justified and, further, that if established the conduct may warrant consideration of removal of the magistrate, the commissioner recommended to the former Attorney-General that a panel be appointed to inquire and report on Mr Milazzo's conduct.

On 24 June 2021, a judicial conduct panel was established. The presiding member of the panel was the Hon. Patricia Kelly KC, then President of the Court of Appeal. Other members were the Hon. David Bleby SC, a retired Supreme Court judge, and Dr Christopher Moy. Exercising powers under the Magistrates Act 1983, the Governor at the time, His Excellency Hieu Van Le, on the advice of the Chief Justice, suspended Mr Milazzo from office, effective from 1 July 2021. Mr Milazzo's remuneration continued while the panel's inquiry was underway.

In November 2021, Mr Milazzo applied to the Supreme Court for a review of the recommendations made by the commissioner to the then Attorney-General and of the subsequent decisions made by the panel to inquire into the matters referred to it and to permit a legal representative of a witness to appear. The application was dismissed in May 2022. The panel then proceeded to take evidence and submissions on the allegations.

On 2 November 2022, the panel provided its report to me. The report was also delivered to Mr Milazzo, the complainants, the Chief Magistrate and the Judicial Conduct Commissioner, as required under the act. Pursuant to an authorisation from the commissioner, it was also provided to the Acting Chief Justice. The report set out the evidence and submissions. The panel concluded that:

Mr Milazzo engaged in inappropriate conduct with sexual connotations in relation to four different women over a period of a number of years.

Each of those women was in a subordinate position to that of Mr Milazzo.

All of the conduct occurred in the workplace, either in court-related or informal settings.

The conduct was not consistent with the magistrate's obligation to uphold the status and reputation of the judiciary and is precisely the type of conduct that a reasonable, fair-minded member of the public would perceive as likely to diminish public confidence in, and respect for, the judicial office.

The panel's opinion was that removal of the magistrate was justified. On 8 November 2022, the then Acting Chief Justice determined to cease the magistrate's remuneration.

Today, as mentioned at the beginning of this statement, the Governor, on the advice of Executive Council, removed the magistrate from office, effective immediately. The process from the date the first complaint was made to now was complex and lengthy. I have no doubt that the process was difficult for the complainants and the witnesses. Their courage and persistence throughout this process deserves acknowledgement. Section 25 of the Judicial Conduct Commissioner Act 2015 requires me, as Attorney-General, to lay a copy of the report before both houses of parliament. I have now done so.

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