Arabic version: الإقليم الشمالي يلوّح بإصلاح قوانين حجب أسماء المتهمين بجرائم جنسية

According to ABC News, the Northern Territory government has flagged reforms to remove a requirement that the names of people charged with serious sexual offences remain suppressed until they are committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court. The government expects to introduce the changes to NT parliament before the end of the year.

Under current Territory law, people charged with offences including rape and child sex crimes cannot be publicly identified before the committal stage, a process that can take well over a year. The NT is the only Australian jurisdiction that maintains this anonymity before committal. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the government and attorney-general had been working to change laws covering the suppressions, or gag orders, for such offences.

The proposed changes were flagged after the identity of Nathaniel Farrell, who raped a four-year-old girl at a Darwin town camp, was made public after being suppressed for almost a year. Farrell pleaded guilty in the NT Supreme Court to one count of rape following the June 14 attack. Chief Justice Michael Grant lifted the suppression order last week and sentenced Farrell to 10 years in prison, with a seven-year non-parole period.

Ms Finocchiaro said the government had urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate possible avenues to appeal the sentence. A DPP spokesperson said any appeal decision would be made independently after consideration of the relevant legal and evidentiary issues. Sexual assault survivor and #LetHerSpeak creator Nina Funnell called the reforms “well and truly overdue”, while Melbourne University communications law expert Jason Bosland said transparency and community confidence were central to Australia’s principle of open justice.