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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Children (Criminal Proceedings)
Amendment (Naming of Children)
Bill 2009
No , 2009
A Bill for
An Act to amend the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 to make further
provision for the naming of persons in connection with criminal proceedings
involving children.
Clause 1 Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming of Children) Bill 2009
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
1 Name of Act 2
This Act is the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming 3
of Children) Act 2009. 4
2 Commencement 5
This Act commences on a day to be appointed by proclamation. 6
Page 2
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming of Children) Bill 2009
Amendment of Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 No 55 Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Amendment of Children (Criminal 1
Proceedings) Act 1987 No 55 2
[1] Section 11 Publication and broadcasting of names 3
Omit the section. 4
[2] Section 12A 5
Omit the section. Insert instead: 6
12A Bail applications 7
The provisions of section 10 and Division 3A apply to a child 8
who appears or is brought before a court in relation to a bail 9
application in the same way as those provisions apply to a child 10
appearing or brought before a court in any criminal proceeding. 11
[3] Part 2, Division 3A 12
Insert after Division 3 of Part 2: 13
Division 3A Publication and broadcasting of names 14
15A Publishing and broadcasting of names prohibited 15
(1) The name of a person must not be published or broadcast in a way 16
that connects the person with criminal proceedings if: 17
(a) the proceedings relate to the person and the person was a 18
child when the offence to which the proceedings relate was 19
committed, or 20
(b) the person appears as a witness in the proceedings and was 21
a child when the offence to which the proceedings relate 22
was committed (whether or not the person was a child 23
when appearing as a witness), or 24
(c) the person is mentioned in the proceedings in relation to 25
something that occurred when the person was a child, or 26
(d) the person is otherwise involved in the proceedings and 27
was a child when so involved, or 28
(e) the person is a brother or sister of a victim of the offence 29
to which the proceedings relate, and that person and the 30
victim were both children when the offence was 31
committed. 32
Page 3
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming of Children) Bill 2009
Schedule 1 Amendment of Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 No 55
(2) This section applies only to the publication or broadcast of a 1
person's name to the public, or a section of the public, by 2
publication in a newspaper or periodical publication, by radio or 3
television broadcast or other electronic broadcast, by the Internet, 4
or by any other means of dissemination. 5
(3) The publication of information to an Internet website that 6
provides the opportunity for, or facilitates or enables, 7
dissemination of information to the public or a section of the 8
public (whether or not the particular publication results in the 9
dissemination of information to the public or a section of the 10
public) constitutes the publication of information to the public or 11
a section of the public for the purposes of this section. 12
(4) This section applies to the publication or broadcast of the name 13
of a person: 14
(a) whether the publication or broadcast occurs before or after 15
the proceedings concerned are disposed of, and 16
(b) even if the person is no longer a child, or is deceased, at the 17
time of the publication or broadcast. 18
(5) A reference in this Division to the name of a person includes a 19
reference to any information, picture or other material that 20
identifies the person or is likely to lead to the identification of the 21
person. 22
(6) A reference in this Division to a person who appears as a witness 23
before a court in any criminal proceedings includes a reference to 24
a child who gives evidence in the form of a recording in 25
proceedings in accordance with Division 3 of Part 6 of Chapter 6 26
of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986. 27
(7) A person who publishes or broadcasts the name of any person the 28
publication or broadcasting of which is prohibited by this section 29
is guilty of an offence. 30
Maximum penalty: 500 penalty units (in the case of a 31
corporation) or 50 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, 32
or both (in any other case). 33
15B Exception for official report of proceedings 34
This Division does not prohibit the publication or broadcasting of 35
an official report of the proceedings of a court that includes the 36
name of any person the publication or broadcasting of which 37
would otherwise be prohibited by this Division. 38
Page 4
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming of Children) Bill 2009
Amendment of Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 No 55 Schedule 1
15C Exception for person convicted of serious children's indictable 1
offence 2
(1) This Division does not prohibit the publication or broadcasting of 3
the name of a person who has been convicted of a serious 4
children's indictable offence if the publication or broadcasting is 5
authorised by a court under this section. 6
(2) A court that sentences a person on conviction for a serious 7
children's indictable offence may, by order made at the time of 8
sentencing, authorise the publication or broadcasting of the name 9
of the person (whether or not the person consents or concurs). 10
(3) In determining whether to make such an order, a court is to have 11
regard to the following matters: 12
(a) the level of seriousness of the offence concerned, 13
(b) the effect of the offence on any victim of the offence and 14
(in the case of an offence that resulted in the death of the 15
victim) the effect of the offence on the victim's family, 16
(c) the weight to be given to general deterrence, 17
(d) the subjective features of the offender, 18
(e) the offender's prospects of rehabilitation, 19
(f) such other matters as the court considers relevant having 20
regard to the interests of justice. 21
(4) A court that makes an order under this section must indicate to 22
the person, and make a record of, its reasons for doing so. 23
15D Exception for publication or broadcasting with consent 24
(1) This Division does not prohibit the publication or broadcasting of 25
the name of a person: 26
(a) in the case of a person who is under the age of 16 years at 27
the time of publication or broadcasting--with the consent 28
of the court concerned, or 29
(b) in the case of a person who is of or above the age of 16 30
years at the time of publication or broadcasting--with the 31
consent of the person. 32
(2) A court is not to give consent under this section except with the 33
concurrence of the child or (if the child is incapable of giving 34
concurrence) unless the court is of the opinion that it is in the 35
public interest that consent be given. 36
Page 5
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming of Children) Bill 2009
Schedule 1 Amendment of Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 No 55
(3) A child who is of or above the age of 16 years cannot give consent 1
for the purposes of this section unless the consent is given in the 2
presence of an Australian legal practitioner of the child's own 3
choosing. 4
15E Exception where child deceased 5
(1) This Division does not prohibit the publication or broadcasting of 6
the name of a deceased child with the consent of a senior 7
available next of kin of the child. 8
(2) A person must not, as a senior available next of kin, give consent 9
to the publication or broadcasting of the name of a deceased child 10
unless it appears to the person, after making such inquiries as are 11
reasonable in the circumstances, that no other senior available 12
next of kin objects to the publication or broadcasting of the name. 13
(3) In addition, in considering whether to give consent to the 14
publication or broadcasting of the name of a deceased child when 15
the publication or broadcasting of the name of a brother or sister 16
of the deceased child is prohibited under section 15A (1) (e), a 17
senior available next of kin must: 18
(a) make such inquiries as are reasonable in the circumstances 19
to obtain the views of that brother or sister regarding the 20
publication or broadcasting of the name of the deceased 21
child, and 22
(b) take into account the impact of such a publication or 23
broadcasting on that brother or sister. 24
(4) A senior available next of kin who is charged with, or is 25
convicted of, an offence to which the criminal proceedings 26
concerned relate cannot give consent, or object, to the publication 27
or broadcasting of the name of a deceased child as referred to in 28
this section. 29
(5) If there is no senior available next of kin who can give consent to 30
the publication or broadcasting of a deceased child's name 31
(whether or not as a result of subsection (4)), the court concerned 32
can give that consent if satisfied that the public interest so 33
requires. 34
(6) In this section, senior available next of kin of a deceased child 35
means: 36
(a) a parent of the child, or 37
Page 6
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Naming of Children) Bill 2009
Amendment of Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 No 55 Schedule 1
(b) if the parents of the child are dead, cannot be found, or for 1
some other reason cannot exercise their parental 2
responsibilities to the child: 3
(i) a person who, immediately before the death of the 4
child, had parental responsibility (within the 5
meaning of the Children and Young Persons (Care 6
and Protection) Act 1998) for the child, or 7
(ii) in the case of a child who was in the care of the 8
Director-General of the Department of Human 9
Services immediately before his or her death--the 10
Director-General. 11
15F Exception for traffic offences not dealt with by Children's Court 12
This Division does not apply to criminal proceedings in respect 13
of a traffic offence if the proceedings are held before a court other 14
than the Children's Court. 15
15G Functions of court officials not affected 16
This Division does not apply to anything done by a person in the 17
proper exercise of official functions as a member of staff of a 18
registry or other office of a court in connection with the conduct 19
and determination of criminal proceedings. 20
[4] Section 49 Proceedings for offences 21
Omit "section 11" wherever occurring. Insert instead "section 15A". 22
Page 7
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