Bellino v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [1992] QSC 98

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS ~c.---'?~/o-rr? &-state Reporting Bureau, · 4th Floor.; .. The...Law Courts, . George .Street, BRlSBANE. 0. 400Q .:Yel: (07) 227.4360 (Copyright in this tr".nscript is vested in the Crown. Copies tbereof must not be made or sold without tbe written authority of tbe Director, State Reporting Bureau.) SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND CIVIL JURISDICTION , r DOWSETT J No 3 of 1991 VINCENZO BELLINO Plaintiff and AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION Defendant CAIRNS ·.DATE 4/3/92 ORDER 1 -- 1 of 7 -- 10 20 30 40 50 HIS HONOUR: ORDER This is, in form, an applica~ion for third party inspection of documents which the applicant/plaintiff says are in the possession of the Criminal Justice Commission. The course by which the documents came into the possession of the Criminal Justice Commission appears to be that they were produced by the applicant to the Commission of Inquiry and have been inherited by the Criminal Justice Commission from the Commission of Inquiry. The appropriate officer of the Criminal Justice Commission has made appropriate searches and, in effect, is unable to locate the relevant documents. I do no~ see that I can take the matter any further in these proceedings. It may be that Mr Bellino would be entitled to sue the State of Queensland, or the Commission of Inquiry, or the Criminal Justice Commission in detinue or some such similar action, but for present purposes, I'dO not think that I can go behind the affidavit deposing to the fact that the documents cannot be found. There seems little reason to doubt that the documents were produced to the Commission of Inquiry, but what has happened to them since then is unknown. They should have gone to the CJC, but if they did they are not there now. In the circumstances I have no option but to dismiss the application. HIS HONOUR: I order the National Australia Bank to produce for inspection of the p 1 ~in~i~f all banking records relating to accounts kept by the p23intiff with the bank, including 2 10 20 3C 40 6C -- 2 of 7 -- ORDER documents relating to loan applications, at 2.30 p.m. on 4 March 1992 at the bank's premises at Earlville; that the bank provide at the cost of the plaintiff,photocopies of such documents as may be requested. 10 2.0 3D 50 i I ~-------G-o-~-P-rr-nt-er.-0-ld-.----------------------------------------------------------~ II ! 3 10 20 30 40 50 60 -- 3 of 7 -- _8.EVISED COPIES 1 SSUED TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEED IN ~ourt Repcrting Jur0:1u Date (/ I 3 I 7L State Reporting Bureau, .5G 'Trxf 0 q84th Floor, The Law Courts, · George Street, BRISBANE, Q. 4000 TeL (07) 227.4360 (Copyright in this transcript is vested in the Crown. Copies thereof must not be made or sold without the written authority of the Director, State Reporting Bureau.) SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND CIVIL JURISDICTION DOWSETT J No 3 of 1991 VINCENZO BELLINO Plaintiff and AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION Defendant CAIRNS .. DATE 4/3/92 .. ORDER adt (Dowsett J) 1 -- 4 of 7 -- I ~40392 ORDER 1 kis HONOUR: This is an application by the plaintiff, in broad terms to restrain publication or advertisement of a fook about to be published which concerns, I infer, the affairs investigated at the Fitzgerald Commission of I ~ r nquiry, amongst other matters. 10 I 10 rhe book is written by one Chris Masters who is an employee rf the ABC, the defendant in the action. It is being published by Collins Angus and Robertson, well-known kublishers, and it is to be promoted in Cairns by a literary w 1 w Runcheon sponsored by Mr Becker who runs a book shop. ~dvertisements concerning that function have appeared in'the airns Post. This action is an action by Mr Bellino for defamation and it 30 1 is to be tried by a jury in Cairns. There seems no reason 40 ho believe that the trial will take place in the near ~uture, by which I mean within three to six months. I would hhink by the look of it, with my knowledge of the list, that l1 he earliest time at which it could be tried would be in about six months time, although that may be a little I I . . . peSSlmlStlC. I The concern of the plaintiff is that the publication of the j book and surrounding publicity may in some way prejudice his 50 I ~ction before the jury. I should stress that this is not an 60 kpplication to restrain a feared defamation, which kpplication would almost certainly fail on the authorities. I Rather, the relief sought is an injunction to restrain an 2 30 40 50 60 -- 5 of 7 -- I c~~,o392 I , I tpprehended ndermine a ORDER contempt; that is, action calculated to fair trial of the action by a jury. ~t should be said at once that the Australian Broadcasting borporation is not the publisher of the book, nor is there 10 lny creditable reason to believe that Masters is acting bther than on his own behalf in writing the book. There is ho basis for inferring that the publisher is acting other hhan in good faith in publishing the book and there is ~ertainly no reason to believe that the publisher is acting 20 ~n concert of the ABC. Similar observations relate to I rr Becker and the Cairns Post. fven if I were otherwise minded to grant an injunction, it tould have to be limited to the Cairns area as no reason 30 ~xists for otherwise restraining distribution of the book. fhe experience of the English Courts with the 'Spycatcher' case highlights the inadequacy of such a limited I t · t· res r.1.c .1.0n. I There would be no way of preventing individual persons buying copies of the book outside of Cairns and 40 I · · h · h ld b br.1.ng.1.ng t em to Ca.1.rns. T ere wou e no way of ~estraining individual book sellers from obtaining their I kupplies outside of Cairns and bringing them into Cairns and. I histributing them, other than by proceeding against each I book seller individually. 50 1 i The matters which seem to concern Mr Bellino have all been I canvassed at great length over a number of years now, and it ls very unlikely, in my view, that the publication andI associated comments are likely to either create much public -~--~ rdt reo;;sge€~ J) 3 I 10 20 30 40 50 60 -- 6 of 7 -- ~40392 ORDER uss or influence the debate one way or the other. It is rue that Mr Masters is known as someone who was closely 'nvolved in the investigative journalism which led to the stablishment of the Commission of Inquiry, but apart from fhat there is, as far as I know, nothing notable about him, 10 by which I mean simply that he is unlikely to attract any reater publicity than any other person who chooses to write book in this area. ln the circumstances because, firstly, the trial is still an 20 t'ndefinite period away; secondly, the prospect of potential urors being influenced significantly by any further ublication in this area is remote; and, thirdly, it seems o me virtually impossible to make an effective order estraining the distribution of the book in the Cairns area, 30 can see no basis for granting an injunction and I will decline to do so. fhe applications of 27 and 28 February are declined. It is ~he case that certain ancillary promotional aspects are also 40 healt with in those orders. It follows that I have declined ho intervene in respect of those matters, too. The ~pplications are refused with costs. By that, I refer to 1he costs of the three parties appearing before me today in }nswer to summonses. 50 I 60 4 10 20 30 40 50 60 -- 7 of 7 --