High-profile rape accused to remain anonymous under Qld state law that’s due to change in 2023

A push to have the identity of a high-profile man charged with rape revealed has fallen short, for the time being, due to a protection under Queensland law, while his lawyer has refused to speak with reporters outside court.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman in November announced the law protecting the identity of accused rapists would be changed this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

A legal bid to name a high-profile man charged with rape has been described as a “premature”, a court has heard.

Media organisations including News Corp Australia, ABC, 7, 9 and 10, applied to identify a high-profile man, police allege raped a young woman in October 2021.

But Magistrate Kay Philipson described the application, made by Barrister Jessica Goldie, as “premature”.

“I’m not taking any examination, I’m merely on the mention of a matter, the matter hasn’t even been set down for committal, there may be a number of other steps before we even get that far”, she said

“In my view, the legislation is fairly clear that it’s the justice taking the examination who makes the order, not me … unless I’m the person sitting at committal, I have concerns that not only are we talking about publication prematurely of a defendant’s identify but that this application is premature.”

The lawyer for the high-profile man accused of rape, Rowan King of RK Law, leaves the Toowoomba Courthouse.

Ms Philipson adjourned the application until the case reaches the committal hearing.

“I’m not conducting a committal today, I’m not taking the examination of any witnesses today,” Ms Philipson said.

The high-profile man’s lawyers at RK Law asked for six weeks to “review the entirety of the brief” during a committal mention at Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Ms Philipson adjourned the matter until April 5 with the defendant’s appearance set to be excused.

The man’s lawyer, Rowan King, did not take questions from reporters outside Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

Queensland law protects the identity of accused serious sex offenders, preventing media outlets from naming charged persons until they are committed to stand trial – a process that can take several years.

In November 2022, Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman announced the law protecting the identity of the accused in sexual assault matters would be changed this year.

Media organisations including News Corp Australia, ABC, 7, 9 and 10, have applied to identify the high-profile man.

Queensland is one of the last states to have this law, designed to protect the reputation of the charged person until evidence is tested at committal. It is not offered for any other type of offence, including murder.

The change was among the 188 recommendations made by the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce in its Hear Her Voice 2 report.

The Taskforce examined the experiences of women and girls navigating the criminal justice system, including as victim-survivors of sexual violence.

The State Government accepted in full 103 of the recommendations and supported the other 85 “in principle”.

Among the 103 was a recommendation to “remove the restriction on publication of the identity of an adult accused of a sexual offence before a committal hearing where it would not identify or tend to lead to the identification of a victim-survivor”.

At the time, Ms Fentiman said the change would mean those charged with sexual assault were no longer protected or treated differently to every other alleged offender.