Supreme Court judge declines to respond to complaint to A-G

An NT Supreme Court Justice has declined to comment on a series of criticisms made by a leading Darwin lawyer in a letter to Attorney-General Selena Uibo.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Southwood has declined to comment on a series of criticisms made by a leading Darwin lawyer in a letter to Attorney-General Selena Uibo. Picture: Patrina Malone

• Darwin silk justified in accusing Supreme Court Justice of ‘political bias’, ‘malice’, tribunal rules

AN NT Supreme Court Justice has declined to comment on a series of criticisms made by a leading Darwin lawyer in a letter to Attorney-General Selena Uibo.

Alistair Wyvill SC wrote to Ms Uibo on June 21 making unsubstantiated allegations over the professional conduct of Justice Stephen Southwood.

When the NT News first contacted the court on June 29 seeking a response from Justice Southwood, a spokesman said it would be “inappropriate for Justice Southwood or any other member of the Supreme Court to make comment in relation to the matter”.

When pressed to confirm Justice Southwood had in fact seen the letter and did not wish to comment, the spokesman said all such inquiries were directed to Chief Justice Michael Grant at the first instance and that “Justice Southwood has not seen the allegations against him”.

When the NT News submitted the inquiry again on July 21, the spokesman said no response would be provided while Chief Justice Grant was on leave.

“The Chief Justice is the only one who can respond to your query and currently he (is) away on leave so I am unable to bring your most recent email to his attention,” he said.

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Justice Southwood was Acting Chief Justice in Chief Justice Grant’s absence and when questioned as to how the decision was made to keep the inquiry from him, the spokesman agreed to seek a response.

In that response, the spokesman said “Justice Southwood has not seen the letter from Mr Wyvill”.

“As previously stated, it would be inappropriate for Justice Southwood or any other member of the Supreme Court to make comment in relation to the matter,” he said.

“If Mr Wyvill believes he has a grievance then like any other member of the community he is entitled to raise his grievances with the Attorney-General.”

A spokesman for Ms Uibo said any such complaints would be dealt with by a yet to be established Judicial Commission.

“The government is establishing a Judicial Commission to handle complaints such as this, with appointments currently being made,” she said.

“Once it is set up, this will be the appropriate process for any complaints involving judicial officers.”

However, in the letter, Mr Wyvill said it would be “quite wrong” to handball the complaint to the Commission.

“That Commission could not be relied upon to properly and independently review (the complaint)” it reads.

Due to the fact Justice Southwood has yet to read the letter, the nature of the allegations and the journalistic principle of affording subjects a right of reply, the NT News has chosen not to publish any further details of the complaint.

In December last year, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal dismissed a complaint by the NT Law Society against Mr Wyvill, ruling he was justified in suggesting Justice Southwood was “politically partisan” in favour of the Country Liberal Party and calling into question his fitness to sit on the bench.

“We consider that the evidence of his honour bullying and disparaging the lawyer provides a basis for calling into question his honour’s fitness to be a judge,” the tribunal found.

Justice Southwood declined to comment on the tribunal’s findings.

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Originally published as Supreme Court judge declines to respond to complaint to A-G