NT Government loses bid to keep ‘very large’ Don Dale payout secret

The NT Government has failed in a bid to keep secret a “very large” cash settlement in a class action brought by former Don Dale detainees.

THE NT Government has failed in a bid to keep secret a “very large” cash settlement in a class action brought by approximately 1200 former Don Dale detainees.

Earlier this month lawyers for the government and detainees reached a settlement in the case in which the former and current detainees allege they were assaulted while wrongfully imprisoned in Don Dale.

In agreeing to the payout, while denying any liability, the government sought to have the settlement amount suppressed from publication claiming it would generate “disproportionate” and “sensationalist and inflammatory” media coverage.

The government had argued that if the sum was made public, “it is likely that media reporting will be sensationalist and inflammatory, generally fixated on the settlement amount and highly critical of the settlement and the respondent”.

But in dismissing that argument as having “no merit”, Justice Debra Mortimer ruled it was not the court’s role to “to police the reporting of court proceedings by the media”.

“(The proceeding) concerns a subject matter of considerable public importance, subject matter which was considered by a Royal Commission less than four years ago,” she said.

“Whether or not one person considers reporting ‘sensationalist’ says nothing about the basis in (law) for a suppression order.”

Justice Mortimer also rejected an argument that notifying members of the class action of the sum would be “misleading”, saying disclosing the figure was “a vital first step” in distributing the payout fairly.

“It is a very large sum of money indeed, even assuming material deductions for legal and distribution costs,” she said.

“It is likely to grab the attention of group members. At this stage of the process, that is a critical advantage and benefit.”

Justice Mortimer said even putting aside the need for the claimants to be made aware of the figure, the public was also entitled to know how much taxpayer money would be distributed in the settlement.

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“Those individuals were mostly Aboriginal, were minors and were deprived of their liberty when the impugned conduct occurred,” she said.

“In a civil society governed by the rule of law, those are additional reasons for a high level of transparency about how such a proceeding is proposed to be resolved.

“There should be informed public scrutiny of what has occurred, so that there may be informed public discussion of it — these are some of the proper consequences of open justice.”

The case returns to court on November 8 when the settlement will be made public, subject to any further applications.

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