Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958

It shall not be lawful to print or publish or cause or procure to be printed or published—

in relation to any judicial proceedings any indecent matter or indecent medical surgical or physiological details being matter or details the publication of which would be calculated to injure public morals; or

in relation to any judicial proceedings for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, for judicial separation, or for restitution of conjugal rights, any particulars other than the following, that is to say—

the names addresses and occupations of the parties and witnesses;

a concise statement of the charges defences and counter-charges in support of which evidence has been given;

submissions on any point of law arising in the course of the proceedings and the decision of the court or judge thereon;

the summing-up of the judge and the finding of the jury (if any) and the judgment of the court and observations made by the judge in giving judgment:

except as provided in this section in relation to a hearing under Part 5.5 or 5.6 of Chapter 5 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009, any matters other than—

the identity of the court and name of the judge constituting it;

the names, ages, home addresses and occupations of the accused and witnesses;

any relevant business information;

the offence or offences, or a summary of it or them;

the names of Australian legal practitioners engaged in the proceeding;

if the proceeding is adjourned, the date and place to which it is adjourned and bail arrangements on the adjournment.

The following is relevant business information for the purposes of subsection (1)(c)(iii)—

any address used by the accused for carrying on a business on the accused's own account;

the name of any business which the accused was carrying on, on the accused's own account, at the time when events giving rise to the charge or charges occurred;

the name and address of any firm in which the accused was a partner at that time or by which at that time the accused was engaged under a contract of service or a contract for services;

the name and address of the registered or principal office of any company of which the accused was a director at that time or by which at that time the accused was engaged under a contract of service or a contract for services;

any working address of the accused in his or her capacity as a person engaged by a company referred to in paragraph (d).

At a hearing under Part 5.5 or 5.6 of Chapter 5 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009, the court may, on the application of the accused or, if there are more than one, any one of the accused, order that subsection (1)(c) shall not apply to reports of that hearing.

If an accused is not represented by a legal practitioner at a hearing referred to in subsection (1B), the court must explain to the accused the restrictions imposed by subsection (1)(c) and inform the accused about the court's power under subsection (1B).

If a hearing at which an order has been made under subsection (1B) is adjourned, the court must, on resuming the hearing, announce that the order has been made.

It is not unlawful under this section to print or publish or cause or procure to be printed or published any matter relating to a hearing referred to in subsection (1)(c) after the conclusion of the trial or hearing of the person charged or of the last of the persons charged to be tried or heard.

It shall not be lawful to sell distribute or give away or cause or procure to be sold distributed or given away or to have in possession for sale distribution or giving away any newspaper or document (whether printed or published in Victoria or elsewhere) containing or purporting to contain any matter or details or particulars the printing or publication of which would if the newspaper or document were printed or published in Victoria be a contravention of the provisions of this section. For the purposes of this subsection newspaper and document have respectively the like meanings as in section 1.3 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.

If any person acts in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) or of subsection (2) of this section such person shall in respect of each offence be liable if a corporation to a penalty of not more than 50 penalty units and if any other person to a penalty of not more than 20 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term of not more than four months or to both such penalty and imprisonment:

No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be commenced by any person without the sanction of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Nothing in this section shall apply to the printing selling distributing giving away or having in possession of any pleading, transcript of evidence or other document for use in connexion with any judicial proceedings or the communication thereof to persons concerned in the proceedings, or to the printing or publishing of any notice or report in pursuance of the directions of the adjudicating magistrate or judge or court; or to the printing publishing selling distributing giving away or having in possession of any matter in any separate volume or part of any bona fide series of law reports which does not form part of any other publication and consists solely of reports of proceedings in courts of law, or in any publication of a technical character bona fide intended for circulation among members of the legal or medical professions.

In this Act judicial proceedings means judicial proceedings whether in Victoria or elsewhere.

This section shall be read and construed as in aid and not in derogation of the provisions of section 66 of the Maintenance Act 1965.