Perceptions about family violence

We received a complaint concerning cross applications for family violence intervention order. The complainant alleged, among other things, that the Officer made inappropriate comments about the complainant’s position in the community, perceived socio-economic class and wasting the court’s time. This included the comments ‘judging by appearances’ the parties were not the courts ‘regular customers’ and that the courts, ‘with respect, don’t have so much time for middle-class well-to-do people, who have had a bit of a relationship break-up.’

We listened to the audio recording of the proceeding and gave the Officer an opportunity to respond to the complaint. The Officer did not, in effect, resile from his comments or demonstrate awareness that they were inappropriate or unacceptable judicial conduct, although they did not wish to come across as arrogant or dismissive.

We assessed the Officer’s language, imputations arising from the comments, the effect of the conduct, and the Officer’s response. In summary, we found that the Officer used stereotypical, insensitive, and judgmental language, which a reasonable member of the community was likely to regard as disrespectful and discourteous, perpetuating myths about family violence and suggesting unfair treatment or bias based on the complainant’s assumed socioeconomic class or position in the community.

This was inconsistent with the professionalism, respect, dignity, and courtesy judicial officers are expected to show toward court users, particularly in the family violence jurisdiction, and infringed the standards of conduct generally expected of judicial officers.

We referred the complaint to the Officer’s head of jurisdiction and recommended counselling as to appropriate judicial conduct, particularly in proceedings involving allegations of family violence.

The complainant received a complaint outcome report detailing the Commission’s findings and assessment of the conduct and a report from the Officer’s head of jurisdiction stating the outcome of the referral and reasons for that outcome.

In providing feedback about the complaint process, the complainant expressed appreciation that the complaint had been taken seriously and for the work that had gone into the investigation.