We received a complaint from a professional court user called to give evidence over two days as part of a ten-day contested hearing. The Complaint alleged, among other things, that the Officer was aggressive and intimidating. The complainant said that as a consequence of the Officer’s conduct, she felt as though ‘she had woken up feeling hit by a train’; she lost her appetite, took mental health leave from work and attended counselling sessions.

We reviewed transcripts and listened to the audio recordings of the proceeding. The Officer was given an opportunity to respond to the complaint.

In responding, the Officer accepted that there were times her ‘performance could have been better’.

Importantly, the Officer said, ‘The experience of reviewing my performance as dispassionately as possible had been an invaluable experience for me in being able to identify where and why I may be perceived to have become frustrated so I can avoid any suggestion in the future of unfairness to any party.’

We found that some parts of the Officer’s conduct infringed the standards of conduct generally expected of judicial officers because the Officer’s:

tone of voice was often, but not always, frustrated, brusque, and abrupt;
tone of questioning the Complainant was often, but not always, intimidating and more akin to what one might expect in cross-examination from an opposing party; and
interruptions of the Complainant’s evidence, together with tone of voice and manner of questioning, had a cumulative effect on the Complainant and could have been experienced as combative.

However, in referring the matter to the Officer’s head of jurisdiction, we noted the level of insight and remorse demonstrated by the Officer in the response as relevant to recommendations about future conduct.

The complainant was provided with an outcome report that included the Officer’s perspectives.

In providing feedback to us, the complainant described the Officer’s response as ‘helpful’ and our investigative process (particularly being able to communicate to the Officer how the conduct had made her feel) as ‘really therapeutic’.

The complainant appreciated that there was an independent complaints process that was fair and thorough. The complainant also said, ‘The communication has been exceptional, and it’s been a really pleasant experience, despite the circumstances.’

The importance of feedback and judicial insight