A suppression order restricts the publication of certain information related to legal proceedings. This could include banning the publication of the names of people involved in a case, their addresses or other personal details, or any other information or evidence referred to or used in court.

A court may make a suppression order if satisfied such an order would prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice or prevent undue hardship to an alleged victim of a crime, a potential witness in proceedings, or a child [Evidence Act 1929 (SA) s 69A(1)].

A court may also make a suppression order in relation to evidence given by, or relating to, a defendant if [s 69A(1a)]:

When considering making a suppression order, the court must recognise that a primary objective in the administration of justice is to safeguard the public interest in open justice and the consequential right of the news media to publish information relating to court proceedings [s 69A(2)(a)]. A court may only make a suppression order under s 69A if satisfied that special circumstances exist that give rise to a sufficiently serious threat of prejudice to the proper administration of justice, or undue hardship, so as to justify the making of the order [s 69A(2)(b)].

It is both a criminal offence, and a contempt of court,to disobey a suppression order made under s 69A, with a maximum penalty of a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment for 2 years for an individual and a fine of $120,000 for a corporation [s 70].

Restrictions on reporting about sexual offences

The identity of a person who is, or is about to be, charged with a sexual offence is automatically suppressed until the end of their first appearance in court in relation to the charge, unless they consent to their identity being published earlier [Evidence Act 1929 (SA) s 71A].

A police officer or any other person responsible for conducting the criminal investigation must ensure that all reasonable steps are made to let the victim know when the identity of the accused person may lawfully be published [s 71A(2a)].

The identity of an alleged victim of a sexual offence may only be published with the victim's consent or a judge's authorisation but no consent or authorisation can be given where the alleged victim is a child [s 71A(4)].

The maximum penalty for breaching s 71A is a fine of $10,000 for an individual and a fine of $120,000 for a corporation [s 71A(4)].