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A Victorian magistrate who was in a relationship with a court clerk has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Judicial Commission of Victoria.
Key points:
- Shadow Attorney General Ed Donoghue made three allegations, including that Rodney Higgins lacked independence due to his relationship
- He complained that the appointment of Mr Higgins was political, as he ran as the Labor candidate in the 2014 election
- The Judicial Commission dismissed the complaint in its entirety
Magistrate Rodney Higgins and Ashleigh Petrie became engaged in October last year.
Their relationship attracted extensive media coverage and she died of a suspected suicide later that month.
Before Ms Petrie's death, Shadow Attorney General Edward O'Donohue made a complaint against Mr Higgins to the Judicial Commission of Victoria.
He accused Mr Higgins of lacking judicial independence in relation to his decision-making during the relationship with Ms Petrie, an allegation that was based on media reports.
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Concerns were also raised about his alcohol use, in particular the consumption of alcohol at Crown Casino.
The Opposition also questioned whether the appointment of Mr Higgins as a magistrate was political, given he was the Labor candidate for the seat of Shepparton in 2014.
The Andrews Labor Government appointed Mr Higgins to the Magistrates Court of Victoria in September 2017.
The commission said it carefully considered the three allegations and dismissed the complaint in its entirety.
In a statement, it said there was no other information, besides media reports, to support the allegation about the concerns regarding judicial independence.
As for the alcohol use, it said it was not given further information about the allegations to enable a thorough investigation and dismissed it.
It said the complaint about the appointment of Mr Higgins to the position of magistrate was dismissed because it was beyond the scope of the commission.
Mr Higgins, Mr O'Donohue and Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan have been informed about the outcome of the investigation.
Mr O'Donohue and the Magistrates Court of Victoria declined to comment when contacted by the ABC.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, print-media, melbourne-3000, metung-3904, shepparton-3630
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