A former judge charged after allegedly showing child abuse material during a lecture will “potentially” face new charges across two states, a court has been told.
Alan Boulton, 75, was charged with three counts of possessing child abuse material in July last year after allegedly inadvertently sharing abuse material while lecturing students at Monash University in Melbourne on February 5.
Two of the charges, one state and one federal, were dated to August 30, 2024, while the third was dated to February 5.
In August, Victoria Police said charges had been laid against the legal academic after police searched a home in Melbourne on February 12 and a home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs the following day, seizing electronic items.
The former Fair Work Commission senior deputy president appeared via video in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning, seated in a home office in front of a cluttered bookshelf.
Magistrate Stephen Ballek was told the three charges before the court were expected to be withdrawn, with a further six charges to be “potentially” laid against Mr Boulton.
Details of these were not aired in court and Mr Ballek refused a media application to access court documents because he did not “have the other charges before me currently”.
Mr Ballek told the court that Mr Boulton’s defence was seeking a 10-week adjournment for this and because police had raised the potential that further charges would be laid interstate.
“This is obviously a case of complexity, jurisdictionally, in relation to potential charges interstate,” the magistrate said.
Defence lawyer Holly Baxter said she had been told that “additional charges had been filed this week” and “there will likely be potentially further charges”.
Ms Baxter said the lengthy adjournment would allow Mr Boulton’s defence to “look at the interplay between the jurisdictionality” for the potential charges in Victoria and interstate.
Mr Ballek agreed, extending Mr Boulton’s bail to return to court on June 5.
Mr Boulton is a former legal officer at the Australian Council of Trade Unions and was appointed to the Fair Work Commission in 1989.
He also served in other prestigious positions, including at the International Labour Organisation, and was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2002.
