High Court exposes former DFAT assistant secretary Keith Scott as child sex offender

Former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade assistant secretary Keith Douglas Scott lost his protracted secrecy fight once and for all in the High Court on Thursday.

Scott, aged in his early 60s, has been trying to keep his name secret since the ACT joint anti-child exploitation team searched his Hughes home and arrested him in May 2020.

His case began in the ACT Magistrates Court, which banned publication of his name in order to protect a relative who was believed to be at risk of self-harm if he was identified.

Scott pleaded guilty in that court to a charge of possessing child abuse material, having been busted attaching two objectionable, computer-generated images to an email he intended to send a UK woman known only as "Liz".

The ACT Supreme Court, which convicted Scott last year and sentenced him to a $100 recognisance release order, heard he exchanged "sexual fantasy" emails with the woman.

It was also revealed that Scott, a former journalist, had quit the public service in the wake of his arrest and was, at that stage, unemployed.

The sentencing judge, former ACT chief justice Helen Murrell, also revoked the non-publication order.

The former chief justice found, among other things, that unless Scott being identified posed a risk to the administration of justice, the "unavoidable harm" he and those close to him might suffer was not a relevant consideration.

However, she was forced to extend the gag order on an interim basis after Scott immediately signalled an intention to challenge that decision.

When the former public servant's case came before the ACT Court of Appeal, he argued Chief Justice Murrell had erred in five ways when she decided to revoke the order.

A 2-1 majority of the appeal court disagreed, however, and dismissed Scott's challenge.

That prompted Scott to drag the case to a fourth and final court in his pursuit of secrecy.

He appeared in the High Court on Thursday, when his barrister, Gabriel Wendler, argued he should have special leave to appeal against the most recent refusal to hide his identity.

Mr Wendler told the nation's top court the proposed appeal raised matters of general legal importance, urging it to consider to what extent the principle of open justice should yield to the "special circumstances" of a case that could have consequences for a third party.

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Scott's counsel said a previous High Court decision made it clear the concept of open justice was "not absolute", as he tried to persuade Chief Justice Susan Kiefel and Justice Jayne Jagot the Court of Appeal's decision was erroneous.

Mr Wendler argued the lower court had wrongly found the interests of the administration of justice had ended when Scott was sentenced, despite the ongoing potential for "damage that could be ameliorated or avoided altogether".

But Chief Justice Kiefel and Justice Jagot disagreed, dismissing the application without even hearing Sophie Callan SC's submissions for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

"There are insufficient prospects of success to warrant a grant of leave," Chief Justice Kiefel said.

The nation's top judge also refused Mr Wendler's request for Scott's name to remain secret for 48 hours from the time of the special leave application's dismissal.

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