Q. If we go back to DSM IV, and I accept what you say, in essence, I don't think there would be an argument there, that it's a very crude measure and that there's no substitute for looking at an individual and all of the circumstances surrounding that individual. But if we were to look at that, wouldn't that indicate that there is some expert opinion which might be of the view that the act - fantasy or whatever, involving children would have to be something other than a one-off act or fantasy?"
52 On behalf of the plaintiff it is submitted that the words in the question "I accept what you say" amounts to an undertaking by the Tribunal that it will not use the DSM IV in reaching its ultimate decision in the case.
53 In my view this reads into these words something that is not there. Those words follow a rather long answer in which a number of things are stated, particularly that one has to rely on clinical expertise rather than tick the boxes in DSM IV.
54 Far from saying that DSM IV would not be considered by the Tribunal the questions starts "If we go back to DSM IV".
55 It should be mentioned that DSM IV was referred to not only in the passages just referred to but also during the course of the evidence of Dr Lemmings at pages 12, 13 and 14 of exhibit A as well as at pages 108, 109, 110 and 111 of that exhibit during the evidence of Professor Greenberg.
56 It is quite clear, therefore, that the relevance and effect of DSM IV was considered by witnesses called on behalf of the Applicant and the respondent before the Tribunal and each was given an opportunity to consider and respond to it.
57 But perhaps the most significant answer to the plaintiff's submission is that DSM IV was not the basis of the Tribunal's decision.
58 In paragraph 54 of the judgment the Tribunal says:-
"It is common ground that paedophilia is almost invariably an incurable life long sexual orientation. Anyone suffering from the condition, no matter how self disciplined he or she may be, therefore poses some degree of material risk to children. According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition 1994) (DSM IV), a manual accepted in Australia as an authoritative psychiatric text, the diagnosis criteria for paedophilia include "recurrent, intense sexual arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviours involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally aged 13 years or younger) over a period of at least six months."
59 This passage was clearly alluded to in the evidence. But the basis of the Tribunal's decision is set out in paragraph 56 which is quoted earlier in this judgment. It is not based upon DSM IV but upon the consistency of what is known of the first defendant's behaviour over the past thirty years.
60 The plaintiff also relies upon the opening words of paragraph 57:-
"The view I have formed is strengthened by the fact that there is no evidence that the Applicant meets the DSM IV criteria of six months of recurrent fantasy about prepubescent children."
61 This does not mean that the decision is based upon the absence of that class of recurrent fantasy in the six months period. It just means that the previously reached conclusion which was set out in paragraph 56 (which is independent of DSM IV) is supported by that part of DSM IV.
62 Accordingly this ground of appeal fails.
63 It should be mentioned here that the arguments presented by the plaintiff were framed as if the only evidence before the Tribunal was that of the two psychiatrists. As pointed out earlier, it was not. There was substantial other evidence as to the conduct of the first defendant from 1975 to the present date indicating that he had not in any way sexually abused or acted improperly towards children. It was in this context that the Tribunal assessed the weight to be given to the respective views of the psychiatrists.
64 I now pass to the third ground of appeal which claims that the Tribunal reversed the onus of proof.
65 In support of this, the plaintiff relies upon four passages in the judgment.
66 The first passage appears in paragraph 35 where it is said:-
"Professor Greenberg's opinion does not, however, refute the possibility advanced by Dr Lemmings that the behaviour is explicable on the basis of other factors combining, nor does his opinion explain the apparent contradiction in the fact that the Applicant's sexual relations up to the time of the offence had been with peer aged females, a pattern that has apparently prevailed ever since."
67 The submission is that this indicates that the Tribunal was looking to the Commissioner's witness, Professor Greenberg, to refute the evidence of Dr Lemmings. Consequently it reverses the onus of proof. It is submitted that what should have been considered was whether Dr Lemmings' evidence more probably than not to the comfortable satisfaction of the Tribunal had refuted the evidence of Professor Greenberg.
68 In my view this completely misconceives what the Tribunal was saying. It is in a section of the judgment headed "Expert Evidence" which contains a summary of the various views enunciated by the respective psychiatrists. It does not in my view indicate any reversal of the onus of proof. Rather it summarises parts of the evidence.
69 The next impugned paragraph of the judgment is paragraph 49 which starts with the words:-
"In my view it is not clear that the Applicant was deliberately untruthful in relating the ages of the children concerned."
70 It is submitted that it is not enough for the Tribunal to not be clear about the matter. It has in fact to be satisfied on the probabilities to the Briginshaw standard that the Applicant was not deliberately untruthful.
71 The fallacy of this submission is that the impugned words are looked at in isolation rather than in the context of the balance of that particular paragraph which sets out a number of factors and concludes with the words:-
"I think that it is probable that this was an inadvertent error on the Applicant's part rather than some amateurish attempt to deceive the Tribunal. In my opinion the Applicant appeared to be an honest witness."
72 The next impugned passage appears in paragraph 55. The portions upon which the plaintiff relies are:-
"One of the gaps in the evidence, of course, is that apart from the Applicant's own evidence and the evidence relating to the index offence itself, we do not have an indication of how long he had sexual fantasies or urges in respect of children."
73 The plaintiff also relies upon the following portion of that paragraph reading:-
"While Professor Greenberg's qualified diagnosis may be correct it is necessarily tentative because of the gap in the evidence. Dr Lemmings' analysis is that the stronger possibility is that the Applicant was simply a stressed, immature young semi-adult when he committed the offence in question and that there is insufficient evidence to suggest a diagnosis of paedophilia".
74 The plaintiff submits that the Tribunal ought to have said that the Applicant had comfortably satisfied it that the sexual fantasies had not continued. By saying that there are gaps in the evidence the Tribunal was reversing the onus of proof. The submission continues that, in effect, the Tribunal was looking to see if Dr Lemmings' evidence could be displaced and whether the Applicant's evidence was uncontradicted whereas it should have been examining the question of whether the Applicant had persuaded the Tribunal comfortably on the balance of probabilities.
75 The submission continues that the onus was upon the Applicant to establish that he was truthful and that his expert witness was to be preferred to the Commissioner's expert. Instead the Tribunal was looking to the Commissioner to prove that the Applicant's evidence was wrong.
76 In my view these submissions are based on a complete misreading of the paragraph. They are based on taking two sentences out of a much longer passage. When one looks at the totality of paragraph 55 it is clear that the Tribunal was there examining aspects of the evidence and was not considering any question of who had proved what.
77 The final passage impugned is in paragraph 57 and in particular the words:-
"…there is no evidence that the Applicant meets the DSM IV criterion of six months recurrent fantasy about prepubescent children".
78 The plaintiff submits that the fact that there is no evidence that the Applicant meets the DSM IV criterion indicates that the Tribunal had reversed the onus of proof and was looking to the Commissioner to provide the evidence of recurrent fantasy about prepubescent children in that period.
79 Here again this submission is based upon words taken in isolation and out of context. The balance of this paragraph is set out earlier and clearly indicates the reasoning of the Tribunal upon which it came to its ultimate conclusion.
80 Furthermore, there are clear words in this paragraph indicating that the Tribunal acted upon the basis that the onus of proof was on the first defendant, namely:-
"It is, of course, always difficult to prove a negative but the Applicant has a powerful argument when he says that he has done nothing to children since 1975 and there is not a scintilla of evidence advanced to contradict him."
81 Here the Tribunal is indicating that the onus is upon the Applicant and that the Applicant has to prove a negative which is always difficult.
82 In the case of Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang (1996) 185 CLR 259 at 272 the High Court pointed out that a court should not be concerned with looseness in the language nor with unhappy phrasing of the reasons of an administrative decision maker.
"The reasons for the decision under review are not to be construed minutely and finely with an eye keenly attuned to the perception of error."