"Public Relations and the Third Arm of Government"

Abstract

In 1993 the Australian court system and the judiciary began systematically introducing public relations staff into the third arm of government. Until the early Nineties, the judiciary and the courts in Australia had not engaged professional communicators, despite there being a massive presence in this role in the other two arms of government: the parliament and the executive. Having just emerged from this first decade of the adoption of formalised public relations, the courts are now well positioned to evaluate the changes which have occurred during this time. It is the proposition of this paper that the courts have the responsibility to continue to develop this role in order to more successfully explain this important sector of government to the wider community. The first decade has focused on media liaison, with advances made into developing this bridge between the courts and the public. This paper will look at developments of the past decade, including moves to expand television access to the courts and ultimately suggests how the courts may develop the role of public relations in the future.