Furore over switch of trrial

A DECISION to have the trial of an indigenous man moved to Brisbane because a Townsville jury would be racist has worried and outraged some of Townsville's best legal minds.

They say the outcome, which relied on a telephone survey of public opinion, sets a dangerous precedent on the use of survey results, is an unfair slur on Townsville and could increase court costs and reducing the number of cases which can be funded by legal aid.

The Queensland Law Society has also warned of far-reaching implications.

Lawyers for the alleged ringleader of the Palm Island riots, Lex Wotton, last week successfully argued in the Queensland Supreme Court in Townsville their client would not receive a fair trial in the city because of public prejudice and unfair media exposure.

They tendered a telephone survey conducted in Townsville as evidence to support their claim.

The survey found 50.2 per cent were `unsure or did not believe they would be able to follow a direction by a judge to disregard all previous knowledge of or opinions of the Palm Island riots and Palm Islanders'.

Townsville barrister Michael Fellows said the decision was a dangerous precedent because surveying 400 people over the telephone was a `very unsophisticated process.'

"I think everyone in the community is very annoyed and upset about what happened on Palm Island but my experience of juries is that juries go beyond that. When you give them the job of deciding someone's guilt or innocence, most juries knuckle down and do the job properly," Mr Fellows said.

Townsville barrister Laurie Middleton said the general legal principle was that the trial should be held in the community in which it occurred.

Townsville lawyer Jeff Guy said the use of local people was an important principle.

"They can bring to the case the knowledge they have of that community," he said.

Mr Guy said it was outrageous a decision could be made on a survey of opinion in Townsville without comparative surveys elsewhere.

"It doesn't matter what the Townsville survey said, it's meaningless without being compared to a similar survey conducted in Brisbane," he said.

Barrister John Baulch said he would be surprised if the views of the 400 people in the survey could be taken as the views of more than 150,000 people in the twin cities.