Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs The alienation of Australia’s middle class from the legal system and a lack of affordability for complainants to litigate are failures of the country’s justice framework, prominent Federal Court Justice Michael Lee says.In conversation with former ABC chair Ita Buttrose at the annual Women in Media conference, held at the Sofitel Sydney on Friday, Lee also said he was “troubled” by Australians’ lack of trust in the courts and justice system, and that journalists and publications should more vigorously fight suppression orders.Justice Michael Lee says Australians’ lack of trust in the courts is troubling.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos“It’s very much a concern to me that not only the average middle-class Australian, but even the quite wealthy Australian is alienated from the legal system in the sense that they really can’t afford to litigate,” Lee said.“And that’s a failure of the system, a single failure of the system.”During a wide-ranging conversation on media and the law, Lee, who has handed down judgments on some of the country’s highest profile cases in recent years, said he was “troubled” by revelations, first revealed in the Herald, that just 30 per cent of Australians have faith in the courts and justice system.“It is reflective of a general distrust of institutions.”Ita Buttrose at the Women In Media national conference.Credit: Dion GeorgopoulosLee said journalists and publications should fight suppression and non-publication orders “more vigorously”.“One way I think the media could do better is ensuring that courts and judges are held to account when it comes to suppression laws and things that interfere with the principles of open justice,” he said.
