​I was watching Media Watch (Monday, 4 July 2022) and saw a segment on how a newspaper got someone's ID totally wrong. It actually surprised the hell out of me because I would probably have made exactly the same mistake.

That mistake is making an assumption, regardless of how highly improbable it might be to think otherwise. Here's what happened.  

The Daily Telegraph reported "Robert Dulhunty was found to have stalked and intimidated his partner (TV's Deborah Hutton) of six years".

The paper also reported "In an unrelated matter 'Dulhunty is down to appear before the Supreme Court of NSW over civil proceedings involving White Rock Windfarm ...'

As you've probably guessed, there are two different Robert Dulhuntys.

But, here's where it gets interesting.  Both men share the exact same middle name "Venour".  Dulhunty isn't exactly a common surname, but Venour as a shared middle name is, quite frankly, astonishing.

So, we have two different men (who are actually aged three years apart) called "Robert Venour Dulhunty". 

Media Watch reported that ASIC records show both men listed with two different birthdates.  In addition, online searches show photos of the two different men.

So, the lesson to be leant from all of this - don't make any assumptions (regardless of how unlikely the contrary might be) and go the extra distance to confirm ID.

At the very least, when reporting as a investigator or researcher, do not make any statement stating something as a fact unless you are 100% certain it is correct. It's far better (and limits your liability) to report something along the lines of "A person with the exact same name is also recorded as ..." or "We have been unable to confirm both records relate to the same person".

In case you were wondering, the CDA database does include multiple court list records for the name "Robert Venour Dulhunty" covering both the Deborah Hutton and White Rock matters.

A link to the media Watch programme is provided below. You might have register for an Iview account if you don't have one, but that's free to do. be sure to click on the programme for 4 July 2022.  To go direct to the relevant segment, skip ahead to 8 min 45 secs into the programme.

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/media-watch/series/0/video/FA2135H021S00

The CDA Database can be particularly helpful for investigators and researches, as detailed here. 

However, for investigators and researchers, a matter under inquiry can be relatively quick or it can sometimes take several days, weeks or even months. 

Around 15-20,000 records get added to the database each day.  Therefore, if an initial search is conducted at the commencement of a matter and then takes another say, 5 days to complete, up to 100,000 new records could have been added to the database during that time. 

It can therefore be a good idea to not only conduct an initial search when your matter is started, but also to conduct another search when the matter has ended and before you provide your report.

Further, if you have an ongoing relationship with your client (e.g. a legal firm or insurance company for whom you do a lot of work), consider adding an Alert for that name. That way, should the name be added to the database at some future point, you can let your client know. This information might or might not be relevant at that point, but it demonstrates your ongoing support for your client's interests and promotes your professional approach to how you conduct your operations.

Court Data Australia is committed to contributing a minimum of 5% of all CDA income (not profit) back to the community.  As we grow, so will our % commitment increase.

It's the biggest part of our "why?" - why we do what we do.

Our recent donations include:

17-09-2021 - $2,000 EPIC - Empowering People In Communities
​23-08-2021 - $3,000 Re-accommodate victims of DV
18-06-2021 - $1,000 Jenny's Place (DV support)
16-06-2021 - $5,000 Vinnies Winter Appeal
21-04-2021 - $1,000 Mito Foundation
​23-03-2021 - $2,500 Salvation Army Flood Appeal
17-02-2021 - $1,000 RUOK
10-12-2020 - $10,000 Salvation Army Xmas Appeal

One of the radio ads that will be playing on SA stations during September to November is available to listen to below.

High Court of Australia records from 2018 are now being added to the CDA Database.

​Searches can be conducted for a person's name, as well as a company/business name.

​Click here for more information.

The State Library of Victoria is now referencing Court Data Australia as an information source on it's website.

https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/courtcases/courtandpolice

Court Data Australia offsets carbon emissions using the Carbon Positive Australia site.

The average Australian produced around 17 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.  We purchase offsets (trees planted) for 60 tonnes of emissions per year. 

The Name Search Upload option is now available to any account holder with 12 months of access.

In summary, it allows you to upload a CSV file of up to 500 names and then download a file containing the court records for any matches.

More information is available at: ​
https://cda-link.info/name_search_uploads

CDA provides a 90% discount for NFP & NP organisations.

For example, the current yearly fee of $365 would be discounted to $36.50.

Need to check 100 or 10,000 names, let us do that for you.

For example, if you are a large employer and wished to conduct a bulk names search of all your employees we can arrange this for you and provide all the name-match data within 24 hours.  

We can then also email you each day if there are name matches for the new records added to the database (around 15-20K records) that day.

​Use the Contact Us option for more details.

When you create an Alert for a person's name or a company, you will then receive an email when a future record for that same name is added to the database.

This is an ideal option if you want to keep track of any new records for one or more people and/or companies.

Any registered user (paid or unpaid) of the CDA database can create an Alert.

TIP:  Too broad an alert (e.g. for Smith in all states) will mean you will get a LOT of email notifications.  Keep your Alerts as detailed as possible - preferably using all given names and surname, plus the state.

Alerts are accessed via your Account in the main menu.