In a statement, Judge Hinchey said she would return to the County Court bench while the Judicial Commission of Victoria investigated the complaint. She declined to speak to The Saturday Age but is understood to be deeply upset by the complaint and confident of rebutting the allegations about her conduct. Prominent Melbourne lawyer Tony Hargreaves, who is representing Judge Hinchey, said it was regrettable someone had decided to leak the complaint when they knew she could not respond. Mr Hargreaves said the complaint was the by-product of dysfunction at the court. Judge Hinchey’s critics were unhappy with reforms she was trying to implement, he said. Internal emails reveal a hostile work environment at the Coroners Court. Many of its senior management team have moved on since Judge Hinchey took up her appointment in January 2016 and several acting chief executives have been installed in the past year.

In one email sent to all staff in June, the court’s latest acting chief executive, Timothy Greene, said an external workplace consultant would be hired to help “build a safe and constructive culture”. A previous workplace consultant hired earlier this year was unable to complete his task after his contract was ended prematurely. Court staff have told The Saturday Age of their concern about the decline in the number of public safety recommendations coming from the Coroners Court and a reduction in the number of cases being finalised following an inquest. In 2015, 138 findings following an inquest were handed down, but in 2017, only 69 findings after inquest were delivered. Only 17 inquest findings had been handed down for this year by the time the complaint against Judge Hinchey was lodged in the past four weeks. The transfer of certain coroners’ files by Judge Hinchey to her own team or other coroners has also raised serious concerns about the impact on the confidence of some coroners and the implications for investigations already under way.

However, supporters of Judge Hinchey say it was necessary to reallocate investigations to ensure an even workload among the coroners.Her bold personality and management style appear to be a major contributor to the complaint. Raised in Ballarat and Catholic-school educated, Judge Hinchey is not afraid to speak her mind or drop occasional swear words at work or even direct them at colleagues. Regarded by her supporters and critics alike as extremely intelligent, she came to the Coroners Court with a mission to shake up an institution viewed by some observers in Victoria’s legal fraternity as being stuffy and antiquated. This approach inevitably put her offside with some staff who were content with the way the court had been operating. An example of this is the relatively minor decision by Judge Hinchey to go on radio occasionaly to better connect with the public. This, according to her supporters, was regarded as unbecoming and unnecessary by some of her colleagues. A wreath of flowers at the Coroners Court, laid during a previous coronial inquiry. Credit:Jason South But Judge Hinchey appears to have gone too far at times, according to the complaint. In June last year, she called the court’s solicitors to a meeting to address what she considered unprofessional conduct after she learnt some had allegedly made nasty comments about other staff on an internal messaging system.

According to attendees at the meeting and a written account of it, Judge Hinchey did not hold back. She allegedly told the solicitors that while she may only be State Coroner for a short time, she would be a judge for a long time and if their antics continued, she would not look kindly upon them if they were to appear before her in the future. The solicitors were shocked by what they considered was a threat from Judge Hinchey. The Saturday Age understands senior court staff later challenged her about this incident. The complaint also alleges she referred to the court’s solicitors as a “bunch of c---s” after the meeting. The solicitors had been unhappy with Judge Hinchey’s 2016 decision to change their official titles to “legal officers” and introduce fixed-term contracts. In another example of alleged inappropriate workplace behaviour, the judge is accused of hitching up the skirt of a female employee who had been struggling with self-esteem issues. She then took off her own skirt and put it on the staff member.

It is understood the staff member concerned was not happy with what happened but also believed Judge Hinchey was trying to act in a helpful, not cruel, manner. The complaint also raises questions about Judge Hinchey’s use of money allocated to the court by the Andrews government to deal with the workload from the Bourke Street massacre in January 2017. It also questioned why $19,000 from court funds was used to pay for alcohol and food at a welcome party for a new coroner when convention was normally to have a morning tea.