Office of the Special Investigator
Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:38): (191) My question is to the Attorney-General. Attorney, the Parliament established the Office of the Special Investigator to investigate whether offences had been committed in relation to the Lawyer X scandal. The special investigator, former High Court justice Geoffrey Nettle, has today reported to Parliament that his efforts to bring charges against people for serious offences, including attempting to pervert the course of justice, have been blocked by the DPP, and he is now proposing to resign as a consequence. In light of Mr Nettle’s report, Attorney, will the government agree to giving the special investigator the power to bring charges directly against those people who his office has evidence broke the law during the course of the Lawyer X scandal?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:39): I thank Dr Bach for his question, and I thank the special investigator for the work that he has done and the report that he has tabled today. The legislation appropriately provided powers for him as an independent person to investigate and prepare briefs to be considered by the independent DPP, who has the clear responsibility for assessing those briefs and deciding whether or not to proceed to prosecution, as with other criminal matters. It is certainly not my position to adjudicate over whose view may or may not be correct. Whether you are quoting someone else or yourself, to say that the DPP has blocked a particular matter I do not think is a correct reflection of her role in relation to the independent role she plays in determining whether matters can proceed to prosecution or not.
I would reiterate that as Attorney-General I have no decision-making role in either of these processes, and that is entirely appropriate. For you to suggest that I should consider legislation to support one person’s view versus the other when we already have a role for the DPP is not actually a request I think you should be making if you understand the role of the DPP. It is certainly not a matter for me to make these decisions. It is not a matter for me to comment in relation to these matters in any detail. It is certainly not appropriate for me to put pressure on either the special investigator or the DPP in the exercise of their independent but separate functions.
Naturally, I will consider the recommendations that have been put by the special investigator in his report. I will meet with both him, as I have on previous occasions, and the implementation monitor Sir David Carruthers, who will be meeting with me in relation to his role of overseeing the implementation of all the recommendations from the royal commission into police informants.
Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:41): I thank the Attorney for her response. I am interested in her commentary, especially on the appropriateness of me asking a question – not making a suggestion but nonetheless asking a question – especially given that the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has the power to bring charges itself in matters it investigates. Here the special investigator has reported to Parliament that charges should be laid against a number of people for very serious offences. Why won’t the government allow these charges to be brought by giving the special investigator the same power to bring a charge that IBAC has?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:41): Because we are implementing the recommendations of the royal commission. I will bring to your attention recommendation 94, where it states:
… where the Special Investigator compiles a brief of evidence containing sufficient evidence to establish the commission of a criminal offence or offences by Ms Nicola Gobbo or current or former Victoria Police officers, the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions should be responsible for determining whether to prosecute and, if so, for the prosecution of the matter under the Public Prosecutions Act 1994 …
So not only have we introduced legislation that is true to that recommendation, I have no intention of bringing legislation to undermine that recommendation. The DPP has a role, she has performed that role and I give no commentary in relation to her view versus the Office of the Special Investigator. They have important roles, and I thank them both for their work, but I will not be retrospectively legislating, as I believe you are trying to urge me, to get a different outcome to what the independent DPP has determined.