Cunningham: Independent inquiry into Gwynne case should be launched

the Office of the ICAC has made clear it doesn’t comment on matters it is (or isn’t) investigating, writes Matt Cunningham.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro.

The issue surrounding the Northern Territory’s Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb and the employment of his son and daughter-in-law in his office might seem insignificant to some.

This week the NT Independent revealed Babb’s relatives were hired on a short-term basis to do some data entry work.

“Mr Babb was not involved in the recruitment process for these roles and made the appropriate conflict of interest declaration to the [Department of Attorney-General and Justice CEO Gemma Lake] when he became aware of their intention to submit their applications for the roles,” a DPP spokesman told the Independent on behalf of Mr Babb.

“There has been no breach of the NT Public Service Code of Conduct.”

We can take the DPP at his word that it was a coincidence that two of five short-term positions created were filled by his son and daughter-in-law.

The big problem here is the comparison between this case and that of former Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne.

Colleen Gwynne. PHOTO: Helen Orr

For those who are new to the Territory, Gwynne was subjected to a three-year police investigation and criminal trial over allegations she abused her office by employing her friend Laura Dewson.

You could write a book about the crazy sequence of events that led to this becoming a criminal matter.

There isn’t the space to do it justice here.

But we know the Office of the DPP, under Mr Babb, pursued the matter all the way to a Supreme Court trial.

This was despite Gwynne’s lawyer, Phillip Boulten SC, writing to the prosecution in October 2021, asking for the charge to be withdrawn as “the evidence was and is incapable of proving the commission of any offence by Commissioner Gwynne – let alone the serious offence of abuse of office”.

This was one of several occasions where the prosecution was warned any trial would fail on the evidence provided.

And fail is exactly what it did. On March 6, 2023, days after the trial had begun and after an extraordinary amount of money had been spent trying to convict Gwynne, the prosecution conceded it had no case.

Those who know Ms Gwynne know the damage this ordeal has done to her and her family.

Yet she has largely maintained a dignified silence.

In a statement sent yesterday she said: “My phone and office was bugged, private emails opened, bank accounts audited and home and family affairs put under surveillance. All of this completely unlawful. A million-dollar investigation and prosecution for hiring a friend, which I declared to the CEO of the Department of Attorney-General and Justice Meredith Day. (Now Justice Meredith Huntingford).

Colleen Gwynne. PHOTO: Helen Orr

Everything I did was lawful and my legal team advised the head of the DPP, Lloyd Babb, through formal letters that there was no legal basis for the prosecution, the same reasons that led to the matter being tossed out before any evidence was presented.

The blatant hypocrisy here is very hard to comprehend. I wonder if Mr Babb is currently under surveillance.”

The decision to pursue Gwynne in such a determined manner raises many questions.

Some of them might have been answered by an investigation into the matter which, according to a report in The Australian from November 2023, had been initiated by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.

Where is this investigation at?

We’d love to know, but the Office of the ICAC has made clear it doesn’t comment on matters it is (or isn’t) investigating.

What we do know is that just before Christmas last year the Finocchiaro Government appointed Greg Shanahan as the acting ICAC Commissioner while investigations continue into the alleged misconduct of Commissioner Michael Riches.

Shanahan was the head of the Department of Attorney-General and Justice when Gwynne was the Children’s Commissioner and for much of the period during which she was investigated. There’s no suggestion he acted improperly at any point.

But how the former head of the justice department – or any government department for that matter – can subsequently become the head of the organisation charged with investigating the actions of these departments and their employees is mind-boggling.

The Gwynne case is a stain on the Northern Territory that refuses to go away. If the Finocchiaro Government is serious about matters of integrity it would order an independent inquiry into the matter.

Because until we understand why this particular conflict – unlike others – was pursued with such vigour, the public will continue to have little faith in our justice system.

Originally published as Cunningham: Independent inquiry into Gwynne case should be launched