Cunningham: When scandals are uncovered in the NT, the sound of crickets chirping follows
After eight years of Labor governments that buried their heads in the sand and relied on the ‘advice’ of faceless bureaucrats, we’re now getting more of the same from the CLP, writes Matt Cunningham.
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Police Commissioner Michael Murphy no doubt thought his actions were justified when he helped his very good mate get a job as assistant commissioner early last year.
Crime was out of control and police morale was at an appalling low.
What better way to help a hopelessly factional organisation move forward than to put a trusted ally in its upper ranks.
It’s something the CEOs of private companies do every day.
But the Northern Territory Police Force is not a private company, and there are very different rules you have to play by when you’re using taxpayers’ money.
It’s almost impossible to believe the Police Commissioner didn’t know this.
Why?
Because Murphy was deputy commissioner when the same organisation he now leads decided a similar, but more trivial, matter involving former NT Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne was worthy of a three-year criminal investigation.
Unlike Murphy, Gwynne didn’t sit on the selection panel that eventually led to the appointment of her friend as assistant children’s commissioner.
Gwynne declared her conflict with her superiors when she chose her friend – deemed suitable for the position by the panel she wasn’t on – for the position ahead of one other preferred applicant.
She even sought the approval of the HR Director from the Department of Attorney-General and Justice Brian Mappas, who sought advice from the Solicitor General before the appointment was made.
And she didn’t provide a copy of one of her previous applications to her friend at the exclusion of the other candidates, as Murphy was found to have done.
So what happens now?
Will the NT Police assign four detectives from the special references unit to investigate their boss as they did to Gwynne?
Will they send them to every corner of the country to gather evidence.
Will they run surveillance on his home, bug his office and trawl through his bank accounts? Will they charge him with abuse of office and force him to stand down from his job?
Will the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions join in on the show and push the case all the way to the Supreme Court, even if it’s clear there’s no hope of a conviction?
Will they make sure they release the most damaging piece of audio from their clandestine bugging operation before they concede they have no case at all?
Will they destroy his career and his reputation and force him to sell his home and move interstate.
Not a chance.
Because the Territory’s broken justice system is one that provides no justice at all.
Instead, the Police Commissioner has enjoyed the luxury of being found to have engaged in “unsatisfactory conduct” in an ICAC report that generously provided him anonymity.
We were told that ICAC report was supposed to be an “educational tool for the public sector”. You have to wonder how this all works.
Does it go a bit like this?
“Hey, Murphy’s given his good mate a top job in the cops.”
“It’s all good. He’s a good bloke. Just put out that he’s learnt from his mistake.”
“Hey, we reckon Gwynne’s tried to give her friend a job in OCC.”
“Right, that b--ch has been making trouble, putting out those reports into kids being abused in detention and toddlers being raped. Throw the book at her and spare no expense.”
This might seem like some sick black comedy. But it’s actually what has happened in this weird little jurisdiction.
Murphy might have continued to enjoy the anonymity the ICAC and the Government so graciously granted him had it not been for the actions of Independent MLA Justine Davis, who said she would name him in parliament on the next day of sittings. Davis showed more integrity this week than we’ve seen from any politician since Gerry Wood’s retirement.
Some people will say this is a very Territory story.
But why do things like this keep happening here? Perhaps it’s because when they do, we do nothing about it.
When police corruption was exposed in Queensland, they called the Fitzgerald Inquiry and straightened it out. Former commissioner Terry Lewis ended up in jail. In 1995, the New South Wales Government ordered the Wood Royal Commission into corruption.
When the Lawyer X scandal was revealed in Victoria, a Royal Commission followed.
But when scandals are uncovered in the Northern Territory, all that follows is the sound of crickets chirping.
Look at the abomination that is the ICAC.
In just over six years it’s delivered dubious reports that have had to be withdrawn, seen its first commissioner go completely rogue and start disparaging his own staff and threatening to interrogate journalists at budget estimates, been engulfed in its own conflict-of-interest scandal, secretly recorded conversations with witnesses in a manner that was likely unlawful and seen its second commissioner forced to stand down over allegations of inappropriate conduct.
There’s enough scandal in one paragraph for a full-blown inquiry. Instead, our fearless leaders look the other way.
After eight years of Labor governments that buried their heads in the sand and relied on the “advice” of faceless bureaucrats whose primary concern is protecting their own backsides, we’re now getting more of the same from the CLP.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro released a statement on Thursday saying she shares “the same frustrations as the rest of the community” around the latest ICAC debacle. If only she had the power to do something about it.
Mrs Finocchiaro’s statement revealed taxpayers had spent $35 million on the Office of the ICAC since late 2018. Her next line should have been that she’s blowing it up and starting again.
Instead, she said: “It is clear more needs to be done than what we inherited from Labor to give confidence to Territorians that the Territory’s integrity functions are fit for purpose.”
What a load of meaningless nonsense. It’s time to stop blaming and start doing. Because if evil triumphs when good men (and women) do nothing, then it’s little wonder it’s been running rampant in the NT.
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Originally published as Cunningham: When scandals are uncovered in the NT, the sound of crickets chirping follows
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