Steve Barrett: TV reporter accused of blackmail not looking for a story, court hears

A veteran Sydney crime reporter would have taken notes at a meeting with the masterminds allegedly behind a major tax fraud scheme if he was genuinely looking for a story, a court has heard.

Steve Barrett gives a thumbs up as he leaves the Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

A veteran Sydney crime reporter would have taken notes at a meeting with the alleged masterminds of a major tax fraud scheme if he was genuinely looking for a story instead of trying to blackmail them, a trial has heard.

Steve Barrett, 63, of Nelson Bay, is fighting a charge he became involved in a 2017 plot to demand $5 million from the alleged $105 million tax fraud syndicate that operated through a company called Plutus Payroll.

The Crown alleges the syndicate, which included former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston’s son Adam, was diverting millions in tax and GST owed to the government to themselves by outsourcing payroll responsibilities to second tier companies with fake directors.

Prosecutors have told the NSW Supreme Court that Barrett, a journalist of 39 years who’s worked for 60 Minutes, was paid up to $3000 to play a role in the blackmail by threatening to expose the alleged fraudsters in the media.

Steve Barrett has been a journalist for 39 years. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

The defence has argued property developer Daniel Hausman had hatched the blackmail plan with co-conspirator Daniel Rostankovski and that Barrett only became involved in the matter in his capacity as a professional journalist looking for a story.

But Crown prosecutor Trish McDonald, SC, said in her closing address to the jury on Friday that Barrett wasn’t “some duped journalist” but someone who knew exactly what was going on.

She questioned to the court why Barrett had attended a meeting with the alleged fraudsters, informed them of his lengthy media credentials and then left before Rostankovski demanded money.

“He’s threatening these people with exposure, that was his role, he then leaves the meeting and Mr Rostankovski takes over,” she said.

“If you were an (investigative journalist) at this meeting with Adam (Cranston), I’d stay and be taking notes but, no, he leaves, he leaves because that was his role, his role was to do the big ‘I’m the media person, I’m the media person this is what I’ve been told’ … and then leave.

“Then Mr Rostankovski makes a demand for $5m.

“The role Barrett plays is the menace, the threat … Mr Rostankovski was the demand for money – that forms the joint criminal enterprise.”

Ms McDonald is expected to finish her closing address to the jury on Monday before Barrett’s defence barrister Clive Steirn, SC, gives his closing address.

Justice Peter Johnson will then give his summing up before the jury retires to consider its verdict.