Secret ICAC investigation into Colleen Gwynne prosecution rules out improper conduct by police, lawyers
A previously unpublished investigation by the corruption watchdog found no evidence of improper conduct by lawyers or police in the prosecution of former Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne.
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A previously unpublished investigation by the corruption watchdog found no evidence of improper conduct by lawyers or police in the prosecution of former Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne.
Operation Sirocco was launched after Ms Gwynne referred the matter of her prosecution to the NT Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC), claiming she had been unfairly targeted.
The crux of Ms Gwynne’s complaint was the public prosecutor and NT Police knew from at least September 2022 the investigation was “motivated by malice and/or maintained maliciously”; that her alleged conduct was trivial and not criminal, and therefore it was not in the public interest to pursue an investigation or prosecution; and the scale of the investigation launched against her was an abuse of power.
ICAC delegate Patricia Kelly SC found “no substance” to any of the complaints nor any basis to continue investigating, and finalised her report in April last year.
The existence of that report remained undisclosed to the public until Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby tabled it to parliament on Thursday afternoon.
Earlier this week the Chief Minister said her government would not rule out an independent inquiry into the Gwynne prosecution if required, prompting Ms Boothby to contact the ICAC to determine whether it had previously looked into the issue.
“The ICAC confirmed they had investigated the matter previously, and yesterday afternoon they provided me with the Operation Sirocco report,” she said.
“I will be asking the Attorney-General’s department for a full briefing on the matter to determine what further action, if any, is appropriate.
“Question marks now hang over the two former Attorneys-General, the Leader of the Opposition Selena Uibo and Member for Gwoja Chansey Paech, about how long they have known.”
Ms Uibo defended Labor’s record on the issue, and accused the CLP of hypocrisy in its handling of the ongoing police recruitment scandal.
“ICAC’s Operation Sirocco findings, tabled in parliament today, clearly outlined there was no evidence of improper conduct or the need to make a report,” Ms Uibo said.
“In contrast, the Chief Minister spent three weeks trying to cover-up the Operation Apollo findings of improper conduct and misled Territorians about her ability to make the report public.”
Ms Gwynne was in her sixth year as NT Children’s Commissioner in 2020 when she was charged with abuse of office for alleged arbitrary and prejudicial conduct.
She was accused of interfering with a recruitment process to promote a friend to her second in command.
The case against her was ultimately thrown out when prosecutors admitted they couldn’t prove the charge – but not before three years of Ms Gwynne being put through the ringer of criminal prosecution and national media scrutiny.
Ms Gwynne has always denied any abuse of office.
The ICAC found there was no question the allegations against Ms Gwynne were serious, “involving as they did at the very least a conflict of interest in managing the selection process by a very senior public servant”.
The report stated multiple charges against Ms Gwynne were originally recommended, but ultimately the Director of Public Prosecutions chose only to proceed with one charge “in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion”.
The ICAC found the case against Ms Gwynne was effectively brought to an end by a pre-trial ruling made by the judge in June 2023 – something the DPP “could not have been expected to have foreseen”.
“Up to the time that ruling was made, in my view, there was plainly sufficient evidence for the Director of Public Prosecutions to have properly exercised the discretion to prosecute.”
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Originally published as Secret ICAC investigation into Colleen Gwynne prosecution rules out improper conduct by police, lawyers
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