State govt protection from Lawyer X legal action at risk of falling through

Laws that would shield the Allan government from Lawyer X legal action could be knocked out of parliament this week.

Laws to shield the Allan government from legal action over the Lawyer X saga, and block a multimillion dollar claim from Nicola Gobbo herself, could be knocked out of parliament this week.

The government rushed the State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill through the lower house less than a fortnight ago, in a bid to limit the state’s civil liability for legal claims relating to information sharing or other assistance provided to Victoria Police by both Gobbo and underworld lawyer Joseph Aquaro.

But the bill faces being blocked in the upper house where the government needs the support of six crossbenchers to pass the proposed laws.

Laws to shield the Allan government from legal action over the Lawyer X saga could be knocked out of parliament this week. Picture: David Geraghty

Greens MP, Tim Read, said the party’s four upper house MPs would oppose the bill.

“It takes away people’s right to take, effectively, a massive piece of police misconduct to court,” he said.

“So we oppose this Bill in its current form.

“The Bill is really very simple, it boils down to one sentence, which takes away your right to sue the government.”

“So it’s hard to see how this Bill could be amended to attract our support.”

Other crossbench MPs, including Libertarian MP David Limbrick, are also publicly opposed to the bill.

A survey of crossbench MPs has found the government is unlikely to secure the support it needs before the bill is expected to be debated and voted on this week.

It would mean potentially damaging public trials could proceed.

A number of civil matters have already begun as a result of the saga including cases by gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo and Faruk Orman, the man freed from prison after his conviction over the 2002 Victor Peirce murder was quashed in the wake of the Lawyer X saga.

Legal sources estimate the Victorian government has already spent millions of dollars fighting Orman’s case.

Two other Gobbo clients, Angelo Venditti and Zlate Cvetanovski, are also seeking compensation from the government.

Zlate Cvetanovski is also seeking compensation from the government. Picture: Mark Stewart

Gobbo is seeking an undisclosed payout for what her lawyers describe as Victoria Police’s “highhanded, insulting or reprehensible” conduct in using her as a police informer and failing to protect her identity.

Her lawyers have argued she has been left fearing for her life because of police mismanagement of her situation.

They say the 18 year saga since she was first registered as a police informer has left her with neurological, vascular, dermatological, orthopaedic and psychiatric injuries.

She will never work again, and has been forced from her home amid the fear of death after her identity was disclosed, they say.

Gobbo has launched legal action seeking aggravated damages for distress, pain, insult, hurt and humiliation suffered.

The gangland barrister turned snitch once boasted she “single-handedly orchestrated” the seizure of $80 million worth of assets during her role as a secret police informer.

And in mid-2009, she was demanding a piece of the pie, telling her police handlers she wanted $30 million or a percentage of assets seized by Victoria Police in exchange for entering the witness protection program.