Calls for reforming of NT ICAC gaining momentum
The NT Opposition has renewed calls for a “full-scale parliamentary review” into the NT’s anti-corruption watchdog.
Northern Territory
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THE Territory Opposition has renewed calls for a “full-scale parliamentary review” into the NT’s anti-corruption watchdog following a bombshell report into the ICAC’s statement on the Darwin Turf Club’s $12m grandstand grant.
Following the release of the report by ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock on Wednesday, a spokesman for Chief Minister Michael Gunner confirmed that a previously announced review was now complete, with public feedback to be sought “shortly”. “Greg Shanahan recently completed a review of the ICAC Act,” he said.
“The review commenced prior to the appointment of new Commissioner Michael Riches.
“The review was conducted to make improvements to the ICAC Act and to the operations of the ICAC office, to ensure it maintains its integrity.”
But Deputy Opposition Leader Gerard Maley said only a review “that receives public submissions and holds public hearings will suffice”.
“These kinds of errors in process and judgment are the reason the CLP Opposition called for a full-scale parliamentary review into the ICAC Act, not a closed door in-house audit by the Gunner government,” he said.
“The ICAC is an important institution and must operate independent of government — and to the highest standard — which is why we will use the first sittings of the Parliamentary year to pursue this further.”
Mr Maley called on the government to release the report immediately, saying “Territorians deserve to know what’s contained in that report”.
Calls for reform gaining momentum
CALLS for reform of the Territory’s ICAC office are gaining momentum in the wake of a damning Inspector’s report into former commissioner Ken Fleming QC’s handling of a report into the Darwin Turf Club’s $12m grandstand grant.
ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock SC found Mr Fleming breached his own Act in denying natural justice to former NT News editor Matt Williams by publishing an incomplete and misleading text message within the report.
Rule of Law Institute of Australia vice president Chris Merritt said the saga “strengthens the argument for reform” of a body supposedly established to tackle misconduct in public office.
Mr Merritt said it was “extraordinary” that if not for the legal heft available to a major publishing company, an erroneous finding critical of a private individual — by definition incapable of corruption — might have gone uncorrected.
“The problem’s really reputational harm inflicted on people who have been found guilty of nothing, effectively, and what happened to the former editor of the NT News is the perfect example,” he said.
“I just fear for the welfare of ordinary people that aren’t able to draw on significant legal firepower when they’re up against an agency of government that can draw on, in relative terms, a bottomless pit of money, it’s an unequal battle.”
Mr Merritt said the stated explanation for the bungled handling of the text message did not explain “the subsequent leak of the text message to a rival publication”.
“I don’t want to prejudge the outcome of the police inquiry, but it raises a very big question mark over the future of, at least the person concerned — I don’t know who that is — and possibly the organisation that allowed that sort of culture to take root,” he said. “If they’re honestly supposed to crack down on corruption, the least you can expect from the commission is that they conduct themselves fairly and don’t use collateral means to damage those they don’t like, that’s not what ICAC was established for, it’s very, very disappointing.”
In response to the scandal, Chief Minister Michael Gunner affirmed his confidence in the corruption watchdog, saying a previously announced review of the ICAC Act would be sufficient to address any ongoing issues.
“There’s been a change of commissioner, I think things are in a reasonable shape with how the ICAC is going,” he said. “I don’t think it needs a policy review, I think we all agree there needs to be an ICAC.
“It’s timely to do a technical review of the act, that will be public soon for feedback and that will then inform a future bill in the house.”
Chief responds to ICAC report
CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has affirmed his confidence in the Territory’s Independent Commission Against Corruption in the wake of a damning Inspector’s report.
ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock found former commissioner, Ken Fleming QC, breached his own act in denying natural justice to former NT News editor Matt Williams by publishing an incomplete text message within a report into the Darwin Turf Club.
On Thursday, Mr Gunner said he still had “confidence in what the ICAC does” despite the bombshell revelations.
“There’s been a change of commissioner, I think things are in a reasonable shape with how the ICAC is going,” he said.
Mr Gunner said he was confident a previously announced review of the ICAC Act would be sufficient to address any ongoing issues.
“I don’t think it needs a policy review, I think we all agree there needs to be an ICAC,” he said.
“It’s timely to do a technical review of the act, that will be public soon for feedback and that will then inform a future bill in the house.”
Mr Gunner said it would be inappropriate for his office to conduct an investigation into any staff members involved in the turf club report who remained employed by the ICAC.
“This kind of falls into that space where, as someone who is investigated by the ICAC, I shouldn’t just go in freely investigating people within the ICAC,” he said.
Inspector finds former ICAC boss breached his own Act
Former ICAC commissioner Ken Fleming QC breached his own Act when he erroneously published an incomplete text message — and denied natural justice — to former NT News editor Matt Williams in the Darwin Turf Club grandstand public statement, a bombshell report has found.
ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock on Wednesday released his long-awaited investigation report into a complaint lodged by News Corp Australia, on behalf of Mr Williams and the NT News.
Mr McClintock also found the ICAC failed to afford Mr Williams natural justice prior to publishing the botched text message and that the conduct of the ICAC office was “unsatisfactory”.
Mr Fleming has apologised “unequivocally” for his actions and the Inspector recommended that all references to Mr Williams’ text message be removed from the DTC grandstand public statement.
These references have now been removed from the statement on the ICAC’s website.
Mr McClintock’s four-month investigation found the botched text message was inserted into the grandstand report the day before it was made public after a “siege mentality” developed inside the ICAC office concerning the NT News and “fear about its coverage of the ICAC investigation into the DTC grandstand matter”.
He found the incomplete text message, sent by Mr Williams to former DTC chairman Brett Dixon on October 21, 2019, should never have been published.
“If the ICAC had raised the matter with Mr Williams, they would have learned that the text message was incomplete and the erroneous and incomplete quotation would not have been included (in the public statement),” Mr McClintock wrote.
Mr McClintock found the decision by Mr Fleming to not inform Mr Williams or the NT News beforehand was a breach of Section 50 (2) of the ICAC Act.
Mr Fleming’s decision to publish the text message occurred when the NT News had published a series of articles about serious allegations within the ICAC’s own office.
Paragraph 416 of the ICAC’s grandstand public statement released on June 25 this year, which has now been removed, stated: “A senior media figure has a personal and professional relationship with actors central to this ICAC investigation and their industry.
On 21 October, 2019 they communicated in writing to Mr Dixon, when he and DTC were receiving negative media coverage and there was talk of reporting the matter to the ICAC. Among other things the media figure said, ‘will do my absolute best to put a stop to this’ and ‘you can count on us to deliver plenty of positivity when the grandstand opens’ and ‘our agency, especially since I’ve been in charge has been a big supporter’.”
However, Mr McClintock’s investigation found Mr Williams’s text message was not accurately quoted which “had the effect of making a significant change to the meaning that a reader would ascribe to the passage as it appeared”.
The full text message read: “Hi mate. Thanks for the chat. Hang in there. Will do my absolute best to put a stop to this and you can count on us to deliver plenty of positivity when the grandstand opens. I can understand how tough this has been on you. The NT News, especially since I’ve been in charge has been a big supporter of racing and we will continue to be. Call me anytime. Matt”.
Mr McClintock found the key words “of racing” and those that followed after “big supporter” were omitted from the report because of an “unsuccessful” attempt to download the contents of Mr Dixon’s phone.
“Because of time pressure, a search was performed on the phone for the word ‘grandstand’ and screenshots taken of the material that resulted from the search,” Mr McClintock found.
“It was these screenshots that were the source of the qu`otation set out in the public statement.
“What does not seem to have been appreciated is that this method does not cause the entire message to be displayed on the screen of the phone and that only occurs when highlighted text is clicked on.
“As a result, the screenshot of the relevant text message did not set out its complete text … thus, the ICAC relied upon an incomplete version of Mr Williams’ text message in formulating the findings set out in the public statement …”
Mr McClintock found paragraph 416 was inserted into the report the day before it was released “because of a decision made by then commissioner, Mr Ken Fleming QC, during a meeting of ICAC staff involved in the preparation of the report on June 24”.
“It is apparent … that the ICAC did not inform (Mr Williams and the NT News) he proposed to quote the passage in question … nor did it give them an opportunity to respond to the assertions set out in the relevant passages of those documents,” Mr McClintock found.
His investigation found the inclusion of the incomplete text message “seems to have been prompted by a siege mentality that developed inside the ICAC concerning the NT News and fear about its coverage of the ICAC investigation into the DTC grandstand matter”.
“Such an attitude is inappropriate for a body such as the ICAC,” Mr McClintock wrote.
“It is, almost invariably, a mistake to respond to such matters. It clearly was in this case.
“I do regard the ICAC’s performance in the respects considered in this report as unsatisfactory and falling short of the standards which should govern its conduct.”
NT News general manager Greg Thomson said the findings from the Inspector of the NT Independent Commissioner Against Corruption spoke for itself.
“We were confused and confounded by ICAC’s original investigation report but today’s report is clear,” Mr Thomson said.
“This result, vindicating our concerns, is certainly very welcome by the NT News and we will continue to cover and scrutinise the issues that matter most to Territorians.”
Current ICAC Commissioner releases statement
On Wednesday, Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Michael Riches released a statement saying certain passages from the former Commissioner’s Darwin Turf Club Report had been removed.
“Today I have published on the ICAC website a report of the ICAC Inspector pursuant to section 140(3) of the ICAC Act,” Mr Riches, who started as Commissioner in July last year, said.
“The report follows a complaint to the Inspector from News Corp Australia.
“In accordance with the Inspector’s recommendation, certain passages from the former Commissioner’s Darwin Turf Club Report have been removed, and a link to the Inspector’s report now accompanies the link to the Darwin Turf Club Report.
“In keeping with my approach since I commenced, I will not offer commentary on events that occurred prior to 6 July 2021.
“As I said in my General Report to the Legislative Assembly late last year, as a team we have learned a great deal from past challenges and we are focused on getting on with the job.”
Mr McClintock’s shock findings come after the NT News revealed the NT Police Special References Unit was investigating the activities of the ICAC office, in an inquiry codenamed Operation Hundt.
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