Public opinion caused Lindy Chamberlain’s prison release

Lindy Chamberlain’s story that a dingo took baby daughter was not believed but she was released her after the sensational find of Azaria’s matinee jacket.

AUGUST, 1980: The campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru) with Chamberlain family's tent in foreground from which baby Azaria disappeared with Lindy claimingshe was taken by a dingo, 08/80. Pic News Limited. Northern Territory / Missing Person Australia's First Century Historical

Former Northern Territory Chief Minister Steve Hatton has added weight to the inference that a shift in public opinion against the incarceration of Lindy Chamberlain was a key factor in the NT Government’s decision to release her from prison in February 1986.

The Sunday Territorian reported at the weekend that previously confidential cabinet documents released on January 1 containing a second reading speech to Parliament, made specific reference to “other doubts and questions in the minds of some of the public” as a reason for Lindy’s release and the holding of a Commission of Inquiry to determine the Chamberlains’ guilt or innocence.

Mr Hatton, the Primary Production Minister at the time told the ABC that Lindy Chamberlain’s story that a dingo took her baby daughter Azaria was not believed but the government released her from prison anyway.

“We didn’t believe the dingo story, but we didn’t believe Lindy should be in jail for murder,” Mr Hatton said.

He said the shock discovery of baby Azaria’s matinee jacket “opened up a whole can of worms ... we had to find some way to get the whole case reviewed.”

The decision to bow to public pressure sparked talk of division in cabinet. Then Attorney General Marshall Perron, tasked with creating legislation to hold the Commission of Inquiry, quit cabinet not long after and Mr Hatton replaced then Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth three months after the Inquiry was announced.

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