Darwin Turf Club: More details around secret ICAC recordings revealed

Documents to the Supreme Court have revealed exactly what happened when a Darwin Turf Club board member was secretly recorded by the ICAC.

NO official approval was sought or obtained before officers from the Office of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption secretly recorded a conversation with a Darwin Turf Club board member.

More details about the secret recording of businesswoman Anya Lorimer can be revealed in Supreme Court documents filed by fellow board member Damien Moriarty, who is challenging adverse ICAC findings made against him.

The documents include questions sent to the ICAC by Mr Moriarty’s lawyer Patrick Cozens about the secret recording of Ms Lorimer.

They show Ms Lorimer was secretly recorded after she was asked to come for a chat with ICAC investigator Sean Goff at Ray’s Café in Smith St in September 2020. While Mr Goff covertly recorded his discussion with Ms Lorimer, another ICAC employee, Craig McPherson, sat in the café and listened in real time.

Campaign Edge Sprout director Anya Lorimer is pictured in her office in Darwin. She has built the business from the ground up over 20 years. Photograph: Che Chorley

Another two ICAC employees – Jayson Jamisola and Richard Osborne – sat outside the café while the secret recording was made.

A copy of the recording was then provided to then-Commissioner Ken Fleming QC, who listened to it in-part.

In his letter sent to the ICAC, Mr Cozens asks who approved the secret recording and the practice of conducting such recordings.

“No specific approval was sought from or provided by the ICAC in relation to the use of this investigation methodology concerning Ms Lorimer,” lawyers for the ICAC said in reply.

“Mr Ken Fleming, (ICAC general manager) Mr Matt Grant and (ICAC director of investigations) Ms Kate Kelly were aware of this investigation methodology, including the use of observers.”

Mr Fleming retired last July and was replaced by Michael Riches, who has since apologised to Ms Lorimer. Ms Kelly resigned from ICAC last year while Mr Grant has been seconded to a high-level position with the NT Police.

The ICAC has made at least four secret recordings including one of former Opposition Leader Gary Higgins. Mr Riches has described the practice as “inappropriate” and said it will not happen on his watch. He has referred the matter to Inspector Bruce McClintock SC who is investigating.

The court documents include a transcript of Mr Goff’s conversation with Ms Lorimer.

At one point she remarks that “I’m not being recorded” and Mr Goff does nothing to dissuade her of that view.

Mr Moriarty is challenging the ICAC’s findings on 12 grounds, including that he was told he was not under investigation during two interviews he gave to the ICAC in 2020.

Mr Moriarty’s lawyers have argued the secret recording shows he was under investigation at the time the conversation took place in September 2020.

But when he was interviewed for a second time the following month, the ICAC told him verbally and in writing that he was not under investigation.

During the secret recording Mr Goff asks Ms Lorimer several questions about Mr Moriarty.

She rejects a suggestion Mr Moriarty was paid for services provided to the Turf Club so he would give favourable treatment to Chairman Brett Dixon, whose company Jaytex was awarded a tender to build a $12 million government-funded grandstand at the club’s Fannie Bay Racecourse.

Mr Lorimer tells Mr Goff she and Mr Moriarty had a “ding-a-ling” in a previous business dealing but said they enjoyed a cordial working relationship.

She told Mr Goff that Mr Moriarty did an extraordinary amount of unpaid work for the club and that he deserved to be paid for some of his services.

Ms Lorimer also praised Darwin Turf Club Chairman Brett Dixon, describing him as “definitely the best Chair that I’ve ever been on a board under”.

The ICAC’s response to Mr Cozens shows Mr Fleming was provided with a copy of the recording but Mr Goff indicated that Ms Lorimer did not have anything significant to say.

“The then ICAC played the recording but turned it off part way through once he formed the view that there had not been anything of significance in the portion to which he listened and was unlikely to be anything of significance in the remaining portion of the recording,” the response says.

Mr Dixon and Mr Moriarty were among five people who were the subject of adverse findings in the ICAC’s report into the grandstand.

They are both taking Supreme Court action to have the findings overturned.

■ Matt Cunningham is Sky News Australia’s Northern Australia Correspondent