The Age 'acted in public interest'

THE editor-in-chief of The Age said the newspaper should be applauded for illegally accessing an ALP electoral database.

THE editor-in-chief of The Age has told a Victorian parliamentary committee the newspaper should be applauded for illegally accessing an ALP electoral database in the lead-up to the 2010 state election.

Paul Ramadge wrote to the Victorian Electoral Matters Committee last year in response to inquiries about the conduct of the newspaper and several of its journalists. He argued the newspaper had acted in the interests of the "integrity" of the electoral roll, even though those actions are now the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

Members of Victoria Police's E-Crime Squad raided the offices of the newspaper days after the letter was written, attempting to remove computer equipment.

The Weekend Australian understands members of the committee are disappointed and angry about The Age's response and its dismissal of the issues.

The committee's final report into the matter will be made public on May 24, although it is understood no recommendations or findings against The Age will be made because of the police investigation.

Detective Inspector John Manley, who is in charge of the investigation, refused to comment on whether detectives had interviewed Ramadge or any of the journalists involved.

In the letter to upper house MP Bernie Finn, the chairman of the committee, Ramadge said The Age agreed with the committee's belief in the integrity of the electoral roll.

"I would expect that, in light of the sentiments set out in your letter, you would applaud the actions of The Age," the editor wrote.

"As is apparent from the article, the reporters were approached by someone with legitimate concerns about the database held by the ALP. The Age was provided with access to the database.

"This was a story with significant public interest - a powerful, highly influential organisation (the ALP) collecting private information on voters without their knowledge and giving campaign workers, including (it seems) volunteers, access to it.

"The Age discovered that a major political party was collecting and storing personal information about members of the public, unbeknown to those individuals.

"It reported, carefully and precisely, what some of those files contained without breaching people's privacy.

"The files included personal health and financial information - the sensitivity of which The Age respected."

The letter concludes by acknowledging the investigation by Victoria Police. That investigation is centred on reports in November 2010 that revealed the ALP was holding the personal details of tens of thousands of Victorians in a database that was being accessed by campaign workers.

The Age declined to comment yesterday.

As research, it conducted searches of prominent Victorians, including former police commissioner Simon Overland, barrister Peter Faris QC and radio presenters Neil Mitchell and Jon Faine.