Corruption watchdog to probe NT Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne ‘witch-hunt’

The corruption watchdog will examine how NT police were able to bug Colleen Gwynne’s mobile phone and office, audit her bank accounts and spy on the home she shared with her children.

Former NT children's commissioner Colleen Gwynne was accused of trying to hire a friend to be assistant children's commissioner. She was charged with a criminal offence and lost her job, even though she was ultimately found not guilty by a court. Picture: Helen Orr

The Northern Territory’s corruption watchdog has launched a ­secret inquiry into the four-year police investigation of former Northern Territory children’s commissioner Colleen Gwynne that left the respected public ­servant broke and ­destroyed her reputation.

The NT Independent Commission Against Corruption is understood to have begun examining the conduct of the criminal investigation in which Ms Gwynne’s mobile phone and office were bugged, her private emails opened, her bank accounts audited and the home she shared with her children put under surveillance.

ICAC Commissioner Michael Riches is expected to focus on a number of extraordinary anomalies in the investigation, revealed by The Australian last week, including how police were able to obtain such intrusive bugging and surveillance warrants.

The million-dollar investigation and prosecution of Ms Gwynne, which was described by one Territory MP as “a witch-hunt”, ended in the case being dismissed in the NT Supreme Court earlier this year when prosecutors were forced to admit they could not prove the charge.

The high-profile Ms Gwynne is well known in the Territory as the former cop who took down Peter Falconio’s killer, Bradley John Murdoch, before moving on to ­become NT Children’s Commissioner, where she investigated the rape of a two-year-old Indigenous baby and exposed the use of spit hoods at the now-infamous Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.

Ms Gwynne speaks to the media during the Peter Falconio investigation.

But in 2020, the then-commissioner was charged with abuse of office, a criminal offence, for having allegedly tried to hire a friend, Laura Dewson, as her assistant, a position for which Ms Dewson had been deemed suitable by an independent panel.

Ms Gwynne gave Ms Dewson the job over the panel’s preferred candidate after she had taken­ ­advice from lawyers within the ­Attorney-General’s Department and the Territory Solicitor.

An inquiry by the Attorney-General’s Department concluded that advice was correct and cleared Ms Gwynne of any intentional wrongdoing. But the criminal case against the 54-year-old continued, even after one officer from the Territory’s ultra-secretive Special Reference Unit privately acknowledged that if she had got advice from the Solicitor for the NT “the whole job is gone”.

Another senior member of the investigation team was Wayne Newell, the police officer accused of perverting the course of justice in the murder trial of former NT cop Zachary Rolfe for the fatal shooting of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker.

Mr Rolfe alleged that during the criminal investigation Sergeant Newell manipulated a criminologist’s expert report and withheld expert opinions from Mr Rolfe’s team that would have helped the defence.

Ms Gwynne, flanked by her legal team, going into Darwin Magistrates Court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Many of the surveillance and search warrants taken out against Ms Gwynne were sought by Sergeant Newell.

It is not clear on the face of it what NT Supreme Court judge Dean Mildren was told when he signed the warrants, beyond that the offences involved alleged official corruption (under section 77 of the Criminal Code Act), and Ms Gwynne was never interviewed by police before being charged.

The ICAC may also investigate how a confidential statement Ms Gwynne made to the NT’s Office of Public Interest Disclosure about the conduct of senior police – a disclosure protected by whistleblower legislation – came to be leaked to police.

Ms Gwynne’s trial ended abruptly when Justice John Burns ruled she could not be charged for “trying to do the right thing but adopting a poor process”.

Prosecutors would have to establish that she did not honestly believe Ms Dewson was the best candidate for the job – and they couldn’t do that.

Ms Gwynne has been forced to sell her house in Darwin and leave the Territory in a bid to find work elsewhere. Two MPs have called for an inquiry into the conduct of the investigation and prosecution.

Ms Gwynne with her children Trudi, left, Jayden and Hayley. Picture: Helen Orr

“For what was essentially a human resources matter they just went for her with such vigour and ferocity, and you’ve got to ask – why?” Independent MP Kezia Purick said. Another NT independent MP, Robyn Lambley, told The Australian: “You know, they – whoever they are – destroyed her; they got her. As little bits and pieces dribbled out it looked more like a witch-hunt.”

The two MPs are suspicious of answers they received to questions in parliament about the costs of the four-year police investigation – just $206,500, according to the NT Police Commissioner – and the costs of the prosecution – only $263,316 according to the NT ­Attorney-General.

Ms Purick believes the police investigation alone would have cost $1m, a figure supported by government and police sources who spoke to The Australian.