Corruption charges for NT kids’ commissioner Colleen Gwynne

The woman who brought Bradley John Murdoch to justice is facing corruption charges for allegedly trying to man­ipulate a close personal friend into a plum NT job.

NT Children's Commissioner Colleen Gwynne. Picture: AAP

The woman who brought Peter Falconio killer Bradley John Murdoch to justice is facing corruption charges for allegedly trying to man­ipulate a close personal friend into a plum job in the Northern Territory public service.

Lawyers for Colleen Gwynne on Monday suggested that complaints about her conduct had “vaulted over” due process, insinuating that might have been orchestrated to disrupt her bid to rejoin the Top End’s troubled police force in a more senior role.

Ms Gwynne has been on leave from her job as Children’s Commissioner since she was unexpectedly charged with abuse of office in July last year.

She is best known for nailing Murdoch with a forensic investigation relying upon a single hair but is also recognised around Darwin for coaching sports.

In 2018, Ms Gwynne was trying to hire a deputy children’s commissioner — a position created as a recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT — when she rejected an interview panel’s preferred candidate and moved to install its second choice, Laura Dewson.

Prosecutors say Ms Gwynne should not have done so, given she had a “clear and undeclared conflict of interest” through her longstanding relationship with Ms Dewson.

Defence lawyers say the relationship was limited and Ms Gwynne obtained legal advice (including from the office of the ­Solicitor-General for the NT) that she could choose Ms Dewson, an experienced public servant who was acting in the role. Ms Dewson previously worked for police but left with a confidential settlement.

Ms Dewson did not get the deputy’s job because a third woman, Nicole Hucks — whom the first interview panel had found unsuitable — was ultimately selected via a second interview process rerun using diversity provisions designed to favour Indigenous ­applicants.

Ms Hucks complained to the then public employment commissioner Craig Allen about Ms Gwynne (who had been one of her referees and on the interview panel). Her complaint migrated swiftly to then public interest disclosures commissioner Allan Borg and finally to the police, who investigated it using a special unit set up to handle political crimes but whose work had notionally been transferred to an anti-corruption commission.

Phillip Boulten SC, for Ms Gwynne, told Darwin Local Court the crown did not dispute that his client’s unsuccessful attempt to appoint Ms Dewson were lawful.

“The conduct that is the subject of the charge here is like the tip of the tail wagging the dog,” he said.

“My client was directed to go on that (second) selection committee. She disagreed with that process. The process resulted in an outcome that the first selection committee and my client disagreed with. She’s now charged with a criminal offence for the way she participated in the second selection committee.”

He told Queensland magistrate Anthony Gett, who has been sworn in as an NT judge to preside over this case, that at the time of Ms Hucks’s complaint, Ms Gwynne was applying to be an assistant police commissioner. Information about the complaint leaked to the media. The complaint did not follow normal public service processes and Ms Gwynne was not given an opportunity to tell her side of the story, he said.

Judge Gett will hear submissions on the scope of a subpoena for documents from Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker’s office and on cross-examination at Ms Gwynne’s committal.

The case returns in June.