Resistance to disclosure: Lawyer X police delays slammed by Commissioner

The frustrated head of the Lawyer X inquiry says delays suggest police are “resistant to disclosure”.

Royal Commission Chair, the Honourable Margaret McMurdo said that, given the Victorian Police’s “resistance to disclosure, it would be reasonable to think evidence had been deliberately withheld”. Picture: Supplied

Lawyer X Royal Commissioner Margaret McMurdo says she is being forced to conduct her inquiry with one hand tied behind her back because of constant attempts by Victoria Police to have information shielded from public view.

Commissioner McMurdo, a former president of the Queensland Court of Appeal, said she felt like a beaten and bloodied boxer but was determined to fight on.

“Historical suppression and non-publication orders and constant public interest immunity claims sometimes make my task in moving this Commission forward in public akin to a boxer in a fighting match with one hand tied behind his back and the other bruised and bleeding,’’ Commissioner McMurdo said.

“But I am still upright and focused on a positive conclusion.’’

Sol Solomon statement not provided

The comments came as it emerged that Victoria Police failed to provide to the Commission a “controversial’’ statement by experience homicide detective Sol Solomon about the unsolved gangland killing of police informant Terence Hodson and his wife Christine.

Commissioner McMurdo said that, given the Victorian Police’s resistance to disclosure, it would be reasonable to think Mr Solomon’s evidence had been deliberately withheld.

“Some people might think that Victoria Police didn’t want to provide it to the Commission, that it is uncomfortable for it to be provided to the Commission,’’ Commissioner McMurdo said. “It’s an inference that could reasonably be drawn.”

Counsel for Victoria Police Renee Enbom insisted that was not the case.

“I understand the concern but Victoria Police’s approach to this Commission to date has been to provide full co-operation,’’ Ms Enbom said.

Commissioner McMurdo: “Well, you keep telling us that.’’

Homicide Squad Sergeant Sol Solomon. Victoria Police has been given to the end of the day to explain why Mr Solomon’s statement, which was sworn in January, was not made available to the Commission before today. Picture: James Ross/AAP

There is growing frustration within the Royal Commission that an already difficult task — unravelling the legal and ethical implications of the use of defence barrister Nicola Gobbo as a police informant against her own clients — is being aggravated by the failure of Victoria police to make full and timely disclosures to the Commission.

According to the terms of reference and timelines set by the Andrews Government late last year, the Commission is expected to provide a report by 1 July outlining the criminal cases impacted by Ms Gobbo’s secret role as a registered police informant between 1995 and 2009.

The Commission is now in its third month of public hearings and is yet to examine the most critical period of Ms Gobbo’s involvement as an informant between 2005 and 2009, the tail-end of Melbourne’s gangland war.

Push for greater scrutiny

Commissioner McMurdo’s frustration about the police response to the Royal Commission came in response to an application by media groups including News Corp, publisher of The Australian, to have greater scrutiny of material police are seeking to hide from public view.

There has been more than 50 non-publication orders issued by the Royal Commission, including the suppression of the identity of at least 13 people associated with the Lawyer X saga.

The Royal Commission was established after the High Court resolved a four-year battle waged by Victoria Police to keep Lawyer X under wraps.

The full bench of the High Court, in a stinging judgment, found that Victoria Police, through its “reprehensible’’ conduct throughout the Lawyer X saga, sanctioned “atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer.’’

In an application to the Commission for media groups to be given greater opportunity to challenge suppression orders, solicitor John-Paul Cashen from Macpherson Kelley lawyers, warned the breadth of non publication orders was an obstacle the Royal Commission doing its job.

“In our view, these orders are creating a new regime of secrecy and the plain public interest in the Commission being conducted in public view,’’ he told the Commission.

“The courts and the executive has gone to great lengths to ensure that the veil of secrecy be lifted ad that the acts which gave rise to the saga finally be aired in public.

“In this context, the Commission has been appointed to address, among other issues, Victoria Police’s conduct and systematic failures in its processes for disclosures about matters such as recruitment and management of human sources.’’

Commissioner McMurdo said that where possible, media groups would be given as much notice as possible to challenge future applications for suppression orders.

Victoria Police has been given to the end of the day to explain why Mr Solomon’s statement, which was sworn in January, was not made available to the Commission before today.