Lionel Murphy: Police given tip-off in case of the bungling burglars

Lionel Murphy was alleged to have perverted the course of justice after tipping off police to a break-in at Junie Morosi’s.

Junie Morosi, former secretary to politician Jim Cairns.

Lionel Murphy was alleged to have perverted the course of justice after he tipped off federal police about a break-in at the ­Sydney home of Junie Morosi, the public servant who had an affair with then Labor treasurer Jim Cairns.

The burglary was ­allegedly instigated by a Liberal Party “committee” including ­opposition legal affairs spokesman Ivor Greenwood and former minister Bill Wentworth.

Murphy’s role in calling in police and then allegedly back-pedalling to protect the three men haplessly caught in the act would probably have been weighed up by the commission of inquiry had it not been suspended when he became terminally ill.

The purpose of the January 17, 1975, break-in was evidently to lift documents for the Liberals that might prove politically damaging to Cairns and Murphy, who also had a close though platonic relationship with Morosi. There is no independent corroboration in the papers released yesterday that ­either the Liberal Party or then parliamentary leader Malcolm Fraser knew of the plan.

Murphy evidently got wind of it when the private detective who was supposed to lead the three-man team spilled the beans to bookmaker Bill Waterhouse, a friend of his. Murphy, as attorney-general, immediately contacted federal police.

Detectives had the Gladesville property in Sydney’s northwest staked out when Australia’s ­answer to the bungling Watergate burglars struck.

Infuriated by his arrest, the ­private eye confronted Waterhouse who, in his presence, phoned Murphy’s long-time associate, solicitor Morgan Ryan. Laughing, Ryan allegedly said: “Don’t worry, we’ll have it fixed.”

According to the private eye, Ryan then put his “mate”, ­Murphy, on the phone, who said: “Thank (you) very much ... I am sorry about this but it will be ­attended to.”

While investigating police found the private eye was known in police circles as a “standover man” and had a poor reputation, his account warranted “serious consideration” by the inquiry. Murphy is alleged to have taken unspecified steps to ensure that two of the burglars were not prosecuted and that the third got off on a lesser offence of larceny.

It was also alleged he may have behaved in an “improper fashion” to arrange for the police to be on hand when they stole documents kept in Morosi’s garage.