Christian Porter’s proposal for a federal anti-corruption commission has achieved something remarkable. The Attorney-General has positioned the Morrison government as the champion of human rights. Equally remarkable is the reality confronting Bill Shorten’s Labor Party: unless it takes great care, Labor could find itself pushed into the arms of a ...
Read More »Great Harm to Innocent People – An ICAC story by Margaret Cunneen
The following paper is from the Samuel Griffiths Society (SGS) – formed to uphold Rule of Law and the Australian Constitution. Their annual meeting is in Brisbane 3-5/8/18. Great Harm to Innocent People: An ICAC story
Read More »Margaret Cunneen calls for ICAC review system
NSW prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC has called for the state’s anti-corruption agency to be subjected to a new system of merits review aimed at weeding out mistakes that currently remain uncorrected. Ms Cunneen questioned why those who are found to be corrupt by ICAC, but who are never charged with ...
Read More »Obeids and ICAC feel blow of The Hammer in NSW Supreme Court
There is no doubt that Eddie Obeid and his sons are, by a country mile, the big losers from this week’s ruling by David Hammerschlag in the NSW Supreme Court. The Hammer demolished their case against the Independent Commission Against Corruption and he did so using language that was guaranteed ...
Read More »Rogue body persecutes innocents via trial by media
Our common law system with all its appeals, formalities and procedures, checks and balances, hard-won evidentiary rules developed for the protection of individual liberty, may be slow and even arcane. But the hierarchy of the courts, and the many sets of eyes that review every allegation at every point, ensure ...
Read More »Get a thicker skin- Watson doesn’t like the shoe on another foot!
The NSW corruption watchdog’s star barrister, Geoffrey Watson SC, has threatened powerful radio host Alan Jones with a defamation suit if he does not publicly apologise for calling him a “character assassin”. Mr Watson, the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s senior counsel assisting, sent a legal letter to Jones on December ...
Read More »Legal challenges- the excessive abuse of power by faceless bureaucrats, keystone cops and wannabe celebrity lawyers.
One of ICAC’s highest-profile scalps, former NSW police minister Michael Gallacher, is set to return to the Baird government’s frontbench following the state corruption watchdog’s surprise move to back down in its corruption investigation over electoral donations. The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is at risk of a fresh onslaught ...
Read More »ICAC boss Megan Latham under pressure over Margaret Cunneen
The chief of the NSW corruption watchdog was under pressure last night to step down after the collapse of relations with the agency’s independent inspector, who found she had abused her power and oversaw unlawful conduct. NSW Premier Mike Baird said a damning report produced by the ICAC inspector, former ...
Read More »Time to remove stench of ICAC ‘corruption’ claims: John Kinghorn
by: Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs Editor, The Australian, November 13, 2015. Businessman John Kinghorn has just joined an elite club: the innocent victims of the NSW government’s Independent Commission Against Corruption. Like prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC and fellow businessman Andrew Poole, Mr Kinghorn was wrongly accused by ICAC of crime ...
Read More »Mike Baird’s bad politics over ICAC changes will get worse
by: Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs Editor, The Australian, November 13, 2015. For better or worse, Mike Baird has linked his fate to an organisation whose competence and rigour are seriously in doubt. It’s bad politics, bad public policy and bad law. The NSW Premier has chosen the worst possible time ...
Read More »