Corruption and Crime Commission
Encyclopedia
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
in 2003, largely as a result of the findings of a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
into the state's police service. Its role is to investigate public corruption. It is Western Australia's most elite law enforcement agency with exclusive coercive powers which allow investigative techniques such as phone tapping, covert surveillance, compulsory testifying of witnesses and the seizure of documents. The CCC has picked up a number of cases that have been previously dropped by the WA Police Internal Affairs Unit and charged police officers who are found to be breaking the law in the performance of their jobs.
CCC and journalists
The Commission was criticised in 2007 when it emerged it had secretly interrogated a number of Perth journalists. In 2006/2007 the Commission held 40.5 days of open hearings and 22 days of secret hearings.The journalists were threatened with “fine and lengthy imprisonment” if they told anyone about their attendance. Under Commission law, witnesses can be fined $60,000 and imprisoned for three years if they disclose their attendance or discuss it with others.
The journalists were ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
TV’s Sue Short, Channel 9
STW
-Mathematics:*The Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture, a generalization of Fermat's last theorem.-Music:*Stop the War Coalition, an anti-war group in the United Kingdom*Salt the Wound, a deathcore band-Other:...
’s David Cooper, Channel 7
TVW
TVW can mean:*TVW, a Seven Network owned station in Perth, Western Australia*TVW, a public affairs network in the state of Washington*"tvw", the false branding callsign of WISC-TV's digital subchannel and Madison, Wisconsin's MyNetworkTV affiliate...
’s Gary Adshead and The West Australian
The West Australian
The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...
’s Robert Taylor.
Short and Cooper appeared before the Commission on 26 June over “…identifying the person or persons who on or about 12 May 2006 provided information and/or assisted her (Short) in identifying the new suspect for the murder of Pamela Lawrence as being in custody for another homicide”,; Adshead and Taylor were two of 21 witnesses who appeared before the Parliamentary Inspector of the Commission, Malcolm McCusker
Malcolm McCusker
Malcolm James McCusker, AO, CVO, QC is an Australian philanthropist and barrister who is the current Governor of Western Australia.-Life and career:...
, in late June and early July when he investigated the leaking of a Commission document to Parliament on former Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
MP John D'Orazio
John D'Orazio
John Biase D'Orazio was a Western Australian politician. A pharmacist by trade, he served as mayor of the City of Bayswater from 1983 until 2000, then was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly electorate of Ballajura in 2001, where he served until 2008.Elected as a member of the...
The journalists’ union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, described the secret hearings as “insidious and sinister”.
“We are bringing it to public attention because we are deeply disturbed by its impact on the practice of journalism,” Alliance WA Branch Secretary Michael Sinclair-Jones was quoted in The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
on Thursday 8 November. He said the hearing had the characteristics of a star chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
, with interrogations and investigations held in secret and people who were unwilling to testify threatened with severe penalties.
“These journalists could not tell their families, their boss, their union…it’s police state stuff.
“The blanket suppression of free speech at secret hearings that nobody is allowed to know even occurred is deeply troubling. But we are even more concerned that journalists are being secretly threatened with long jail sentences and massive fines for protecting confidential sources.
“Such inquisitorial powers would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Press freedom and democracy will inevitably suffer if the secret state powers are used to intimidate journalists and crush leaks.”
The last Perth journalist to be imprisoned for contempt was The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
’ Tony Barrass in December 1989: he was imprisoned for the maximum seven days and fined the maximum of $175.
In November, Robert Taylor was named in the WA Parliament
Parliament of Western Australia
The Parliament of Western Australia consists of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly . The Parliament sits at Parliament House in Harvest Terrace, Perth....
as the recipient of more unauthorised “privileged” information, prompting a new Parliamentary investigation.