O’Donohue – Southwick – Statement regarding Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants

Liberal Party Victoria

Statement regarding the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants

The Liberal Nationals welcome the final Report of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants and acknowledge the enormous amount of work of the Commissioner, the Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC, and her team.

The events that gave rise to this Royal Commission have shaken the confidence of Victorians in the integrity of our criminal justice system, hurt the reputation of Victorian lawyers and reduced community confidence in Victoria Police. Further, additional criminal prosecutions may be overturned because some or all of the evidence that secured these convictions has been tainted.

Some weeks ago, the Liberal Nationalscalled for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations of criminal conduct and we welcome the Commissioner’s recommendation to appoint a Special Investigator. Daniel Andrews and Jill Hennessy must accept and expedite this appointment with the resources such a significant role requires.

The Commission recommends reforms to improve the governance, transparency and accountability of Victoria Police in the use and management of human sources with an expanded role for the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and the Public Interest Monitor.

We acknowledge the hard-working men and women of Victoria Police who go to work every day to protect the community. They also want the lessons from this sorry saga to be learnt and those responsible for it to be held accountable.

As stated by Shadow Attorney-General, Edward O’Donohue:

“Daniel Andrews must immediately reverse his funding cuts to IBAC so that these important recommendations can be implemented and community confidence in our criminal justice system can be restored.

“Ensuring that the Lawyer X saga never happens again can only be guaranteed if Daniel Andrews acts on these important recommendations and provides the funding needed to see them implemented.”

As stated by Shadow Police & Community Safety Minister, David Southwick:

“Today’s findings confirm that as a consequence of systemic and critical failures of leadership and governance in Victoria Police, over 1,000 criminal cases have been jeopardised and some of the state’s worst criminals may now walk free.

“Daniel Andrews must now take decisive action to return confidence in Victoria Police, fix our broken justice system and make community safety a priority for all Victorians.”

/Public Release. View in full here.