Thursday, 23rd February, 2006

Yesterday The West Australian published a savage and defamatory attack on the Police and Justice Minister John D'Orazio who it described as a "Godfather". Today the paper continued its misleading slurs with another page one headline suggesting that Mr D'Orazio is "part of a fresh probe" by the Corruption and Crime Commission.

The paper left it to Premier Alan Carpenter to point out that the so-called probe was in fact a decision by the CCC to make an assessment whether there was anything in the original West Australian story worth probing. "This formal assessment does not mean that the Police Minister is under investigation by the Triple-C," the Premier said. "Under the CCC guidelines, the Triple-C is obliged to assess such allegations if they are raised in a public forum such as the front page of the daily newspaper. Following the assessment, the Triple-C then has to decide whether to investigate the allegations or take no further action."

The Premier included in his statement Section 6 from the Corruption and Crime Commission of WA - Notification Guidelines which reads as follows:

What does the Corruption and Crime Commission do with Notifications?

The Act requires the CCC to deal with notifications in a particular way. There is a requirement for the CCC to assess notifications and form opinions about whether misconduct has or may have occurred; is or may be occurring; is or may be about to occur; or is likely to occur. Having formed an opinion, the CCC may decide to take any of the following courses of action:

. investigate or take other action about the matter alone;
. investigate or take further action about the matter in co-operation with other agencies (for example, the Ombudsman);
. refer the matter to another agency for action - most likely the agency making the notification; or
. take no action.

On Wednesday the CCC issued a short statement in which "Commissioner Kevin Hammond said today that no allegations of misconduct were raised against the Minister for Police and Emergency Services; and Justice; Mr John D'Orazio, at the time of a public hearing by the Commission into the City of Bayswater in June 2005, or subsequently. He added that the Minister was not named during the public hearings. However, Mr Hammond said the Commission had started a formal assessment of allegations that named Mr D'Orazio in today's The West Australian. He said media outlets should be aware that the person at the centre of last year's hearings, Mr Adam Spagnolo, is currently facing corruption charges before the District Court over contracts with the City of Bayswater. He said media reports should be cognisant of these criminal proceedings."

The West Australian used only one line from Mr Hammond's statement: The CCC said yesterday "it had started a formal assessment of allegations that named Mr D'Orazio in . . The West Australian ."

See yesterday's story