The state’s top prosecutor has accused an inquiry of “looking for a basis” to make adverse findings against her, as she denied involvement in her office giving information to a media outlet, which sparked a negative story about a judge.
Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling, SC, clashed with upper house MPs during the hearing in NSW parliament on Friday, which marked her second appearance before the inquiry.
Dowling admitted to the inquiry in December last year that her office effectively “gave” a story about District Court Judge Penelope Wass to 2GB in 2024.
However, Dowling said she only became aware of this more than a year after the fact, and she did not authorise this.
Dowling said on Friday it appeared the committee was “looking for a basis to make adverse findings” about her, prompting Liberal MP Susan Carter to say it was looking for the truth.
During the hearing, a terse Dowling told Carter: “You must treat me with courtesy, and you must let me finish my answers.”
Upper house Labor MP Stephen Lawrence asked Dowling if she would accept the “surreptitious planting of stories” would be an “undesirable practice”.
It was “inherently implausible that that would ever happen as a matter of practice”, Dowling said, and “what happened in this case was undesirable”.
A day before the 2GB story aired, Dowling attended a meeting with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ media manager, who was new in the role, and an external media consultant.
Dowling said in writing to the committee that she did not dispute her media manager “had a mistaken understanding” after the meeting that she was authorised to raise the story with 2GB, but “I did not, and would not have, approved this occurring”.
The chairman of the committee conducting the inquiry, upper house Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP Robert Borsak, said in a media release on Thursday that the committee was disappointed the external media consultant declined to give evidence. The inquiry cannot compel witnesses to appear.
The inquiry examining the saga was ostensibly set up to review identity protections for children in criminal proceedings in NSW but has focused almost exclusively on the story about Wass.
The 2GB story referred to an Indigenous teenager sentenced by Wass for an aggravated break and enter involving the sexual touching of an elderly woman.
The ODPP gave 2GB information about the hearing, including the offender’s name, but he was not named on air, in line with the identity protections.
Wass had invited the teen to present what she called a “Welcome to Country” before his sentence. He delivered a short acknowledgement of “the traditional owners and custodians of this land” via video link.
Ben Fordham, host of 2GB’s breakfast program, described the “welcome” on air on October 25, 2024, as a “local scandal”.
Dowling said on Friday that the invitation to give the “welcome” was “widely notorious” across the legal profession in 2024.
Groups such as the Aboriginal Legal Service made written submissions to the inquiry about cases involving apparently egregious breaches of the identity protections that have not been canvassed in the hearings.
The 2GB story followed a wave of negative publicity for the ODPP.
Some District Court judges, including Wass, had delivered decisions criticising the office’s handling of sexual assault cases, prompting The Australian to report on an alleged “#MeToo overkill”. The judges had expressed the view the ODPP was running unmeritorious prosecutions.
Dowling lodged complaints with the Judicial Commission about two decisions, by judges Peter Whitford and Robert Newlinds. The watchdog said in 2024 that their comments were inappropriate and had no evidentiary foundation. Both judges apologised.
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