Call for inquiry into police covert surveillance operations

Matt Maloney | The Examiner | 28 September 2022

An independent inquiry should be held into covert surveillance procedures by Tasmania Police following a botched operation inside Risdon Prison linked to the Sue Neill-Fraser case, Nelson independent Meg Webb has said.

The surveillance breach by police involved a secret recording of a meeting in 2017 between Neill-Fraser’s former lawyer Jeffery Thompson and an inmate at Risdon Prison that became embroiled in the case.

It was later revealed one of the recording devices was not switched off after the meeting for two months.

After the blunder was revealed, Police Commissioner Darren Hine said there would be an independent review into the matter by former Solicitor-General Michael O’Farrell.

Ms Webb in Parliament on Tuesday said she was concerned the illegal surveillance activity took five years to surface.

“It did not come to light through legislated reporting and accountability mechanisms, but through a protracted legal proceeding against an individual, which was later dropped by the state,” she said.

“Of great concern is the fact that, as devices were left running for over two months at Risdon Prison, the material being monitored could be watched in real time by investigators on a computer in a room which was apparently only protected by a passcode.

“There were said to be at least five investigators in that investigation team. There were another five persons in the technical services unit.”

Ms Webb said Mr O’Farrell should step aside from the review as he had a perceived conflict of interest, owing to his time advising agencies like Tasmania Police when he was Solicitor-General.

She said an independent inquiry commissioned by the government with a comprehensive terms of reference was the only way to fully address the scope of the issue.

Ms Webb said if a Commission of Inquiry was not adopted, an inquiry could be undertaken by a retired interstate judge with no connection with Tasmania and with no pre-existing connections to Tasmania Police or the Neill-Fraser case.

See more of Meg in the media.