NSW: The prosecutor-candidate gets no help from his friends

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2006
NSW: The prosecutor-candidate gets no help from his friends

By Peter Jean, State Political Reporter

SYDNEY, AAP - Greg Smith is the acting NSW Director of Public Prosecutions but he would
rather be a Liberal member of state parliament.

Henry Alfred Anning, 72, is facing 90 charges before the NSW District Court in Newcastle
related to alleged offences, mostly sex-related, against boys aged 10-16.

Bill Heffernan is a federal senator, president of the NSW Division of the Liberal Party
and an outspoken campaigner against paedophilia.

Peter Debnam will tomorrow (EDS: September 1) celebrate the first anniversary of his
election as leader of the NSW Parliamentary Liberal Party.

These four men have been drawn together in controversy by telephone calls Senator Heffernan
and Mr Debnam made to Mr Smith regarding Anning's case.

Those conversations have caused a minor political storm in NSW.

Mr Smith and federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward are the lead candidates
in the contest to win Liberal Party endorsement to contest the safe Sydney seat of Epping
at the state election next March.

When it was revealed last week that prosecutors had decided not to proceed with charges
against Anning, Attorney-General Bob Debus made a formal request for the decision to be
reviewed by the DPP.

The DPP, Nicholas Cowdery, enjoys a life appointment and his position was created in
order to take decisions on prosecutions out of the hands of politicians.

As a deputy DPP, Mr Smith also has a life appointment (although he will have to resign
if he enters parliament) and during Mr Cowdery's present absence overseas, he is acting
DPP.

Mr Debnam rang Mr Smith to urge him to overturn the decision to drop the charges against
Anning and so did Senator Heffernan.

Mr Smith decided on Sunday the charges should proceed and there has been no suggestion
this decision was improper.

The problem is the potential influence Mr Debnam and Senator Heffernan have over whether
or not Mr Smith is preselected, and the perception that improper political influence may
have been placed on the DPP.

Mr Debus is seeking legal advice on whether the phone calls may have jeopardised Anning's
trial and whether the matter should be referred to the Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC).

He argues it was appropriate for him as attorney-general to ask the acting DPP to review
a decision but not for other politicians to make phone calls to Mr Smith on the matter.

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, who has been publicly criticised by Mr Debnam in the
past, agrees the DPP should be left to make decisions without political pressure.

"The director and those responsible to him make their own decisions on the evidence
he has available to him.

"(They should be) able to make up their minds without any pressures at all, and that
ought to be the case."

Mr Smith refused to comment on the matter this week and Liberal Party rules forbid
him from discussing his preselection bid with the media.

Senator Heffernan also declined to comment on his conversation with Mr Smith but Mr
Debnam denied Anning's trial could have been jeopardised by the phone calls.

He said he wasn't aware people couldn't call the DPP.

"They've got a phone number," Mr Debnam said.

But imagine if the situation were a little different, and Greg Smith had not made the
decision several years ago to quit the Labor Party and join the Liberals.

Mr Smith might still have been the acting DPP and he might have sought Labor preselection.

If a right-wing Labor "mate" or powerbroker like former federal minister Graham Richardson
had been stupid enough to ring Mr Smith to lobby him over a prosecution, the opposition
would have been outraged.

By all accounts, Mr Smith is a lawyer of the highest integrity, but Senator Heffernan
and Mr Debnam have brought him unwelcome negative publicity as he tries to launch a political
career.

The last thing he needs is to be hauled before an ICAC hearing to give evidence on
the phone calls.

Good luck is an important factor in many political careers.

Nicholas Cowdery's overseas trip has proved to be bad luck for Greg Smith.

AAP pj/klw/hn/jt/sd

KEYWORD: NEWSCOPE NSW (AAP NEWS ANALYSIS)

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