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Commissioners named for police informants royal commission
The Andrews government has announced a former Court of Appeal president and a former police commissioner as commission chair and commissioner, respectively, for the Victorian Royal Commission into Management of Informants.
Jerome Doraisamy
Attorney-General Jill Hennessy today announced the appointment of the Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC as the royal commission chair, along with former South Australian police commissioner Malcolm Hyde AO APM as a commissioner.
“This royal commission, led by Justice McMurdo and Malcolm Hyde, will ensure we get the answers we need so that something like this can never happen again,” she added.
Under the royal commission’s terms of reference, Justice McMurdo and Mr Hyde will inquire into and report on matters including: “the number and extent of cases affected by informant 3838, the conduct of current and former members of Victoria Police in the handling and management of 3838 [and] the current adequacy and effectiveness of Victoria Police’s processes for recruiting, handling and managing human sources who are subject to legal obligations of confidentiality or privilege”.
In addition, the terms of reference will see investigation into “the current use of human source information in the criminal justice system from human sources who are subject to legal obligations of confidentiality or privilege [and] the appropriateness of Victoria Police’s practices around the disclosure or non-disclosure of the use of such human sources to prosecuting authorities”.
Under the Inquiries Act 2014, the commission “can share information with any body or agency for investigation or action if it considers it relevant or appropriate”, Ms Hennessy noted in a statement.
Justice McMurdo has had a “highly distinguished legal career”, according to the Attorney-General, having worked in the Public Defender’s Office and as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland before being appointed a judge of the District Court of Queensland and the Children’s Court of Queensland.
She was appointed President of the Court of Appeal for the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1998 and was subsequently appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2007 for “service to the law and judicial administration in Queensland”.
Mr Hyde was appointed Police Commissioner for South Australia Police in 1997 after serving 30 years with Victorian Police. He was reappointed three times before he retired from the role in 2012, Ms Hennessy noted.
He was also a special adviser to the Victorian Parliament’s Family and Community Development Committee’s Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations (Betrayal of Trust Inquiry) and conducted the Tasmanian Bushfires Inquiry in 2013, which covered the cause and circumstances of the fires as well as all aspects of the emergency response, including preparation and planning.
The inquiry will provide an interim report by 1 July 2019 and provide a final report by 1 December 2019.
The appointments follow the recent announcement of the establishment of the new royal commission, and subsequent reactions from the profession to the news.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. In June 2024, he also assumed the editorship of HR Leader. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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