Sean Nicholls August 25, 2011
THE NSW Police Minister, Mike Gallacher, is being accused of improperly interfering in the Craig Thomson affair after he phoned the Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, to discuss calls for an investigation into the Labor MP soon after being contacted by the opposition Senator George Brandis.
The Herald has learnt that Mr Brandis phoned Mr Gallacher last Friday to alert him of his intention to write to Mr Scipione asking him to investigate allegations that Mr Thomson used a union credit card to pay for escort services.
Mr Gallacher has confirmed he returned Mr Brandis's call and then telephoned Mr Scipione that evening to discuss what he had been told by Mr Brandis. The NSW opposition police spokesman, Nathan Rees, said the telephone calls by Mr Brandis and Mr Gallacher created the perception of political interference.
''Senator Brandis's actions are utterly inappropriate and compromise the Minister for Police,'' he said. ''The Police Minister should never have taken the call or had the discussion. For the minister to then phone the commissioner about this matter is a grave error of judgment. It clearly compromises the assessment of the material by the police. There is a separation of powers for good reason and the Police Minister has clearly breached it.''
In a statement, Mr Gallacher's spokesman said the minister called Mr Scipione to tell him ''that the federal shadow attorney-general, George Brandis, had advised he intended to write directly to the NSW Commissioner of Police''.
A spokeswoman for Mr Scipione confirmed the conversation and said: ''There was no other discussion on the matter.''
But Mr Rees said Mr Gallacher needed to give a full explanation of his discussions.
''It is now incumbent on the Police Minister to reveal exactly the nature of the discussion with Senator Brandis and exactly what he has said to the Commissioner,'' he said.
Mr Brandis wrote to Mr Scipione on Monday with a dossier of information about Mr Thomson, requesting that the NSW police investigate the matter.
Senator Brandis has taken the lead role in prosecuting the case against Mr Thomson for the federal opposition, which has been pushing for a criminal conviction against the former union official as it would force him out of Parliament and cause a byelection in his marginal seat of Dobell.
Labor would most likely lose that byelection and, consequently, government.
Police agreed to ''assess'' the dossier, which is being handled by the fraud squad and expected to take several days before deciding whether an investigation is warranted. Mr Brandis's office did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said that an investigation by Fair Work Australia and the police assessment should be allowed to run their course.
