Add Category
The McGowan government failed to put a stop to "salacious" comments and acted in a "duplicitous" way over delays in revealing an investigation into the laptop of a disgraced former Liberal MP ended nearly a year ago, according to the state opposition.
Key points:
- The CCC probe into Phil Edman's laptop ended last April
- CCC commissioner John McKechnie said it "did not live up to the hype"
- The government has been criticised for not revealing the findings
The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) seized Phil Edman's laptop and two hard drives in 2019 after publishing a damning report into his misuse of parliamentary expenses, which included paying for visits to a strip club, speeding fines and interstate travel to meet women for sex.
The CCC report also included an ominous message Mr Edman sent to a businessman in September 2019 warning the contents of the laptop would "bury" many MPs.
"There's enough stuff on that f***ing computer to bury f***ing a lot of people and ruin their political careers forever … There's videos and pictures and lots of lovely little collections that I've got on there," the report quoted Mr Edman, an upper house MP between 2009 and 2017, as saying.
That left huge question marks and intrigue over what any CCC investigation of the laptop's hard drives would reveal, and the potential political fallout for any MPs potentially documented in the contents.
But the drama was further ratcheted up when the corruption watchdog's decision to seize the laptop sparked a lengthy dispute between it and Legislative Council MPs, namely Liberals and some minor parties including the Greens, over whether the computer's contents were protected by parliamentary privilege and should be viewed by the CCC.
In December 2021, the impasse was resolved when parliament gave the CCC more than half a million documents from the laptop's hard drives, after being satisfied parliamentary privilege could still be protected.
There was then no more news on the investigation, until on Wednesday when the CCC commissioner John McKechnie told a Parliamentary Committee the investigation had "essentially concluded", except for some related matters and the contents "did not live up to its hype".
"I haven't seen anybody that needs to be buried with the contents," Mr McKechnie told reporters outside the hearing.
In a statement on Friday, the Corruption and Crime Commission said Operation Betelgeuse, which related to Mr Edman's laptop, "has effectively ended".
"In view of Mr Edman's lawfully obtained comments as to the contents of the laptop, the commission was required to investigate if his comments about unspecified other people could be substantiated," the spokesperson said.
"The contents of the laptop did not reach the threshold of serious misconduct in respect of any individual."
"There is material from the laptop that has formed the basis of a commission proposition … named Operation Sevenstones."
Investigation concluded in April 2022
Then on Thursday, in answer to opposition questions, Parliamentary Secretary Kyle McGinn, representing the attorney-general, told the Legislative Council the CCC's main investigation into the laptop finished in April last year.
Those revelations have sparked outrage from the opposition.
"It was incredibly cunning, but duplicitous and arrogant for the government to not tell the community and the Legislative Council that the laptop of Phil Edman had been examined and did not live up to the hype," Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council Steve Thomas told reporters.
"It was a year ago when the CCC stopped its investigation into this laptop and there was a lot of salacious comment around before it and at the time.
"Surely there was an obligation on the government to let everybody know that there was nothing to see here."
Mr McGinn had also explained in parliament why no announcement was made.
"No public statement was made, as the CCC does not generally comment on operational matters. CCC advises that any opinion or finding by the CCC is published in a report to parliament."
But opposition frontbencher Peter Collier said that "beggars belief".
"This issue consumed the media, it consumed the parliament for 12 months, 18 months if you include after the election," he said.
"After 12 months the government has not come clean. So much for gold standard transparency as far as the government is concerned."
But in a statement, Attorney-General John Quigley said the first he learnt the investigation had concluded was when Mr McKechnie appeared before the parliamentary committee on Wednesday.
"As the commissioner stated in answer to Steve Thomas's question, 'other related investigations remain ongoing' relating to material from the laptop," he said.
"It is unbelievable to see members of the Liberal Party continuing to attack the CCC and stand by their disgraced former colleagues."
Mr Collier said he would "never ever in a million years" cover up corruption, and said his actions were always focused on defending the principle of parliamentary privilege.
Mr Edman quit the Liberal Party just hours after the report was released in 2019, and after then-WA leader Liza Harvey had begun the process of expelling him.
In December 2022, Mr Edman was given a suspended jail term and fined $12,000 for tipping off others about the CCC probe while it was still underway.