Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy is due to speak to the media at 2pm about the commission's findings and recommendations. You can watch her press conference live, below.
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Commissioner Margaret McMurdo has also lashed Victoria Police's inconsistent messaging on its involvement in the scandal, alternating between offering a public apology but continuing to seek to mitigate the misconduct of members and senior command.
"The chief commissioner is the highest ranking Victorian police officer. The person in that role is the chief constable and chief executive officer of Victoria Police, and is responsible for the management and control of the organisation, including its general conduct, performance and operations," the report says.
Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton at the royal commission last year.
"The chief commissioner could and should have conveyed a clear public message about the improper and unacceptable conduct perpetrated by Victoria Police in its use of Ms Gobbo as a human source ... The public statements of Mr Ashton ... did not do this."
Despite the damage done to the justice system by Nicola Gobbo and Victoria Police, the royal commission has stopped short of recommending a total ban on using lawyers as informers.
Commissioner Margaret McMurdo said while "it is almost never appropriate for police to use a lawyer as a human source to provide information about their own client", a prohibition is not warranted.
"There may be limited circumstances in which the use of such sources may be justified - for example, when there is a compelling public interest reason for acquiring and using the information, there is an unambiguous exception to the duty of confidentiality or privilege, and/or the source is providing information they have come by well beyond the scope of their professional obligations," her report says.
"In addition, if Victoria Police was seeking to use a human source with the intention of obtaining confidential or privileged information, it would need to establish that there were exceptional and compelling reasons for doing so - for example, to avert a risk to the community or the safety of a person, in circumstances where the information cannot be obtained by any other reasonable means."
Commissioner Margaret McMurdo has urged the Andrews government to refer to a special investigator some of the most distinguished crime fighters from its current and former ranks to determine whether they engaged in criminal conduct through their involvement with or oversight of Nicola Gobbo as a human source.
Ms McMurdo recommended that the "conduct of current and former Victoria Police officers named in this report or the complete and unredacted submissions of counsel assisting" be referred to a special investigator.
This would include former chief commissioner Simon Overland, former Purana taskforce bosses Jim O'Brien and Gavan Ryan, current Victoria Police Commander Stuart Bateson, Superintendent Jason Kelly and Inspector Dale Flynn and retired superintendent Tony Biggin.
Former police commissioner Simon Overland arrives at the royal commission last year.Credit:Jason South
If the recommendation is accepted by the Andrews government, Ms Gobbo's former Source Development Unit handlers, who are known as Mr White, Mr Black, Mr Green and Mr Smith, would also face criminal investigation and potentially, prosecution.
In her recorded message, Commissioner Margaret McMurdo also said police "tolerated bending the rules, to help solve serious crime".
"As Victoria Police recognised in their belated apology, the use of Ms Gobbo as a human source was also a systemic failure. It continued unchecked for years, even though many Victoria Police officers, including very senior officers were aware of it, but did nothing to investigate it or prevent it," she said.
Nicola Gobbo in 2008, while she was working as secret police informerCredit:Angela Wylie
Ms McMurdo accepted there were several organisational conditions, structures or cultures that contributed to the events including failures of leadership and governance, of management and supervision and policies and training.
The commissioner also took a swipe at Victoria Police for delays in not only disclosing information to the inquiry, but to those - many convicted criminals - affected by her conduct.
"Victoria Police has long been on notice ... the commission is concerned about the slowness of which Victoria Police has acquitted its disclosure obligations and provided people with the information they should have received many years ago, before their trials," Ms McMurdo said.
She has recommended police report monthly on their progress in disclosing documents.
She noted Victoria Police has overhauled the way it handles police sources, but recommended the force's use of human sources be regulated by way of an independent oversight model.
The Victorian government should undertake a review of the broader police oversight system, Ms McMurdo recommended.
She said the establishment of an independent oversight model, along with the exposure of Ms Gobbo and police's conduct to those affected by it, the creation of a special investigator and the government's commitment to implement all of the commission's recommendation would safeguard the criminal justice system.
"Victorians can be satisfied their criminal justice system is again working as it should now, and into the future," she said.
Royal Commissioner Margaret Murdo has also taken direct aim at former Chief Police Commissioner Graham Ashton who has been accused of having failed in his duty by not acting to stop prosecutions contaminated by Nicola Gobbo and police in 2011:
"The commission considers that by the end of the meeting on November 3, 2011, Mr [Tim] Cartwright [acting police commissioner], Mr Ashton and Mr [Fin] McRae [head of Victoria Police's legal services division] knew or should have known:
- The prosecutions of [Tony] Mokbel and those associated with the Tomato Tins cases may have been adversely affected by the conduct of Ms Gobbo as a human source and/or of police officers who managed her.
- This information had probably not been brought to the attention of the relevant defence legal representatives or prosecuting authorities.
- It was necessary to urgently take all reasonable steps to ensure that the concerns set out above were properly investigated and then considered by Victoria Police’s fully briefed, competent and independent legal advisers and/or immediately brought to the attention of the DPP and CDPP.
- As these prosecutions were ongoing, it was necessary to urgently communicate these concerns to the relevant office of public prosecutions. Given the seriousness of these matters, and noting the seniority, general experience and various duties, obligations and functional responsibilities of those involved, the Commission finds that Mr Cartwright, Mr Ashton and Mr McRae should have satisfied themselves that the concerns raised in the November 3 meeting were appropriately addressed: each seems to have failed in their duty to do so."
Commissioner Margaret McMurdo also said a number of police officers fell short of their legal, ethical and professional duties and obligations when they encouraged, or at least condoned, Nicola Gobbo acting as a lawyer for an accused person knowing she was an informer.
"These failures stemmed, in large part, from concerns for Ms Gobbo's safety, but they were also to avoid reputational damage to Victoria Police and the officers involved, external inquiries, judicial criticism and appeals against convictions," she said in her taped message.
McMurdo has slammed Victoria Police in her findings.Credit:Paul Rovere
"By placing these factors ahead of their duties and obligations, they corrupted the criminal justice system."
Ms McMurdo has called for a special investigator to also examine the conduct of police officers to determine if criminal offences had occurred.
There are four volumes to the commissioner's final report:
Volume 1: Commissions work & operations
Volume 2: The potential effects of Ms Nicola Gobbo’s conduct as a human source
Volume 3: Victoria Police’s use of other human sources with legal obligations of confidentiality or privilege
Volume 4: Use and disclosure of information from human sources in the criminal justice system
And here is one of the key findings of the report:
"The commission concluded that the convictions or findings of guilt of 1011 people may have been affected by Victoria Police's use of Ms Gobbo as a human source," it states.
In a video message released today alongside her final report, Commissioner Margaret McMurdo said the key recommendation of her report was the establishment of a special investigator with full powers to examine whether Ms Gobbo committed any criminal offences connected with her conduct as a police source.
Commissioner Margaret McMurdo.
"Ms Gobbo belatedly admitted to this commission that aspects of her conduct were wrong. The breach of obligations as a lawyer was inexcusable, her behaviour in concert with Victoria Police undermined the administration of justice, compromised criminal convictions and damaged the standing of Victoria Police officers uninvolved in this debacle," Ms McMurdo said.
"It has shaken public trust and confidence in Victoria's legal profession and criminal justice system."
The royal commission has said that lack of cooperation from Victoria Police means it cannot conclusively determine whether 12 other "potential Gobbos " - legal professionals with obligations of confidentiality or privilege - may have inappropriately provided information against clients and others.
It has called on the government to appoint an independent auditor to get to the bottom of the enduring question.
The commission has been unable to determine if more lawyers acted as Nicola Gobbo did.Credit:The Age
"Based on the information available to the commission, there is no evidence to indicate that Victoria Police’s use of any human sources, other than Ms Gobbo, resulted in the use of confidential or privileged information that may have affected the validity of any criminal prosecutions or convictions," the report says.
While this finding is encouraging, it must be qualified by the commission’s limited access to relevant files, as discussed below:
"Victoria Police did not give the commission access to 11 human source files relating to people with potential legal obligations of confidentiality or privilege. It said these files were extremely sensitive and could not be provided to the commission because they were subject to a PII [public interest immunity] claim.
"As these 11 human source files have not been independently reviewed, the commission recommends that the Victorian government appoints a suitably qualified person to review them as a priority."
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2020-11-30 03:02:00Z
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