12th July 1999
Extracts from the documents tabled in NSW Parliament: from Raymond Hoser's Victorian Police Corruption #2
Victorian State Premier Jeff Kenett (1992-at least 1999) (top), his first Police Minister Pat McNamara (bottom left), and 1999 Police Minister Bill McGrath (bottom right).
It’s been repeatedly alleged that the incumbent Liberal Government deliberately chose not to look too closely at corruption within the Victoria Police in return for the Police not looking too closely at alleged illegal actions by government members, their friends and relatives. That is on top of the usual politcal and selfish advantages gained by not looking at these things too closely. Actions by Kennett himself that would normally become actionable by Police or other law enforcement agencies seem to have left him remarkably unscathed (refer to sources cited for this book on the CD or Internet). This includes an alleged assault of journalists, illegal high-speed driving, potential contempt of court and other matters.
Then there was the public meeting in Doncaster on 12 October 1998, where State Premier Jeff Kennett was attending ostensibly to take questions from members of the public. Those who wanted to ask questions stood in a line and one by one took their turn at the microphone. When it came to my turn and before I had so much as opened my mouth, Kennett jumped up and said ‘That man will not be asking any questions’, and so it was.
As I walked outside, Perton (who was also there) told me that if myself or anyone on my behalf tried to take his photo for another book, he’d have me charged with ‘stalking’.
The success of these new double standards become clear when one looks at the number of FoI requests made since the Kennett government came into power. from a high of 14,357 in 1991-2, to a low of just 10,447 in 1994-5. The reason for the drop in requests stemmed directly from the fact that the costs had gone up and the chances of government officials (including the Police) releasing any materials had dropped sharply.
In opposition on 19 March 1992, when seeking access to government documents through FoI, Perton said 'The public has a right to know why taxpayer's funds were spent'. It seems that since his side took up government, that 'right to know' has been effectively abolished.
Kennett the master media manipulator spent much of 1996-7 getting himself into the papers as the ‘cabbie’s friend’. The stories usually included him shaking hands with one or more cabbies as if to ‘prove’ that he was at one with them. The fact is, nothing could have been further from the truth. Most of the time, Kennett seemed to be hiding from drivers; except when he arranged for cameras to be present and knew in advance that the particular drivers wouldn’t give him trouble.
You see at the time, Kennett had effectively vetoed a proposal by cabbies to be allowed to demand fares up front when they feared the risk of not getting paid. (The same rule applies to trains trams, planes and toll-ways). This was on top of his earlier, out of hand rejection for all the proposals at the taxi driver’s mass meeting immediately following Coe’s death.
The one time I recall Kennett actually doing an impromptu walk around to speak to cabbies waiting on ranks, he ended up fleeing back to his car with his minders. This was after he copped a barrage of flak over the improper Police and VTD harassment of drivers and effective protection of criminals who prey on the drivers.