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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-03 Daily Xml
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STEPHENS, TERRY NORMAN

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (14:54): Will the Attorney-General advise the house of the outcome in the criminal prosecution of Terry Norman Stephens for making a false report to police and using fabricated evidence? Does the Attorney-General think Stephens may have had accessories in the course of his criminal offending?

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:54): Back in 2002, in the aftermath of the general election of that year, Channel 7's Today Tonight screened a series of sensational claims from career criminal Terry Norman Stephens about the recently-elected speaker of the House of Assembly, the Hon. Peter Lewis. These allegations were that speaker Lewis had taken disgraced magistrate Peter Liddy's valuable gun collection from Liddy's former home, Shenandoah, at Kapunda. In sentencing Stephens on 9 February, Judge Millsteed said:

You falsely asserted that Mr Lewis had attended your home at Kapunda one night in late December 2001 and drove off with 200 valuable antique firearms and that he had agreed to help you sell them overseas but had failed to return them...Your conduct in making a false report was clearly part of a vicious smear campaign designed to undermine Mr Lewis's personal integrity and political standing. Your behaviour also resulted in the police spending in excess of $19,000 to investigate your baseless allegations.

Terry Norman Stephens said at the time that he was on a mission to bring down the speaker and that that could have had the knock-on effect of bringing down the new government.

On 9 February this year Terry Norman Stephens pleaded guilty to making a false report to police. His plea of guilty was part of a charge bargain whereby a charge of fabricating evidence was withdrawn. These charges arose from the very allegations that Today Tonight screened in 2002. In the three weeks that have passed since the sentencing of Terry Norman Stephens, I have not noticed Today Tonight tell its audience the outcome of the Terry Norman Stephens' prosecution, which I would have thought was a necessary coda to its 2002 series of sensational claims.

In sentencing Terry Norman Stephens, District Court Judge Steven Millsteed said there was no truth to Stephens' claims that Mr Lewis had taken the guns. Judge Millsteed said:

You have a bad criminal record. Your criminal record includes convictions for armed robbery and multiple frauds that involved sentences of imprisonment...I turn to the sentence I must impose. The maximum penalty for the offence of making a false report to police is imprisonment for two years or a fine of $10,000. The offence you committed was a calculated act of revenge that had a serious impact on its victim. It was a disgraceful allegation made against a member of parliament and the speaker of the house and resulted in a considerable waste of public money and manpower. You have shown no contrition. I sentence you to four months imprisonment reduced from eight months on account of time spent in custody. In my view, there is no good reason to suspend the sentence.

Now that Terry Norman Stephens has been convicted and the matter has left the courts it is appropriate to consider the role of the Liberal opposition in this sordid matter. In his interview with Today Tonight, Stephens admits that he was receiving advice from members of the South Australian Liberal Party about his claims—the same claims that he has now admitted he knew to be false when he made them. The Today Tonight reporter told viewers on 8 April 2002:

Reporter: While we were interviewing Stephens at a secret location he spoke with a South Australian Liberal MP about his involvement in this story. Incredibly that MP later confirmed to Today Tonight that he had been advising Stephens. And according to Terry Stephens that is just one of the many calls he has received from the Liberals.

Stephens: What they were asking me to do was hand all the paperwork I had on Peter Lewis over to the police, over to them [the Liberals] so—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: —listen—

they could do whatever they had to do to bring a correct election result in.

Stephens went on to tell the reporter that what he wanted was for the speaker to step down, thus causing the South Australian Liberal Party to be in a position to form a government.

Stephens admitted on Today Tonight on 9 April 2002 that he had help, support and advice from a most prominent Liberal, Mr Chris Kenny, who at the time was foreign minister Alexander Downer's chief of staff. Chris Kenny is now the highest ranking federal Liberal Party staffer as Chief of Staff to federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull. To return to the Today Tonight transcript of 9 April:

Reporter: And what about that phone call with the mystery Liberal MP? 'Well, we can now reveal the man at the other end of the line was Liberal MP Ivan Venning.'

Stephens: (talking on mobile phone) How are you Mr Venning? It's Terry. 'I'm good mate, how are you? Oh mate, isn't he what?'

The Today Tonight transcript of 20 May 2002 reads:

Reporter: While we were interviewing Terry Stephens in April, he had a phone conversation with Liberal MP Ivan Venning who later admitted he had been talking to Stephens. And you wouldn't believe it, 25 minutes into yesterday's interview—

Yes, Mr Speaker, it was Digby on the line from the Leader of the Opposition's office. Mr Speaker, we shall see how true a friend, how true a mate, the member for Schubert is in the next few months. Will he visit his mate in prison?

On Friday 24 August 2007, the member for Schubert issued a press release supporting the establishment of an ICAC, where he said:

Here is a chance for MPs to earn better respect from people. We're down the bottom, maybe this will lift us up.

On his website, under the heading, 'Where I stand on the issues, Independent Commission Against Corruption', the member for Schubert says, 'He who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear.' On Thursday 5 February 2009 in this house, the member for Schubert repeated:

As politicians, we know that there will be erroneous accusations at times in relation to this matter, but I believe that we have to be strong enough and noble enough to say, 'Well, we'll put it up there for the sake of transparency across the public sector generally'—whether it involves the public service or us as politicians. Of course, one has to understand the bottom line here, namely, that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear...We all see it in our everyday lives. The temptation is there to take advantage of one's office.

So, did the member for Schubert take advantage of his office? I call on the member for Schubert to tell the house exactly what he was doing consorting with Terry Norman Stephens in 2002.

Ms CHAPMAN: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order, the Attorney!

Ms CHAPMAN: The Attorney cannot debate this matter or call on any member to do something. He is supposed to be responding to questions.

The SPEAKER: Order! I uphold the point of order.

Mr Venning interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Venning interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert will come to order!

Mr Venning interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order!

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