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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-02-12 Daily Xml
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Lawyer Informants

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing representing the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. The High Court of Australia has described the use of lawyers as informants who are breaching their duties to their client and the court and breaching client-lawyer legal professional privilege as 'atrocious and appalling'. It has also said that the Victorian Police's use of 'lawyer X' was reprehensible conduct, and that has now been made the subject of a royal commission by Premier Daniel Andrews.

In a statement issued on the weekend, SA Police did not rule out the possibility that lawyers had been used as informants in SA prosecutions. Today, it was reported by the chair of the South Australian Bar Association Criminal Law Committee, David Edwardson QC, who has written to the police commissioner stating that 'the courts, the legal profession and the people of South Australia are entitled to an immediate assurance by SAPOL that this corrupt practice has never been deployed in this state'.

Can the minister confirm if SAPOL has or has had any lawyers registered as informants and whether SAPOL has ever used lawyers as informants in South Australian police prosecutions and, if so, how many, and whether any lawyer who has acted as a police informant in South Australia will be referred to the Legal Professional Conduct Commission? Lastly, does the minister propose to introduce legislation that expressly prohibits lawyers from acting as informants?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her question. The matters that the honourable member raises are matters for the police commissioner. I'm advised that the Minister for Police has spoken with SAPOL and they have assured him that they operate with the highest of integrity. The Minister for Police hopes and trusts that lawyers do the same.

In relation to the matters that the honourable member raises which I have not addressed in the answer, I will refer those matters to the Minister for Police and seek a further answer.

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