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22 Alternative L.J. 33 (1997)
Fishing for the Truth

handle is hein.journals/alterlj22 and id is 35 raw text is: FISHING TRUTH Max Wallace The Federal Parliament's Joint Committee (PJC) on the National Crime Authority (NCA) advertised nationally on 24 February 1997 for submissions about its evaluation of the operations of the NCA. Franz Kafka would not be surprised at the lingering saga of Mick Skrijel. Press reports in February (for example, Sun-Herald, 23 February 1997) noted a secret report (the Harrison report) into the Australian Federal Police (AFP) will be given to the Attorney-General shortly which will apparently disclose corruption on the part of AFP officers involved in drug law enforcement. At the end of 1996 the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) issued its report 'Integrity: But Not by Trust Alone' dealing with AFP and NCA complaints and disciplinary mechanisms. The ALRC recommended the creation of a new agency to investigate and manage complaints against the AFP and NCA. The PJC is fully aware of a case that both makes a mockery of the Australian justice system and stands as a case study of why the new agency is needed. Some background The story began in 1978 and according to the then Senator Peter Baume, in a speech to the senate on 21 May 1990, the tale was as follows: Mr Skrijel alleges, first, that he witnessed a fellow fisherman in South Australia picking up drugs which had been dropped at sea off a passing ship. Mr Skrijel saw them picked up and put on a fishing boat which then landed at Southend, the port from which it was operating. He was informed by his deckhand, who knew what was going on, that the package contained heroin. We understand that there was a distribution network extending from Southend to Adelaide. We understand that there was an organised drug importing operation, operating from Southend in which drugs were picked up by fishermen. The first allegation is that when Mr Skrijel made this known to the appropriate authorities nothing was done about it. The trauma the Skrijel family has experienced is on a par with the Chamberlain case; the stonewalling they have experienced recalls the similar fact experiences of the Milgates as outlined in Brian Milgate's The Cochin Connection;' the injustice involved has echoes of Timothy Anderson's experiences. In his Senate speech, Senator Baume also referred to the then Premier of South Australia, Mr Corcoran's 1980 direction that Skrijel's allegations be investigated by South Australian police. One of the investigating officers was Detective Sergeant Barry Moyse who was subsequently gaoled in 1987 for his involvement in drug distribution while he was in charge of the anti-drug phone-in Operation Noah in 1986. He was gaoled for 27 years.2 The investigating officers' report which apparently reflected infor- mation provided by Moyse was summarised in a letter of 11 February 1981 from the next Premier of South Australia, David Tonkin, to the then Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. In it, with what we can now see VOL 22, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 9 1997 Max Wallace is a Tutor in Continuing Education, Austra- lian National University. Iffamm __ - __ - moom el ik - f, 33

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