UPDATED ON August 10th, 2007 with:

"MP defamation case to continue."

Please scroll down

This is a www.gaiaguys.net page.

www.gaiaguys.net/sa.3.3.05abc.htm 


South Australia

Protected Pedophiles in Public Office


Sydney Morning Herald

 2,000 kids abused in SA state care
February 15, 2007


Nearly 2,000 children have come forward to report sexual abuse while in South Australian state care, a new report from the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry has revealed.

But the inquiry's commissioner Ted Mullighan said he feared that number was merely scratching the surface.

Mr Mullighan released a 71-page report outlining a range of sweeping reforms to the system after speaking to 1,849 victims and conducting 783 hearings since the commission began in December 2004.

The inquiry was established to investigate reports of sexual abuse to children in foster care, Aboriginal children, children with disabilities, street children and prisoners.

"Sexual abuse of children in state care has been, and is, widespread," the report states.

"However, it is likely that these disclosures represent a mere scratching of the surface."

Mr Mullighan estimated that nearly 300 street children had been abused on Adelaide's streets.

He said evidence also suggested that large numbers of street children in regional cities and large country towns were also abused.

"There has been a long history of the exploitation of street children by men and women who have led them into drug addiction, prostitution and drug distribution," the report states.

"Many have been exploited sexually giving sexual favours for money, and other crime is committed to provide a means of support."

Among the 40 key issues outlined in the report, it recommends: paying compensation to victims; lifting the age of children leaving state care from 18 years to 25; and giving children leaving state care special training and assistance before placing them into independent living.

Mr Mullighan said he hoped the report would further raise discussion about sexual abuse of children in state care and prevent it occurring in the future.

© 2007 AAP

Further coverage: http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200702/1848756.htm?sa


DPP takes dismissed case to highest court

Jeremy Roberts (The Australian)  - December 5th, 2006

THE South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions wants several politicians and political staffers to give evidence in the state's highest court to dispute claims of pedophilia in high places.


MULLIGHAN REPORT ON CLAIMS OF JUDICIAL PEDOPHILE RING SHOWS SHOCKING BIAS

(20th December 2005 - by gaiaguys.net) 

 

UPDATE

Adelaide Advertiser

Treatment not jail for pedophiles

July 17, 2007

PEDOPHILES who prey on family members could avoid prosecution under alternative options being explored by child sex abuse investigator Ted Mullighan, QC. "It operates in NSW and it has been around for a long time, but we want to see how it really works – I've heard evidence, but I want to see how effective it is." According to a 1986 State Government report, criminal proceedings against pedophiles could be suspended and cases ultimately dismissed if offenders agreed to counselling and treatment.


The following article was published in the November 2005, Festival Focus South Australia. http://www.fol.org.au It is the only article that went to media in South Australia regarding the remarkable pro-pedophile comments from Member for Parliament, Mark Brindall.

Please go here to see the scan of article.

SA MPs 'Chased boys': Mark Brindal

On 18 October Liberal MP Mark Brindal announced he would retire from SA politics at the election in March next year. The same afternoon he stunned listeners on ABC Radio 891 Drive - by saying that some of the greatest MPs he has known were apparently paedophiles.

"Some of the greatest parliamentarians [I have known] have been the most frail and the most human, "Mr Brindal told ABC Drive presenter Grant Cameron.

"Now it didn't stop 'em - some of them from being drunks, some of them from being womanisers, some of them from chasing boys - but it didn't stop them, ever, from being great Members of Parliament and really huge servants of the people of South Australia.

"But if we're going to sort of have this, um, almost Festival of Light- type measure over everyone in public office, well we won't have a democracy - we'll have a sort of sterile ... Australian Idol contest."

Earlier this year Peter Lewis, then Speaker of the SA House of Assembly, was condemned along with some staff members for publicly revealing allegations of paedophilia by high profile South Australians including MPs. Mr Brindal's radio interview on 18 October seems to support these allegations.

Dr David Phillips, National President of Festival of Light Australia, says he is concerned that neither ABC's Grant Cameron nor any other media representative has questioned Mr Brindal about his disturbing claims.

"Who are the alleged paedophile MPs mentioned by Mr Brindal? Dr Phillips asked. "Why does Mr Brindal think we should ignore drunkenness, adultery or paedophilia if an MP is, in his opinion,  'great'?

"Our civic leaders set an example for the whole community, "Dr Phillips said.


Transcript of part of Grant Cameron’s radio interview with Mark Brindal MP on ABC 891, 4.10 pm, 18/10/05.

 

 

MARK BRINDAL: ... Greg Kelton wrote a great article in The Advertiser this morning, where he said nobody who’s ever had a marijuana cigarette, who’s ever been drunk, or who’s ever had any sexual proprietry [sic] in their life need apply for parliament.  Well I’m afraid that ...

 

GRANT CAMERON: Is that right?  (Laughs, inaudible)  I’m off the list, that’s for sure!

 

MARK BRINDAL: One of the great things about the parliamentarians I’ve known  - some of the greatest parliamentarians have been the most frail and the most human.  Now it didn’t stop ‘em - some of them from being drunks, some of them from being womanisers, some of them from chasing boys - but it didn’t stop them, ever, from being great Members of Parliament and really - huge servants of the people of South Australia.  But if we’re going to sort of have this, um, almost Festival of Light-type measure over everyone in public office, well we won’t have a democracy - we’ll have a sort of sterile, um, er, sterile, I don’t know, some sort of, um, “Australian Idol” contest.

 

GRANT CAMERON: (Laughs) Mark Brindal, thanks very much indeed. 

 

MARK BRINDAL: Thanks a lot.  Bye, bye.

 

GRANT CAMERON: It’s 14 past four.  I’m Grant Cameron and you’re listening to ABC 891 Adelaide ....


HIDING MEDIA STATEMENTS.

 

(This excerpt copied from http://friendpages.com.) The state government has apparently been caught editing transcripts after the fact a number of times now.

 

 

MEDIA MONITORING\TOC\2\MEDIA MONITORING

\IND\Question:nn:Mr WILLIAMS Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop): My question is to the Premier.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr WILLIAMS: Hear, hear! Will the Premier explain why the government is editing radio transcripts prepared by the South Australian government media monitoring service before they are circulated to the opposition? On 30 August 2005 between 11.24 a.m. and 11.27 a.m., a caller to Leon Byner's program on Radio 5AA complained that the Attorney-General had failed to act on an issue raised with him several months earlier. After the call was put to air, the Attorney contacted the caller at his home and threatened legal action if he did not retract his comments on air.

At 10.32 the following day (31 August), the gentleman in question contacted the Leon Byner program and withdrew his comments. The government transcripts provided to the opposition do not include either call, even though they are included in transcripts provided to government members, which have since been obtained by the opposition under FOI provisions.

\IND\Answer:nn:The Hon. K.O. FOLEY The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Deputy Premier): On 18 March, South Australia must decide which is the better government for this state. Members opposite do not have any policies, any vision, any election promises—

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

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Premier is debating. I call on the next question. The member for Bragg.


MY SAY.

This is not the first time that parts of a Radio interview, have been cut out. Recently relating to a Radio Interview on the A.B.C. this happened as well with an interview From Mark Brindal and I ask why this Government or whoever is starting to cut out interviews.



.


JUNE 25th, 2005 - the SIXTH ASSASSINATION?

MP's staff charged with defamation

"If you act on behalf of victims and publicise allegations against high-profile people, then you find yourself on charges,"


MEDIA SUPPRESSION

http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?DOCID=1P1:112725682&refid=holomed_1

AAP General News (Australia)
09-01-2005
SA: Former speakers staff, paedophile charged over MP sex claims

Eds: This story is suppressed in South Australia and cannot (cannot) be published or broadcast in SA or on the internet.


By Lauren Ahwan

ADELAIDE, Sept 1 AAP - Two volunteer workers for former South Australian parliamentary speaker Peter Lewis have been charged with criminal defamation after naming politicians and police officers as paedophiles.

Former Lewis staff members Wendy Utting, 35, and Barry Standfield, 64, and a convicted paedophile Craig Ratcliff, 44, have been summonsed ...

(To read more about Australian media corruption please go to www.gaiaguys.net/mediacorruption.htm) t


Anti-pedophile activist Speaker of the House in the South Australian Parliament resigns after set-up by Premier, Deputy Premier and media.

_______________

"The most outrageous thing of all, which disturbs me most about the information which has come in to my office is not the matter of paedophiles in South Australia's parliament but what appears to be the related and organised activities of those paedophiles in high public office—that is, the judiciary, the senior ranks of human services portfolios, some police, and MPs, across the nation, especially within the ranks of the Labor Party."

 

Please read for yourself what former South Australian Speaker of the House, Independent Member for Parliament, Peter Lewis, had to say.

Here is his resignation speech made to Parliament on the 4th April 2005

[further excerpt]

"The Premier and the Deputy Premier have recently publicly insulted and defamed me and, through the efforts of their spin doctors and media minders, in particular Melvin Mansell of the Adelaide Advertiser, to criminally defame me in a series of editorials and articles, which were reckless in that they were not well researched, unfounded, unprofessional, malicious and, for that reason criminal, they provided through the orchestrated campaign the means by which it has become possible for the Premier and Deputy Premier to now attack and tear down the straw man they constructed.

     The central issue in all this is the grossly misleading assertion that I publicly raised the problem of allegations that a member of Parliament is a paedophile. I made no such claim. That was made by Melvin Mansell's Advertiser itself."...

(Please also read about how the media treated revelations by former Young Australian of the year, Dr Reina Michaelson, at a press conference in Melbourne, Victoria on the 2nd of March this year, concerning the continuation of the police protection of the child pornography/pedophile network operating in the state, involving politicians, media personalities and top executives, to name a few.)



 

[please scroll down for all the media updates compiled by gaiaguys]

 

TO THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.  

 

The media has recently presented us with an attack on Mr. Peter Lewis for making public allegations made by an informant to his office, that a sitting MP was involved in paedophilia.  This is a deliberate tactic used to divert from the fact that South Australia has an all too obvious problem with child protection.

 

Members of CHILD PROTECTION WATCHDOG INC are in a unique position in South Australia having received reports for many years concerning abuse of all kinds. Many of these reports and allegations have led to criminal convictions. Without the advocacy and support provided by various individuals none of these allegations would have led to convictions at all. The perpetrators of these offences included those in trusted positions, those with high profiles in the community and lesser known individuals. Mr. Lewis has been brave enough to put his hand up to support Child Protection issues in this state.  The spotlight has singled him out instead and left out the REAL issue of Child Abuse. Members and supporters will stand by the Speaker to the fullest extent required to refocus the spotlight onto the real issue that Child Abuse is rampant in this state. That Child Abuse needs to be reported and investigated, that investigations into these allegations focus their resources onto the evidence and not on discrediting the individuals involved.

 

Over the years people have come forward because there is an appalling track record here leading to a complete lack of faith in the current process. More and more people are coming to us because they have nowhere else to turn having exhausted all other avenues. Hundreds of reports have “gone missing” from Government Departments, Police, Schools, Orphanages, Relinquishing Mothers, Adoptions, Foster Care and Recreational Clubs.  It is time to recognise that Child Abuse is an epidemic threatening our future now. To dismiss it for whatever reason will only create a worsening legacy for all our futures.         

  

Mrs. Pamela Ayling

Coordinator

Child Protection Watchdog Inc.

 

0439812081

 

P.O Box 1411

ASHTON

SA  5137

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

"Outspoken Liberal backbencher Mark Brindal, one of the MPs targeted for defamation, said the legal move was part of a 'conspiracy' by Mr Lewis's staffers Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield 'to keep this whole thing boiling along'". The Australian April 8th, 2005 (below)

 


Please scroll right down for updates and more details


 Murder victims tell Speaker of paedophile MP

March 2nd, 2005.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1313950.htm


The Speaker of the South Australian Parliament, Peter Lewis, says two gay men murdered in Adelaide recently told him that a serving elected politician was involved in paedophile activities in Adelaide's South Parklands.

Mr Lewis says Robert Woodland, who was found dead in the Parklands last December and Shaine Moore, whose body was found in his Kilburn home last week, separately came forward and told him of a person's activities.

Mr Lewis says the comments were made in the course of evidence he was gathering on the abuse of state wards and he does not have the person's name.

"I can't corroborate their story other than in each instance they tend to be describing the same person, the same pattern of behaviour," he said.
Asked if the person was a current serving member, he said "yes".

Mr Lewis says he has passed on all information he has to police.


This was only run in the South Australia news

http://www.abc.net.au/sa/news/200503/s1316834.htm

MP calls for transparency over SA politician claims

 March 5th, 2005

A South Australian independent MP says the public should be better informed about a police investigation into claims of inappropriate behaviour by a state politician.

Allegations surfaced earlier this week suggesting an un-named MP was seen acting suspiciously at a well-known homosexual meeting spot in Adelaide.

State independent MP Nick Xenophon says the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at Adelaide's South Parklands is eroding public confidence in the South Australian Parliament.

Mr Xenophon says it is time the public was told whether there is any substance to the claims.

"It's important that someone, no less than the Police Commissioner who is respected throughout the whole South Australian community, tells us what is going on," he said.

Police last night confirmed they are checking the contents of a computer hard drive for any evidence of inappropriate behaviour.


Adelaide Advertiser

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12474280%255E2682,00.html
 

 

Police reopen MP sex inquiry



March 8th, 2002

A POLICE inquiry into allegations a serving MP was involved in inappropriate homosexual behaviour at Veale Gardens was yesterday reopened.

Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said the Anti-Corruption Branch investigation would examine "any new material that may be provided".

The development was revealed yesterday just hours after Speaker Peter Lewis met an unnamed senior police officer to discuss the matter.

Mr Lewis has been under attack since raising the allegation last week, with many MPs saying his position as Speaker will be "untenable" if the allegations cannot be substantiated.

Mr Hyde said the Anti-Corruption Branch had investigated the allegations in 2003 and "it was not substantiated". "However, with regard to recent claims relating to this allegation, the investigation has been reopened to investigate any new material that may be provided," he said.

Mr Hyde's statement came as police continued to examine the contents of a hard drive Mr Lewis contends holds images of the MP at Veale Gardens.

The hard drive – which belongs to the man who made the original allegation in 2003 – is being examined as part of the investigation into the suspicious death of Shaine Moore, 33. Both Mr Moore and murder victim Robert Woodland, 36, provided Mr Lewis's office with information about the alleged activities of the MP.

Mr Lewis said he had not been advised by the police officer at yesterday's meeting – whom he declined to name – of the progress of the analysis of the hard drive.

"If I did have, I would not say what they were," he said.

Mr Lewis said yesterday's meeting was initiated by police, not himself.

"The reason I spoke to the police officer was to ensure the police understood that their role in all this in my opinion, whilst they set about investigating the information that has come into my office, is to protect people who can corroborate that . .  "

In State Parliament yesterday Police Minister Kevin Foley made a ministerial statement on the inquiry.

"Even though the allegations were not substantiated when they were raised in 2003, the Police Commissioner has informed me the Anti-Corruption Branch will conduct an investigation into any new material provided by the Speaker or anyone else," Mr Foley said.


Adelaide Advertiser

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/sectionindex2/0,5935,editorialopinion%255E%255ETEXT,00.html

 Speaker must deliver the evidence now


SPEAKER Peter Lewis should have no choice but to resign if unsubstantiated allegations he has relayed about a serving politician prove unfounded.

Mr Lewis has chosen to gamble with the charter of his important job.

By speaking publicly about the allegations, the weight of his office has given them a respectability which is undeserved because of a lack of evidence.

Allegations that a serving politician had engaged in homosexual acts with a minor in Veale Gardens could not be proved by police when they investigated in 2003.

One of the most important aspects of the Speaker's role is to maintain public confidence in the institution of Parliament.

Ensuring the integrity of Parliament is maintained is fundamental to the workings of our democracy.

The Speaker is supposed to uphold and protect the image of MPs and oversee the effective scrutiny of executive government.

This involves ensuring Parliament is maintained as a forum for free speech.

Without pre-judging the allegations relayed by Mr Lewis, the Speaker must ensure that Parliament does not become a forum for the airing of innuendo, gossip and smears.

The allegations relayed by Mr Lewis are yet to be taken past this level.

It is almost a week since he publicly aired the claims that a man thought to be a politician was frequenting Veale Gardens, saying "you have to start believing there is an element of truth to them".

He said two homosexual men, one murdered and the other found dead in suspicious circumstances, had provided this information to his office.

Unfortunately, Mr Lewis's statement has taken on a life of its own, and many people may now even believe the Government is harbouring a pedophile MP who has been involved in murder.

Politicians from both sides have failed to demand details from Mr Lewis.

Mr Lewis has not been forthcoming with evidence which sparked his alarming claims.

If he is right, then action must be immediate. If the allegations are incorrect, Mr Lewis has brought the Parliament into disrepute. Having chosen this course, he must be prepared to accept the consequences. He will have no reasonable choice but to resign.


Melbourne AGE

Video helps reopen pedophile case against MP

March 8, 2005

Police have reopened an investigation into claims a South Australian MP is a pedophile.

SA Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said the investigation had been given priority following claims by SA Parliament Speaker Peter Lewis.

Mr Lewis has alleged video footage exists of the MP having oral sex with a boy in Adelaide's south parklands, a known gay haunt. He claimed two gay men, recently found dead in Adelaide, had told him of a homosexual MP who favoured young boys. Police dismissed the claims last week, saying they had been investigated in 2003. But Mr Hyde said yesterday police had reopened the investigation.

"Police recognise the public interest in the matter and are treating the investigation as a high priority," he said.

Mr Lewis said that claims the MP was involved in pedophile behaviour were made separately by Robert Woodland and Shaine Moore, who were both gay. Mr Woodland, 36, was bashed to death last December in the parklands. His murder is unsolved. Mr Moore, 33, was found dead in his home last month in what police say were suspicious circumstances.

- AAP


The Freemasons go on the offensive, predictably enough!


Adelaide Advertiser

 

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12497586%255E910,00.html

 

 PEDOPHILE
Criminal past of Lewis's star witness


March 10th, 2005

 

THE man at the centre of allegations a serving politician was involved in homosexual activities at Veale Gardens in Adelaide's south parklands is a convicted pedophile.

It has been revealed that "Wayne" – whose real name is Craig Anthony Ratcliffe – was convicted in 1991 of seven counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old boy.

District Court records show that Ratcliffe, 44, of Henley Beach, who is known to authorities by four different names, was given a three-year, $500 suspended sentence for his crimes, which were committed while he went under the name of Andrew Lee Morphett.

The shock revelation has severely damaged Parliamentary Speaker Peter Lewis's standing in the case and has left Ratcliffe's credibility as a witness in tatters.

In a day of drama in the political controversy yesterday:

MR Lewis attacked police over their handling of the case and claimed that a senior officer has defamed him.

POLICE Commissioner Mal Hyde said that the 2003 investigation that found the allegations to be unsubstantiated was externally audited.

RATCLIFFE said he had seen a photograph of the MP in Veale Gardens, despite telling The Advertiser on Tuesday that he had not seen any images.

POLICE Association President Peter Alexander rejected Mr Lewis's attack on police and said that "extreme caution" needed to be taken in dealing with Ratcliffe's allegations.

Mr Lewis has been under siege by his parliamentary colleagues since last week raising the allegations about a politician.

Mr Lewis yesterday claimed officers were acting in an unprofessional manner and had not properly investigated the claims during a 2003 Anti-Corruption Branch investigation.

That investigation was launched after Liberal MP Wayne Matthew arranged a meeting between Ratcliffe and police. It found the allegations were unsubstantiated and found no evidence video footage of the MP in Veale Gardens existed.

"I think the police have failed to investigate it properly in the past and equally failed to date to conduct themselves in a manner that's professional," Mr Lewis said on the ABC Radio Matthew Abraham and David Bevan morning show yesterday. "Certainly the police that are involved here ... haven't behaved professionally or decently."

Mr Lewis said he believed police who conducted the first investigation in 2003 did not deal with the people who came to them telling them about it in any way "respectfully of the information they were providing".

"They always treated them, according to the people in their sworn statements, as separate ... separately nutters," he said.

Mr Lewis alleged that was improper and he believed statements made by Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Madeleine Glynn in an interview last Thursday had defamed him.

Police Commissioner Mal Hyde responded, stating Mr Lewis had not previously raised any concerns about the 2003 inquiry and he "has not had access to the investigation file".

"The investigation file has been audited by an external auditor, as is normal process," he said. "If Mr Lewis has information to support his claim I urge him to bring it forward so that the matter can be investigated."

Mr Hyde also rejected Mr Lewis's claims about Ms Glynn. "The comments not only reflect unfavourably on Assistant Commissioner Glynn, but they also have the potential to undermine public confidence in the South Australian police," he said.

"I wish to assure the community that Assistant Commissioner Glynn has an outstanding record, is highly regarded as a competent and professional police officer and has my confidence." Police Association president Peter Alexander last night said it was extraordinary that Mr Lewis would "progress these allegations in the manner that he has".

"His public attack on the SA police force and individual police officers by name and inference is unacceptable," he said.

"Mr Lewis's complaints regarding the handling of the police inquiry should have been brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Police in the first instance.

"Notwithstanding the need to follow-up all allegations, for a convicted pedophile to make allegations such as this there needs to be extreme caution in dealing with his allegations."

At a press conference last night, Mr Lewis said that if he were the MP at the centre of pedophile allegations he would stand down.

"It's not a requirement in law – it's a matter of ethics. If it were me, I would," he said. Mr Lewis said the police officers who did the initial investigations should be "ashamed of themselves".

He denied he was undermining public confidence in the SA Police. "Well, he (Mr Hyde) may say that, it's his choice," he said. "I wish he would communicate with me. I wish he would answer my correspondence."

Ratcliffe last night conceded his conviction for pedophile offences had damaged his credibility.

"I guess it does – what do you expect? I don't doubt that it would cause some damage," he said. "I am not perfect, I don't swear to be perfect."

Ratcliffe also moved to clarify statements he made to The Advertiser on Tuesday concerning the images.

In that tape-recorded interview he was asked several direct questions relating to the alleged images of the MP at Veale Gardens.

When asked if he had ever had a copy of the images on his computer hard drive or if he had ever seen them, he replied: "No I haven't."

Ratcliffe said he was "muddled up" when he was interviewed on Tuesday.

While he again confirmed he had "never seen" the alleged video of the MP, he said he had seen a photograph of the MP at the Veale Gardens.


Adelaide Advertiser

 While Rome burns Lewis fiddles in Murray Bridge

March 10th, 2005

AFTER re-igniting the child-sex controversy with accusations against police, Speaker Peter Lewis put the issue on hold yesterday to drive to a function at Murray Bridge in his electorate.

His attendance for less than an hour meant he missed Question Time and had to postpone a news conference by more than four hours.

Later he denied that was a ploy to avoid confrontation over his allegations. Mr Lewis said it would have been "grossly insulting" to the Murray-Mallee Strategic Taskforce forum had he failed to attend.

A spokeswoman for the organisers, however, said they had only been advised late yesterday morning Mr Lewis "might drop by".

While the rest of SA's media awaited his return, Mr Lewis agreed to an extended interview with The Advertiser on the hour-long return drive to Parliament House.

He spoke at length about his passion to "bring to justice those who organised and managed the systematic abuse of children".

Mr Lewis said he would ignore calls for him to stand down, describing them as "mischievous". "My goal is to get rid of pedophilia," he said.

The Speaker firmly believed he was closer now than ever to "busting their networks" in South Australia. He was under no illusion about the weight his parliamentary office could lend to his crusade. "I would have virtually no chance in any other role," he admitted frankly.

Advertiser: So can I take it you won't be resigning no matter what the outcome of the latest police investigations?

Lewis You can.

"Someone has got to do it – no one else has been prepared to," he said.

"It (cover-up of child abuse) is a stain that needs to be removed.

"The days of the prominent and the powerful, the highly-intellectual and the skilled manipulating, carefully seducing and violently coercing children to get their wicked way are over.

"That is what I have set out to achieve."

Mr Lewis said several witnesses had come forward to make statements to his office about "improper conduct" by public officials.

"One has been murdered, one is dead under suspicious circumstances and one has been viciously bashed . . . and I want the rest of them to be protected so their stories can be properly assessed," he said.

Asked if he was deterred by death threats to him and his wife, Mr Lewis replied: "They are meant to unnerve me but that is not likely to happen".

Asked if he thought he retained the confidence of the State Government, Mr Lewis replied: "The question does not arise in my mind . . . you don't ask, or seek to discover, you just get on with the job".

He revealed, however, he would take legal advice on comments made by Assistant Police Commissioner Madeleine Glynn and Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, whom he believed had defamed him on radio.

 


Adelaide Advertiser

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12509529%255E910,00.html 

 MY FUTURE IS AT STAKE

March 11th, 2005

PETER Lewis has admitted his standing in the office of Speaker has "probably" been damaged by the revelation the key witness in the MP pedophile scandal is a convicted child abuser.

Mr Lewis conceded yesterday the results of the police Anti-Corruption Branch inquiry into the allegation a serving politician was involved in homosexual activities at Veale Gardens in Adelaide's south parklands would be the catalyst to determine his future in State Parliament.

In an exclusive interview, Mr Lewis said he would consider resigning if the allegations were found to be incorrect.

"If there is no foundation in truth, I will certainly consider my position," Mr Lewis said.

His tenuous position as Speaker became clear yesterday when Premier Mike Rann was asked in Parliament whether he retained confidence in Mr Lewis.

Significantly, Mr Rann shied away from declaring his confidence in Mr Lewis.

Asked by Liberal MP Isobel Redmond whether he still had confidence in the Speaker, Mr Rann said that there should be no pressure and no interference with the police inquiry "by anyone".

"Any discussion of the Speaker's role in raising allegations against an MP and the manner in which those allegations were raised involves the discussion of matters which are the subject of a current police investigation," Mr Rann said.

"It is highly undesirable to allow a debate that pre-empts the findings of that investigation and I am not prepared to risk compromising that investigation."

Mr Rann said he was mindful of the high standards of behaviour and propriety expected of all MPs, and also mindful that Mr Lewis vowed when he took over as Speaker "to do my utmost to protect all members' rights, collectively and individually".

The Advertiser yesterday revealed that Craig Anthony Ratcliffe, 44, the man who alleges there is video evidence of a serving MP involved in a sexual act at Veale Gardens, was convicted in 1991 of seven counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old boy.

District Court records show that Ratcliffe, who is known to authorities by four different names, had his sentence suspended on condition of a three-year, $500 good behaviour bond.

His crimes were committed while he went by the name of Andrew Lee Morphett.

Mr Lewis yesterday said he was aware Ratcliffe was a convicted pedophile and although his credibility was diminished by this, he believed Ratcliffe's allegations were still valid.

"No, you see, one swallow doesn't make a summer ... " Mr Lewis said in an ABC radio interview early yesterday.

In a later interview with The Advertiser, Mr Lewis conceded he was concerned a shadow had been cast over Ratcliffe's evidence by his conviction.

"In isolation I am, yes," he said.

"But just because somebody has been guilty of an offence for which they have been convicted and given a suspended sentence and have not reoffended since, does not mean they are to be ignored if what they say is corroborated by others without those others knowing that is in fact what they are doing."

When asked by The Advertiser if he would consider resigning as Speaker if the police investigation found the allegations surrounding the serving politician to be incorrect and unsubstantiated, Mr Lewis replied: "Yes."

"It's a no-less responsible thing," he said. "I said to you I will most certainly think about what I am doing."

Likewise, when asked if he believed the development in the controversy had damaged his standing in the matter, Mr Lewis replied: "Yes."

"The public tend to think in isolation, I guess, that I have relied on unreliable people," he said. "Well, all I have done take the information from those people, reliable or not, and where it cross-correlates, said 'well goodness, for the sake of all of us this needs to be cleaned up'."

Mr Lewis also said his standing in the office of Speaker had "probably" been damaged by the controversy. "I just have to go on being credible myself, I guess, no more or less than I ever have been, and try and ensure that the public understand this isn't a conspiracy between me and some other nitwits or nutters – because they are not – to do injury to any one member of Parliament," he said.

"But rather, my job and responsibility as Speaker to protect the reputation of all members of Parliament and where one is involved or may have been involved, alleged to have been involved, in an act which is considered a felony, they are duly brought to justice if that is the case."

Police Commissioner Mal Hyde on Monday ordered the Anti-Corruption Branch to conduct another investigation into the allegations, which were publicly raised by Mr Lewis last week.

In 2003 the same allegations were investigated after Liberal MP Wayne Matthew arranged a meeting between Ratcliffe and police. It found the allegations were unsubstantiated and found no evidence video footage of the MP in Veale Gardens existed.

Mr Lewis said he did not believe the new Anti-Corruption Branch inquiry would be completed in the short term.

"I don't think it is going to be cleaned up in the next couple of weeks," he said.

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday the Democrats will move when Parliament resumes in three weeks for an Independent Commission Against Crime and Corruption to be established.


Adelaide Advertiser

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12512639%255E1702,00.html 

Put up or shut up, Speaker told

March 11th, 2005

SOUTH Australia's parliamentary Speaker should put up or shut up about his "wild" claims of a pedophile state politician, Premier Mike Rann said today.

Speaker Peter Lewis last week said two gay men, who were recently found dead in Adelaide, had told him of a pedophile MP who frequented the city's south parklands, a known homosexual haunt.

Mr Lewis also said the men's deaths could not be dismissed as coincidence.

Police initially said the pedophile MP allegations had been reported in 2003 and were found to be unsubstantiated. But this week they reopened the investigation.

Mr Rann today described Mr Lewis' claims as "wild" and "extraordinary".

"The allegations are about murder as well as pedophilia," Mr Rann said.

"These are very serious allegations that need to be cleared up by the police and I await their report with profound interest."

Mr Rann refused to offer his support to Mr Lewis, a former Liberal MP who turned Independent and handed Labor government his decisive vote in the state's cliffhanger 2002 election.

"My message to the Speaker is this: You have got to produce the evidence and hand it over to the police," Mr Rann said.

"It's vitally important if you make wild allegations that you back them up to prove they have substance.

"So, therefore, I am awaiting with interest the report from police, and so is every other member of parliament."

Mr Rann said when Mr Lewis was appointed parliamentary Speaker – as part of the deal which delivered Labor power at the last election – the Independent MP promised to "try and reinforce respect in the institution of parliament as well, of course, as the protecting the rights both collectively and individually of members of parliament".

"He also promised to restore dignity to the Parliament," Mr Rann said.

"And so Peter Lewis knows that he is accountable for his own actions as well as being accountable to the parliament."

Mr Lewis has said claims an MP was involved in pedophile behaviour were made separately by Robert Woodland and Shaine Moore, both of whom were gay.

Mr Woodland, 36, was bashed to death last December in Adelaide's south parklands. His murder is unsolved.

Mr Moore, 33, was found dead in his north suburban Adelaide house on February 25 this year in what police say were suspicious circumstances.

Mr Lewis also said another man, convicted pedophile Craig Ratcliffe, had told him there was video evidence of the serving MP involved in a sexual act in the south parklands.

Police interviewed Mr Lewis last week about his claims.

 

                           


 

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12590054%255E910,00.html

Adelaide Advertiser

 Voters say Peter Lewis must go

March 19th, 2005

SPEAKER Peter Lewis should resign if police find no evidence to back his allegations of a serving MP being a pedophile, say most voters.

An overwhelming 58 per cent of those polled by The Advertiser believe the controversial Speaker must go. Only 35 per cent of those polled say Mr Lewis should keep his job. The poll, of 509 people on Wednesday night, showed only 7 per cent were undecided.

Mr Lewis has been under increasing political pressure since he raised allegations just over a week ago of an MP being a pedophile and linked the allegations to the recent deaths of two gay men in Adelaide.

It has been reported that one of Mr Lewis's informants relating to the allegations is a convicted pedophile who has admitted that he had not seen the alleged evidence implicating the MP in homosexual acts.

Opposition leader Rob Kerin said last night that "serious allegations have been levelled, and it would be improper of me to comment before the police have concluded their investigations".

Police said the allegations were first reported in 2003 and were found to be unsubstantiated, however last week they reopened the investigation.

A spokeswoman for Premier Mike Rann did not respond to Advertiser inquiries last night, but Mr Rann had put Mr Lewis on notice late last week saying he would be "accountable to Parliament" for his allegations.

"Mud sticks," Mr Rann told The Advertiser last week.

"If the allegations the Speaker has chosen to make public are found to be without substance, he has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the office of Speaker and the integrity of Parliament.

"I think if they are found to be untrue he is right in saying he must consider his position."

Mr Lewis has said the only thing that would make him resign was illness.

More Liberal than Labor voters in The Advertiser poll said Mr Lewis should resign.

It showed 58 per cent of intending Labor voters and 65 per cent of Liberal voters believe he should resign while 49 per cent of Democrats and 37 per cent of intending Greens voters support that view.

Men (60 per cent) and country voters (60 per cent) were more likely to recommend he resign if no evidence was found by police.

In the metropolitan area the vote supporting his resignation was 57 per cent for compared to 37 against.

Among women voters, 56 per cent thought he should resign as Speaker while 37 per cent said he should not.


 

http://www.insidepolitics.com.au/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000019;p=0

 

 South Australia's unofficial court jester and part time lightening rod Peter Lewis who is also speaker for the house has publicly claimed that a fellow member of the house has been identified by up to eight victims as a paedophile. In other houses and at other times this would simply be laughed off as Peter being a dork again.


The problem that is looming large however is that two of the alleged victims have been bashed to death in the last four months, a third sustaining serious life threatening injuries and a fourth victim found dead is suspicious circumstances. It cannot but cause a twinge in the state population that a grain of truth or more may have been unearthed, their is still wide spread belief that the "Family" have so far avoided prosecution, Magistrate Peter Liddy was uncovered from the rock he was molesting boys under and of co**** a certain Mr Millhouse, with close family ties to the judiciary was convicted of equally serious offences.


It has been known that manslaughter has been evaded in the Duncan case, that Adelaide has for some bizarre reason more than their fair share of the heinous and homicidal. The fact that all information has been forwarded to the special inquiry into paedophilia and even the premier felt the need to comment, to the effect "they should be locked up for life if it's true" shows that rather than being totally appalled at the suggestion, some at least feel investigation is in order.


In Hammond, it can only be said "well at least he isn't a totally usless member".

--------------------
"Freedom is not a reward or a decoration that is celebrated with champagne... Oh no! It's a long distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting."
Albert CAMUS

 


Adelaide Advertiser
I'm a damned man, says Lewis
By State Political Reporter GREG KELTON
March 31st, 2005
 


SPEAKER Peter Lewis believes he is going to be "crucified" no matter what he does over allegations a serving MP is a pedophile.

"You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't," he has said on ABC radio.


Mr Lewis again has hit out at police over their investigations and defended the convicted pedophile who has supplied him with information. Mr Lewis said he was not sure if there would be charges arising from the allegations.


"But there jolly well ought to be a damn sight better investigation undertaken by police than has been to date," he said.


Mr Lewis also said that what he had told police "I don't call it evidence, that's the Government's spin".
"It could be evidence but it's for the police to describe it as such, not me," he said.


In developments on the issue likely to dominate Parliament when it resumes on Monday:


INFRASTRUCTURE Minister Patrick Conlon said he thought people, including most MPs, were "a bit fed up with Peter".


MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer joined the row by calling on Mr Lewis to provide police with all the information he had.


MR LEWIS has written to all MPs denying he has done nothing to help the police or Commissioner Ted Mullighan in their inquiries into pedophiles and their victims.


OPPOSITION frontbencher Vickie Chapman said Premier Mike Rann needed to "come clean" and tell MPs if the issue would be raised in Parliament next week.


Mr Lewis said convicted pedophile Craig Ratcliffe, who had provided him with information, "as a young adult, had an affair with a young lad of 14 years of age".


"Just because somebody has been involved in one or other of the minor streams of social behaviour doesn't mean that what they say is a lie," he said.


Mr Lewis said Ratcliffe should not be utterly discredited just because he was a victim himself and "then got into an affair with somebody who had already gone through puberty".


Mr Lewis accused Mr Rann of trying to make the issue appear as if it was Mr Lewis's problem. He was "particularly distressed" Mr Rann, when in Opposition, had put forward high standards of conduct and probity and had convinced him it was safe to enable Labor to form government.

Mr Downer also took a swipe at the Premier saying the Speaker was "Mr Rann's creation".


Adelaide Advertiser

Libs will back move to oust Lewis

1st April 2005

A DECISION on a no-confidence motion against embattled Speaker Peter Lewis is not likely before Monday morning.

But an angry Premier Mike Rann warned Mr Lewis yesterday he was "on notice" and had to provide facts to support allegations a serving politician was involved in pedophile behaviour in the south parklands.

State Parliament resumes on Monday after a three-week break and speculation is rife the Government will move to dump Mr Lewis from the Speaker's chair.

Even the Opposition is saying it would support a no-confidence motion, with Deputy Opposition Leader Dean Brown yesterday publicly declaring the Liberals did not support Mr Lewis.

"I am running out of patience with Peter Lewis," Mr Rann said. "I want him to deliver hard evidence.

"He has made some extraordinary accusations and he keeps making them, but the story keeps changing.

"So I just want him to deliver the goods to the police."

Mr Rann said he was not aware of any member of the Labor Party having directly asked Mr Lewis to stand aside.

"We are simply asking Mr Lewis to back his statements, to back his claims with evidence," he said. "No decision has been made on a no-confidence motion.

"We are putting Lewis on notice to back his amazing statements with facts.

"He is on notice and he knows he is on notice.

"I hear what Dean Brown is saying and we have got the matter on watch. No decision has been made by the ALP caucus on this matter."

Mr Brown yesterday called on Mr Rann to declare his intentions towards Mr Lewis, saying rumours the Government would depose him "had to be confirmed or denied".

"Will they continue to support Mr Lewis or will they move against him, and when?" Mr Brown asked.

He said the Liberals opposed Mr Rann's deal with Mr Lewis and had never supported Mr Lewis in the role of Speaker.

"Mr Rann installed Mr Lewis as Speaker (and) it is only Mr Rann who has the numbers to remove Mr Lewis from that position," he said.

"It is no secret we have not supported the deal between Mr Rann and Mr Lewis, therefore we would support any motion that brought about a vote of no confidence that undermines that whole agreement."


 

Speaker faces no-confidence motion

1st April 2005

SOUTH Australia's parliamentary speaker faces a no-confidence motion next week after sparking a storm of criticism by alleging a large number of prominent people are pedophiles.

Speaker Peter Lewis made the claim as workers in his office today released a statutory declaration naming an alleged SA pedophile politician. Mr Lewis said there was a national pedophile network, with MPs involved.

"There are a large number, but not a high percentage, of people in high places and positions of trust who take it for granted that they can indulge their sexual appetites for children of both sexes so long as they arrange to cover it up and get away with it," he said in a statement.

"It's a national problem and MPs involved seem to know each other."

Mr Lewis's public airing of the allegations drew immediate criticism from the State Government and the Liberal Opposition, which said it would support a no-confidence motion in Mr Lewis as Speaker when Parliament resumes on Monday.

The State Government said it was seeking legal advice after a volunteer worker for Mr Lewis released the document, naming a politician, police and judiciary members as child sex abusers.

SA Deputy Premier Kevin Foley condemned the release of the document by volunteer Wendy Utting as reckless.

"Today I think we have witnessed the most reckless and irresponsible act by individuals that I have ever witnessed," he said.

"The Government is seeking legal advice as to whether or not the publication of the names of a number of prominent people constitutes the potential for criminal defamation."

Ms Utting's statutory declaration also named senior police and members of the judiciary as sex offenders.

Mr Lewis last month went public with claims of a state paedophile MP in the wake of the murders of two gay men in Adelaide.

Before their deaths, the gay men separately met members of his office and alleged pedophile activity by the MP at Adelaide's south parklands, a known homosexual haunt, he said.

The Speaker suggested the pedophile MP could also be involved in the as-yet unsolved murders of the two men.

Police initially said the pedophile MP allegations were examined in 2003 and found to be unsubstantiated, but reopened their investigation.
 


Adelaide Advertiser

 Labor attacks Lewis advisers

2nd April 2005

THE State Government is seeking urgent legal advice on whether the public naming of a politician at the centre of pedophile allegations may be a criminal offence.

Police Minister Kevin Foley yesterday described the naming of the MP and two senior police officers by two advisers in Speaker Peter Lewis's office as "the most reckless and irresponsible act by individuals I have ever witnessed".

"It is reckless in the extreme," Mr Foley said.

He said Mr Lewis and the advisers – Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield – should now put up or shut up.

"They have abused the office of the Speaker and brought into disrepute the Parliament of SA," he said.

"The Government is seeking legal advice as to whether or not the publication of the names of a number of prominent people constitutes the potential for criminal defamation and whether or not, after matters have been investigated, a criminal act has occurred."

In a sensational day of developments in the political controversy, Ms Utting and Mr Standfield distributed statutory declarations from themselves and a letter written to retired judge Ted Mullighan which name the MP and police officers.

Faxed from Family First MP Andrew Evans's office, they also included a press statement from high-profile federal Liberal MP Trish Draper, in which she expresses support for their activities.

The unprecedented move, which has outraged the State Government and police, is almost certain to be the catalyst for a move on Mr Lewis in Parliament on Monday.

Earlier, Ms Utting and Mr Standfield said they would not provide any information to support the allegations to either police or the Mullighan inquiry into abuse of wards of the state. They would instead provide it to the Australian Crime Commission.

"We feel that we don't have any other option," Ms Utting said. "We also at the moment are concerned about the commission of inquiry and the way the material has been handled, in particular reference to allegations made against people of high standing (such as) Members of Parliament past and present, police officers past and present and members of the judiciary as well."

Commissioner Mullighan yesterday rejected the suggestion that he had mishandled information passed on from the Speaker's office.

"I haven't had any evidence from the Speaker's office, despite several requests from me over some months to provide information that could be used to further investigate their allegations," he said. Ms Utting said there had been "a distinctive amount of pressure" on Mr Lewis to provide "hard evidence" to substantiate the allegations.

"We have never claimed to have had that," she said.

Police Association president Peter Alexander said the association "condemns this attack on its members" and was seeking legal advice.

"The circulation of these unsubstantiated allegations is repugnant to all police and their families," he said.

Family First leader Andrew Evans said he had no idea of what was contained in the material faxed from his office.


 
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF CHILD ABUSE ISSUES IN SA
4th APRIL
1:30PM on the steps of Parliament House
 
The Hon. Peter Lewis - Speaker of South Australian Parliament is about to become the next 'sacrificial lamb' in the child abuse cause if the public of South Australia don't stand beside him and tell the Rann Government that enough is enough.
 
There would be no Commission of Inquiry in to the abuse of State Wards, without the Speakers' relentless support.
 
NO-ONE should be persecuted for 'SPEAKING OUT', especially when talking child protection.
 
Show the Rann Government that 'bullying' will not be tolerated.
 
Stand beside the Speaker.
 
Come to the steps of Parliament House at 1.30, on Monday .....

 


Sydney Morning Herald

SA speaker quits in paedophile MP row

April 4, 2005 - 6:29PM

South Australian MP Peter Lewis has quit as parliamentary speaker, feeling betrayed by a Labor government which he said should be addressing his claim one of the state's sitting MPs was a paedophile.

Mr Lewis, the Independent who handed government to Labor at the 2002 election with his decisive vote of support, claimed there was a network of "organised activity" between a group of high society paedophiles in Australia involving politicians, the judiciary and public servants.

The Rann government, which had since forged a majority with other independents to strengthen its power base, was to have passed a no confidence motion in Mr Lewis as parliament resumed.

But Mr Lewis, a controversial MP representing a rural seat east of Adelaide, quit and avoided becoming the first SA speaker to have been ousted by a no confidence motion since state parliament began in 1857.

In a 20-minute address to parliament, Mr Lewis defended raising his claims of a serving paedophile MP - allegations now under police investigation.

Mr Lewis said two gay men, since murdered, had separately told his office of an MP who frequented Adelaide's south parklands, a known homosexual haunt.

Suggesting the subsequent murders of the men could not be dismissed as coincidence, two volunteers who worked from Mr Lewis' office last Friday released statutory declarations naming four prominent Adelaide people as paedophiles.

Two of those named were police officers, and Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said the claims were now being investigated.

Mr Lewis told parliament: "There will never be a smoking gun ... as hard evidence" against a paedophile network he claimed included MPs throughout Australia and the judiciary.

"Removing me will not remove the stain or the shame," he told parliament.

Mr Lewis said he would contest his seat at the next state poll, due by March next year.

"It's not over," he said.

"There is a hell of a job to do to clean up the mess.

"I guess what the government has to do, what (Premier) Mike Rann has got to do, is understand now he won't have me to help him through it.

"It (the government) is out over the edge of a precipice, on an overhanging rock and it thinks it's on firm ground."

Mr Lewis' resignation came as the Labor government flagged legislation removing parliamentary privilege for naming or identifying any politician or public official as being involved in criminal sexual misconduct.

The legislation, described by Deputy Premier Kevin Foley as groundbreaking in the Westminster political system, would also allow a police search of Mr Lewis' parliamentary offices for evidence regarding the paedophile MP claim.

Mr Lewis, who was expelled from the Liberal Party in 2000 for calling for the then-premier to resign, was replaced as speaker by Independent Bob Such.

© 2005 AAP
 


Go quietly before you're pushed
By NIGEL HUNT and GREG KELTON
04apr05- The Advertiser - South Australia



PREMIER Mike Rann has called on Speaker Peter Lewis to consider his position and step down as Speaker before Parliament resumes today.

Mr Rann yesterday said Mr Lewis should step down with "decency and dignity to his office and to the Parliament".
"Not only have I lost patience with him, I also have lost confidence in him," he said.
Significantly, it is the first time throughout the political controversy Mr Rann has said what he thinks Mr Lewis should do.
His comments are a clear signal the Goverment today will move a motion of no confidence in Mr Lewis and remove him as Speaker. The final decision will be made at Caucus and Cabinet meetings this morning.
It was also revealed yesterday the Australian Crime Commission is unlikely to launch an investigation into the unsubstantiated allegations an MP and two police officers were pedophiles. Sources said any material provided by Mr Lewis and his supporters would be assessed and "most likely" referred to SA police or the Australian Federal Police.
The ACC does not conduct any investigations without a determination by its board, which is comprised of all Australian police commissioners and five commonwealth agency heads.
At present it has eight major investigations and intelligence operations underway  all relating to organised crime.
Child sex offences do not fall within its legislated charter.
Child abuse advocate Wendy Utting  one of Mr Lewis' two volunteer workers  revealed on Friday contact with police and the Mullighan inquiry had ceased and material to support their allegations would be provided to the ACC.
However, Mr Lewis' has conceded there was no evidence to support the allegations.
"There is no smoking gun, no knife, no photo, no video..." he said at the weekend.
Despite Mr Lewis's admission, Ms Utting yesterday maintained evidence did exist and Mr Lewis's comments "were irrelevant at this stage".
"We know what we have and that's what's going through to the ACC," she said.
"I think there is possibly some confusion about hard evidence as opposed to witness statements as opposed to whatever." Police Minister Kevin Foley yesterday said the allegations had already been "thoroughly" investigated by police.
"By Mr Lewis's own admission and comments by Utting and Standfield on Friday, there is no evidence and it would appear there never has been," he said.
"I would be very surprised if the Australian Crime Commission were to take up an investigation into this matter."
Sources said the public release on Friday of documents that reveal the identity of the MP and the two police officers was "the final straw".
Ms Utting said she had "no idea" who made the decision to release the statutory declarations identifying the trio.
"I was not involved in anything to do with anything going out," she said.

 

 


 

Premier calls on Speaker to quit
Richard Sproull
04apr05  The Australian



PETER Lewis's tenure as Speaker of the South Australian parliament is expected to end as early as today after a demand by Premier Mike Rann that he step down over claims government ranks include a pedophile.

Mr Rann yesterday called on Mr Lewis to consider his position overnight and resign from the Speaker's chair after failing to produce any evidence backing his claim.
"He should do the decent thing and step down as Speaker," Mr Rann said. If he refuses to step down Mr Lewis faces the prospect of a no-confidence motion supported by both sides of parliament.
If carried it would be the first time in state history a Speaker has been ousted. Mr Lewis has been in the job for three years after agreeing to give Mr Rann and his Labor Party government in March 2002.
Labor caucus is expected to discuss the Speaker's position this morning. But Mr Lewis's fate was effectively sealed last week when the Liberal Opposition said it would support any no-confidence motion against him.
At the same time Mr Lewis was engaged in abortive talks with police, including Commissioner Mal Hyde, after a stand-off over whether the Speaker's office was complying with an inquiry into the pedophile allegations.
Anti-Corruption Branch detectives are yet to receive any evidence from Mr Lewis's office, where two volunteers have taken statements from people claiming to be victims or witnesses to pedophilia or abuse.
On Friday the volunteers took the matter into their own hands by distributing material containing names of an MP and two senior police they claim had been involved in pedophilia. The Government is considering legal action against the volunteers, Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield, saying they have abused the office of the Speaker and brought the parliament into disrepute.
The documents were accompanied by an endorsement from federal Liberal MP Trish Draper, who stated that "if Wendy Utting and others ... choose to explore all of their options in terms of presenting evidence . . . they are entitled to do so".
Mr Rann said: "There is a real difference between a smear and the truth, there is a real difference between allegation and evidence and we have seen no evidence at all."
Mr Lewis believes any move against him will ultimately trigger the Government's downfall. He could not be contacted for comment yesterday but told Adelaide's Sunday Mail that he did not have any evidence to support the allegations, only statements from victims and witnesses.
He also conceded his time as Speaker was "absolute history", though remained unrepentant about airing allegations against an MP known as "Terry".


Last Update: Sunday, April 3, 2005. 7:31am (AEST)  ABC online
Lewis defends making paedophile claims in Parliament
South Australia's parliamentary Speaker, Peter Lewis, says his claims that a serving member of Parliament is a paedophile are part of his pledge to bring about reforms in Parliament and he should not be sacked.
The Government has accused Mr Lewis of bringing Parliament into disrepute after two volunteers in the Speaker's office released a statutory declaration on Friday.
The declaration named the state MP at the centre of the scandal along with two police officers.
While Mr Lewis distanced himself from the volunteers' actions, he says Premier Mike Rann should stand by his promise in 2002 to support parliamentary reforms.
"If finding allegations of a paedophile's activity, who's a member of Parliament, doesn't deserve my attention and in doing so reform the Parliament in that way - if that isn't part of the process, then what the hell is?" he said.

 

 


Rann calls for resignation over sex claims
Richard Sproull
April 04, 2005


PETER Lewis's tenure as Speaker of the South Australian parliament is expected to end as early as today after a demand by Premier Mike Rann that he step down over claims government ranks include a paedophile.
Mr Rann yesterday called on Mr Lewis to consider his position overnight and resign from the Speaker's chair after failing to produce any evidence backing his claim.
"He should do the decent thing and step down as Speaker," Mr Rann said. If he refuses to step down Mr Lewis faces the prospect of a no-confidence motion supported by both sides of parliament.
If carried it would be the first time in state history a Speaker has been ousted. Mr Lewis has been in the job for three years after agreeing to give Mr Rann and his Labor Party government in March 2002.
Labor caucus is expected to discuss the Speaker's position this morning. But Mr Lewis's fate was effectively sealed last week when the Liberal Opposition said it would support any no-confidence motion against him.
At the same time Mr Lewis was engaged in abortive talks with police, including Commissioner Mal Hyde, after a stand-off over whether the Speaker's office was complying with an inquiry into the paedophile allegations.
Anti-Corruption Branch detectives are yet to receive any evidence from Mr Lewis's office, where two volunteers have taken statements from people claiming to be victims or witnesses to paedophilia or abuse.
On Friday the volunteers took the matter into their own hands by distributing material containing names of an MP and two senior police they claim had been involved in pedophilia.
The Government is considering legal action against the volunteers, Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield, saying they have abused the office of the Speaker and brought the parliament into disrepute.
The documents were accompanied by an endorsement from Federal Liberal MP Trish Draper, who stated that "if Wendy Utting and others ... choose to explore all of their options in terms of presenting evidence ... they are entitled to do so".
Mr Rann said: "There is a real difference between a smear and the truth, there is a real difference between allegation and evidence and we have seen no evidence at all."
Mr Lewis believes any move against him will ultimately trigger the Government's downfall.
He could not be contacted for comment yesterday but told Adelaide's Sunday Mail that he did not have any evidence to support the allegations, only statements from victims and witnesses.
He also conceded his time as Speaker was "absolute history", though remained unrepentant about airing allegations against an MP known as "Terry".

 


Speaker should resign: Rann
April 04, 2005
From: Agence France-Presse



SOUTH Australian Premier Mike Rann today called on state parliamentary Speaker Peter Lewis to resign after the most recent developments in pedophilia allegations against a sitting MP.
Last week, a volunteer worker in the Speaker's office released a statutory declaration naming the politician at the centre of the allegations.
Wendy Utting also named senior police and members of the judiciary as sex offenders, in action that drew immediate condemnation from Deputy Premier Kevin Foley.
Mr Foley said it was reckless and irresponsible and said the Government was seeking legal advice on whether the release of the names amounted to criminal defamation.Mr Lewis last month went public with claims of a pedophile state MP in the wake of the murders of two gay men in Adelaide.
The Speaker said the men had met his staff before their deaths and had alleged pedophile activity by the MP at Adelaide's south parklands, a known homosexual haunt.
He suggested the pedophile MP could also be involved in the as-yet unsolved murders of the two men.
Police initially said the pedophilia allegations were examined in 2003 and found to be unsubstantiated, but reopened their investigation.
But after Friday's action by volunteers who worked in the Speaker's office, Mr Rann said today it was time for Mr Lewis to quit.
"It is absolutely incumbent on Mr Lewis to do the honourable thing, the decent thing and step down with the dignity and the grace that the office of the Speaker deserves and that the parliament deserves," Mr Rann said on ABC radio.
Should he refuse to resign, Mr Lewis is expected to face a no confidence motion when parliament resumes this afternoon.



 

Adelaide Advertiser

Speaker to resign
04 April 2005

SOUTH Australia's parliamentary speaker Peter Lewis said today he would resign.
 

Mr Lewis told Parliament he would go to the Governor's office this afternoon and tender his resignation after being embroiled in a month-long controversy after making claims of a pedophile MP in state parliament.

The controversy culminated last week in the release of a statutory declaration from volunteer workers in the speaker's office naming the politician at the centre of the allegations.

The statutory declaration by volunteer Wendy Utting also named senior police and members of the judiciary as sex offenders, prompting the State Government to seek legal action as to whether the release of the names amounted to criminal defamation.

Mr Lewis first went public with claims of a state pedophile MP last month, in the wake of the murders of two gay men in Adelaide.

The Speaker said before their deaths, the gay men separately met with his office staff and alleged pedophile activity by the MP at Adelaide's south parklands, a known homosexual haunt.

He suggested the pedophile MP could also be involved in the as-yet unsolved murders of the two men.

Police initially said the pedophilia allegations were examined in 2003 and found to be unsubstantiated, but later reopened their investigation.

Mr Lewis today announced his decision to resign moments before the Labor Government was to introduce a no-confidence motion in the Speaker.

However, he continued to defend his role in the controversy.

"Removing me will not remove the stain or the shame," Mr Lewis told Parliament.

Mr Lewis blamed inaccurate media reporting as largely behind a perception within the community that he had named a pedophile MP.

Mr Lewis said he had been attacked by fellow parliamentarians throughout the past month, while claiming there was organised activity of pedophiles within the judiciary, politics and public servants throughout the country.

He said pedophiles often escaped penalty because they were "beguiling people".

The Speaker said he was heartened by the support of the public and was pleased with his role as Speaker for the past three years.

"My reading of the mood of the public is one of strong support," he said.

Mr Lewis is likely to be replaced by independent MP and deputy speaker Bob Such.


The Australian

Parliament gagged as speaker quits
By Michelle Wiese Bockmann and Tom Richardson
April 05, 2005


PETER Lewis resigned as speaker of the South Australian parliament yesterday over his unsubstantiated pedophile allegations as the Rann Government took the unprecedented step of temporarily suspending parliamentary privilege to stop the MP at the centre of the claims being named.
In an extraordinary day in South Australian political history, Mr Lewis - the independent who handed power to Labor in March 2002 - resigned to avoid being ousted by a no-confidence motion that would have been supported by both sides of politics.
Constitutional lawyers described the Government's move to shut down the unpredictable speaker by abrogating parliamentary privilege as "unusual but not unjustified".
The bill was under intense debate last night in parliament after Liberal Opposition Leader Rob Kerin refused to support the "draconian" legislation. Its passage in the upper house, where the Government does not have a majority, remains uncertain.
The bill removes parliamentary privilege from any allegations made about the criminal sexual misconduct of any public official, except if they are charged and committed for trial. It also allows police to enter parliament and search Mr Lewis's office for evidence and documents about the alleged pedophile Labor MP, a retired Liberal MP and two police officers.
The four men were named in a statutory declaration released last Friday by Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield, volunteer staffers working in Mr Lewis's office.
With a history-making no-confidence motion imminent, Mr Lewis resigned after a 25-minute address to parliament, during which he defended his decision to air claims about an alleged pedophile MP.
Unrepentant to the last, Mr Lewis said "removing me will not remove the stain or shame" of pedophilia.
"Yet the ALP requires a sacrifice in the quid pro quo for what it has yet to deal with within its own ranks," Mr Lewis added.
Mr Rann made it clear that the Speaker had been responsible for his own destiny.
"This is not about the staff, but about Mr Lewis's actions and statements," Mr Rann said. "It was clear he didn't have the confidence of MPs."
The Government described the legislation temporarily removing privilege as groundbreaking for the Westminster political system, saying "it would be talked about in decades to come".
Mr Lewis claimed the move would require constitutional change and called on the Government to hold a referendum.
Mr Rann said the Government had "clear advice from all relevant authorities" that the parliament was "master of its own destiny".
During debate late yesterday, Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said naming any MP against whom unsubstantiated allegations had been made would "bring this parliament into disrepute and weaken the basis of privilege itself".
But Opposition MP Graham Gunn, himself a former speaker, accused the Government of attempting to undermine a fundamental convention of the Westminster system.
"Once you go down this path, where will it end?" Mr Gunn said.
Mr Kerin said Mr Lewis's "historic" resignation as Speaker was "the right thing to do" as he said it thwarted a potentially bloody debate that "could have gone absolutely anywhere".
Flinders University political scientist Dean Jaensch said temporarily removing the privilege of parliament was a major step.
"The argument that Premier Rann is using (that the pedophile allegations overide everything) is an emotive argument but put against 100 years of convention is a difficult one to push," Professor Jaensch said.
Craig Ratcliffe, a convicted pedophile and one of eight people who is claimed to have provided Mr Lewis with information about alleged pedophile activities, said the outgoing Speaker had "the balls and the guts" to have "done something for victims (of abuse) here in South Australia".
Independent - and former Liberal minister - Bob Such, who had been deputy speaker, was voted in as Mr Lewis's replacement.
Labor backbencher Jack Snelling is deputy speaker.


Adelaide Advertiser

SA parliamentary speaker quits
By Steve Larkin
4th April 2005



SOUTH Australian MP Peter Lewis has quit as parliamentary speaker, feeling betrayed by a Labor Government he said should be addressing his claim that one of the state's sitting MPs was a pedophile.

Mr Lewis, the Independent who handed government to Labor at the 2002 election with his decisive vote of support, claimed today there was a network of "organised activity" between a group of high society paedophiles in Australia involving politicians, the judiciary and public servants.
The Rann Government, which had since forged a majority with other independents to strengthen its power base, was to have passed a no confidence motion in Mr Lewis as parliament resumed today.
But Mr Lewis, a controversial MP representing a rural seat east of Adelaide, quit and avoided becoming the first SA speaker to have been ousted by a no confidence motion since State Parliament began in 1857.
In a 20-minute address to Parliament, Mr Lewis defended raising his claims of a serving pedophile MP  allegations now under police investigation.
Mr Lewis said two gay men, since murdered, had separately told his office of an MP who frequented Adelaide's south parklands, a known homosexual haunt.
Suggesting the subsequent murders of the men could not be dismissed as coincidence, two volunteers who worked from Mr Lewis's office last Friday released statutory declarations naming four prominent Adelaide people as pedophiles.
Two of those named were police officers, and Police Commissioner Mal Hyde today said the claims were now being investigated.
Mr Lewis told Parliament today: "There will never be a smoking gun ... as hard evidence" against a pedophile network he claimed included MPs throughout Australia and the judiciary.
"Removing me will not remove the stain or the shame," he told Parliament.
Mr Lewis said he would contest his seat at the next state poll, due by March next year.
"It's not over," he said.
"There is a hell of a job to do to clean up the mess.
"I guess what the Government has to do, what (Premier) Mike Rann has got to do, is understand now he won't have me to help him through it.
"It (the Government) is out over the edge of a precipice, on an overhanging rock and it thinks it's on firm ground."
Mr Lewis' resignation came as the Labor Government flagged legislation removing parliamentary privilege for naming or identifying any politician or public official as being involved in criminal sexual misconduct.
The legislation, described by Deputy Premier Kevin Foley as groundbreaking in the Westminster political system, would also allow a police search of Mr Lewis's parliamentary offices for evidence regarding the pedophile MP claim.
Mr Lewis, who was expelled from the Liberal Party in 2000 for calling for the then-premier to resign, was replaced as speaker by Independent Bob Such.

privacyterms  Advertiser Newspapers Pty Limited


 Call to PM's office signals high noon for Lewis

5th April 2005

PETER Lewis' decision to fall on his sword spared the State Government the agonising politics of a no-confidence motion.

Just before strolling into the parliamentary chamber at 2pm yesterday, senior Government members were nervous about whether their strategy would work.

They were not sure whether the Liberals would support a no-confidence motion against Mr Lewis, or legislation limiting parliamentary privilege.

Greens MP Kris Hanna confronted four Government MPs in the corridors about half an hour before Parliament started, accusing them of setting a dangerous precedent by limiting free speech. But the Labor MPs hit back, arguing the limit on privilege was necessary to curb Mr Lewis' ability to name the MPs he wants investigated over allegations of pedophilia.

They forcefully asked Mr Hanna to consider the impact on MPs' families if untested allegations were aired, severely damaging their reputations.

Labor unveiled the strategy yesterday morning, when Deputy Premier Kevin Foley started working the phones to canvass support for the radical legislation.

He called Prime Minister John Howard's chief-of-staff, Arthur Sinodinis, and other senior Liberals in Canberra. It is understood the State Government's plans were favourably received, particularly because the public airing of names had potential to hurt current and former politicians on both sides.

Mr Foley also contacted Opposition Leader Rob Kerin, asking for his support. Mr Kerin then took details of legislation to the Liberal party room.

The Government was confident of Mr Kerin's support but uncertain whether all in the Liberal ranks agreed.

Labor believed the Liberals might demand a day to consider the implications of limiting parliamentary privilege before agreeing to back the no-confidence motion.

When Mr Lewis entered the chamber just after 2pm, he and Premier Mike Rann studiously avoided one another's gaze as the Speaker strode to his chair for the final time.

After a 25-minute speech signalling his resignation and attempting to justify his actions, Mr Lewis immediately left the chamber.

Outside, one of the volunteers who had controversially worked in Mr Lewis' office, Wendy Utting, was addressing a rally of about 20 supporters.

"I want everyone to understand that Peter's decision to resign, from my conversations with him yesterday, was extremely difficult for him," she said.

"He knew that, no matter what he did, they were going to fry him."

But Ms Utting signalled Mr Lewis, still the Hammond MP, would give his opponents "a very rough ride".

"He will not stop just because he's not Speaker. In fact, I'm sure he'll be a lot more vocal yet," she warned.

Mr Lewis emerged and was mobbed by supporters as he started the walk to Government House, clad in his full ceremonial robes and wig.

"Please allow me to do my duty," he asked journalists surrounding him.

Peppered with questions as he walked, Mr Lewis insisted he had "done nothing wrong" and he was feeling "happy".

Just before he returned, the other of the controversial volunteers, Barry Standfield, vowed he and Ms Utting would continue working with Mr Lewis to pursue the issue of child abuse.

 


Adelaide Advertiser

New Speaker wants to restore goodwill
By Political Reporter JEMMA CHAPMAN
5th April 2005

 


NEWLY elected Speaker Dr Bob Such vows to restore the credibility of Parliament and perform his role "without fear or favour".

Declaring his pride in being elected, Dr Such said yesterday he wanted to see Parliament "reformed in many significant ways" to improve its reputation and make it more efficient and family friendly.
"I think it's the role of the Speaker to enhance the credibility of Parliament," he said.
"I am very keen that this Parliament maintain its standing in the community and that we enhance it. It's unfortunate what happened in terms of events leading up to today but we've got to put that behind us, and get on and do the job we're elected to do. We are here to represent the people of SA and act honourably and ethically.
"I will do the job to the best of my ability and I will do it without fear or favour."
Dr Such said in his previous role as deputy speaker he had "always acted fairly and in an impartial way".
The Independent MP for Fisher said no deal had been made to support the Government in return for the speakership.
"I have no compact, no understanding, no arrangement, no informal or formal arrangement to support (the Government) or not support them," he said. "Nothing has changed since March, 2002."
Dr Such pledged to reform Parliament, with the support of members, particularly its proceedings.
"Our Parliament needs to advance in that regard, the way we handle ourselves and the hours we sit. We can do a lot better," he said.
Dr Such said he had already begun drafting proposals to make Parliament more family friendly. "I will be there assisting (and) guiding but it's up to the members to make those final decisions."
Dr Such said despite the events of the past month, it was important the public recognised the hard-working and respectful approach of most MPs."Unfortunately MPs are not given the recognition that the overwhelming majority of them deserve," he said.
"Every member in the Lower House, and I can vouch for this, works very hard and deserves respect."
Dr Such has many Bills before Parliament, including the Spent Convictions Bill, Road Traffic (Council Speed Zones) Amendment Bill, Graffiti Control (Orders on Conviction) Amendment Bill and Dignity in Dying Bill.

privacyterms  Advertiser Newspapers Pty Limited

 


Adelaide Advertiser

Call to PM's office signals high noon for Lewis
By Chief Reporter PAUL STARICK
5 April 2005



PETER Lewis' decision to fall on his sword spared the State Government the agonising politics of a no-confidence motion.

Just before strolling into the parliamentary chamber at 2pm yesterday, senior Government members were nervous about whether their strategy would work.
They were not sure whether the Liberals would support a no-confidence motion against Mr Lewis, or legislation limiting parliamentary privilege.
Greens MP Kris Hanna confronted four Government MPs in the corridors about half an hour before Parliament started, accusing them of setting a dangerous precedent by limiting free speech. But the Labor MPs hit back, arguing the limit on privilege was necessary to curb Mr Lewis' ability to name the MPs he wants investigated over allegations of pedophilia.
They forcefully asked Mr Hanna to consider the impact on MPs' families if untested allegations were aired, severely damaging their reputations.
Labor unveiled the strategy yesterday morning, when Deputy Premier Kevin Foley started working the phones to canvass support for the radical legislation.
He called Prime Minister John Howard's chief-of-staff, Arthur Sinodinis, and other senior Liberals in Canberra. It is understood the State Government's plans were favourably received, particularly because the public airing of names had potential to hurt current and former politicians on both sides.
Mr Foley also contacted Opposition Leader Rob Kerin, asking for his support. Mr Kerin then took details of legislation to the Liberal party room.
The Government was confident of Mr Kerin's support but uncertain whether all in the Liberal ranks agreed.
Labor believed the Liberals might demand a day to consider the implications of limiting parliamentary privilege before agreeing to back the no-confidence motion.
When Mr Lewis entered the chamber just after 2pm, he and Premier Mike Rann studiously avoided one another's gaze as the Speaker strode to his chair for the final time.
After a 25-minute speech signalling his resignation and attempting to justify his actions, Mr Lewis immediately left the chamber.
Outside, one of the volunteers who had controversially worked in Mr Lewis' office, Wendy Utting, was addressing a rally of about 20 supporters.
"I want everyone to understand that Peter's decision to resign, from my conversations with him yesterday, was extremely difficult for him," she said.
"He knew that, no matter what he did, they were going to fry him."
But Ms Utting signalled Mr Lewis, still the Hammond MP, would give his opponents "a very rough ride".
"He will not stop just because he's not Speaker. In fact, I'm sure he'll be a lot more vocal yet," she warned.
Mr Lewis emerged and was mobbed by supporters as he started the walk to Government House, clad in his full ceremonial robes and wig.
"Please allow me to do my duty," he asked journalists surrounding him.
Peppered with questions as he walked, Mr Lewis insisted he had "done nothing wrong" and he was feeling "happy".
Just before he returned, the other of the controversial volunteers, Barry Standfield, vowed he and Ms Utting would continue working with Mr Lewis to pursue the issue of child abuse.

  Advertiser Newspapers Pty Limited


For once, the Speaker is correct
ONE of the most disgraceful episodes in South Australian political history – if not the most – ended yesterday with Peter Lewis's overdue resignation from the office of Speaker.

The unseemly saga resulting from his airing of allegations of a parliamentarian being involved in pedophilia has tarnished this state, almost immeasurably.

Importantly, it also has set back serious and considered investigations into the scourge of child abuse through an irresponsible clouding of the issue.

The most disturbing fact is that not a shred of evidence has been offered, at any stage, to support the extremely serious allegations aired by Mr Lewis.

Indeed, a key figure supporting his claims was revealed as a convicted pedophile, while Mr Lewis last weekend finally admitted there was no smoking gun – no hard evidence. It is important to remember that, as Speaker, Mr Lewis was charged with upholding the standards and image of State Parliament. He often made a virtue of his intentions to improve such standards.

Yet he allowed two volunteers working in his office to name a serving MP, a former MP and two senior police officers, accusing them of some of the gravest crimes.

Their names have been sullied without adequate evidence.

In fact, no evidence.

Mr Lewis and his helpers refused to provide evidence to the police or the Mullighan inquiry into abuse of wards of the state.

While Mr Lewis and his cohorts were the chief players in this sorry episode, he was not alone. Some sections of the electronic media unquestioningly relayed his allegations without rigour, giving them a merit beyond their worth.

Sections of the interstate press also were guilty of this disappointing lapse.

The State Government, too, cannot fully escape blame.

In 2002, Labor agreed to a deal to install Mr Lewis as Speaker, as the Liberals would have done had they not been outflanked.

The relationship between government and Speaker has been increasingly fractious and, even before the events of the past few weeks, Mr Lewis was increasingly in Labor's sights.

For all that, Labor was too slow to act to stem the damage caused by the Speaker's unseemly behaviour in recent weeks.

The Government might argue it acted resolutely in the past week or so, yet it could equally be argued it should have acted earlier and more decisively.

The lesson for the state is the importance of maintaining parliamentary standards.

Mr Lewis, the man who came to office vowing to uphold these standards, has been the chief culprit in allowing them to lapse. As argued by this newspaper before, he had no choice but to quit.

Let that be the end of this mess.


Adelaide Advertiser
WALK OF SHAME

By State Political Reporter GREG KELTON
05apr05



SPEAKER Peter Lewis beat the Government to the punch and resigned before he could be dumped from office yesterday through an unprecedented no-confidence
motion.

Mr Lewis made the decision to quit shortly before Parliament sat - ending four weeks of political
turmoil resulting from his allegations that a serving MP had been involved in homosexual acts in the south parklands.

Already under intense scrutiny, Mr Lewis found himself in an untenable position when two volunteers who worked out of his Parliament House office on Friday named the MP, a former Liberal MP and two senior serving police officers as being involved in pedophile activities.

In a 20-minute speech to the House soon after taking the chair yesterday, Mr Lewis said he had become aware of the intention of the Government to move against him. "I accept it is the Government's right to do so, even though it is without precedent," he said.

"I will save the Government that trouble. I will simply state that it is grossly improper."

Mr Lewis said it was the first time there had been "any call by the head of a government to remove a
Speaker in the history of any Parliament similar to those we have in Australia".

Hundreds of people crowded the House of Assembly galleries to watch proceedings in one of the most
dramatic days in the history of the South Australian Parliament. As events unfolded:

MR LEWIS blamed his problems on a conspiracy involving Premier Mike Rann, Government spin doctors, Advertiser editor Melvin Mansell and its investigative reporter Nigel Hunt.

LEGISLATION was rushed into Parliament by the Government to allow police to search Mr Lewis's
offices and also to prevent a serving MP, a former MP and two serving police offices from being named in relation to pedophile activities.

THE OFFICE of Prime Minister John Howard was briefed by Deputy Premier Kevin Foley on the controversial legislative move.

INDEPENDENT Bob Such was voted in as Speaker to replace Mr Lewis by 26 votes to 20 over Liberal Mark Brindal, with one informal vote, while Labor's Jack Snelling was elected as Deputy Speaker.

Legal experts and MPs expressed concern about the Government's controversial legislation which it wanted passed through both Houses last night. The move was thwarted by resistance from the Opposition and Democrats in the Upper House.

As the legislation was debated, Mr Lewis said he wanted to reassure everyone he was not going to name anyone. "It was never my intention to do so," he said.


Mr Rann said the Speaker had done the right thing in stepping down. He said it was clear he did not have the confidence of members of Parliament and "we look forward to working with Bob Such".

Mr Rann said Mr Lewis had failed to back allegations with evidence.

"One of the principal roles of Speaker is to provide stability and that's what we want from all Speakers -
to provide stable leadership and stability to the parliamentary process," he said.

Mr Rann said police had been frustrated from getting into Parliament House to see any evidence "if it ever existed".

He said that was the reason behind the special legislation and to allow police to see the material
which had been talked about.

Opposition Leader Rob Kerin congratulated Dr Such on getting the job as Speaker although he would have preferred Labor to put up one of their own MPs.

"Quite frankly I think everyone is sick of deals because that's what given us the situation we
currently have got," he said.

"Mr Lewis resigning was the right thing rather than having a debate in the House."

Dr Such told the Parliament he would do the job without fear or favour and lashed out at critics,
including Mr Kerin, who had said they were not interested in deals.

"I have no compact or formal or informal arrangement to support the Government," Dr Such said.

As the events in parliament unfolded, Police Commissioner Mal Hyde announced yet another
investigation into allegations made by Mr Lewis' office.

He said the allegations of serious misconduct made by Lewis volunteer Wendy Utting on Friday would be the subject of an investigation by Assistant Commissioner Bryan Fahy. "The investigation will be independently oversighted and reviewed by the Police Complaints Authority," Mr Hyde said.

"While this investigation is being conducted, I can assure the community that neither of the officers will
be involved in any investigation of the allegations raised by Speaker Peter Lewis or his volunteer staff."


Both officers are seeking legal advice after being identified in material circulated by Mr Lewis'
volunteers on Friday and are expected to launch legal action for defamation.

The State Government has also requested legal advice on if there are grounds for criminal defamation.
 

 


In recent weeks, we have heard through media that:

    a)      eight sex abuse victims made written statements incriminating a government minister
    b)      a former Dean of Law gave assistance in the writing of one or more of these statements
    c)      two men were murdered and a third person was bashed after providing information to the same police officers
    d)      Commissioner Ted Mulligan has not handed information involving a politician and magistrate to police
    e)      police investigated one or more of the allegations previously and found no evidence
    f)      the minister did not stand down while he was being investigated
    g)      the magistrate has not been asked to stand down
    h)      a senior police officer said that police had not been given incriminating evidence on a  hard drive but this statement was later admitted to be wrong

    i)    the incriminating evidence on the hard drive was corrupted/lost by police
    j)    the witness cannot be believed because he has a criminal record for a sex related offence
    k)   another copy of the hard drive is in the possession of a VicPol officer
    l)    all of the above can be ignored because Peter Lewis and his associates lack credibility and "concrete evidence".
    Surely to be fair to both the alleged victims and the accused persons, such a litany of allegations warrants an independent inquiry. 

 


Adelaide Advertiser

Call for crime commission in SA
06apr05

THE Australian Democrats will try to establish an Independent Commission Against Crime and Corruption (ICACC) in South Australia following allegations of paedophilia against a unnamed MP.

The move comes a day after the Government suspended its bid to alter centuries-old parliamentary privilege laws after failing to win Democrat support to push new laws through Parliament.

The Government wanted to bring in new laws following Peter Lewis' resignation as speaker, fearful he would name in parliament the alleged paedophile politician.

The legislation would have removed the protection of parliamentary privilege for anyone who named a current MP, a former MP and two serving police officers currently the subject of paedophilia allegations.

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said he was disappointed the Democrats would not support the Government's proposal.

But Democrat MP Ian Gilfillan said today it would be better to establish an ICACC which could investigate the paedophilia allegations.

"It is clear that, if we had our ICACC in place, all the stress and opprobrium surrounding the allegations could have been avoided," Mr Gilfillan said.

"The structure of ICACC is ideally set up to receive information of a confidential nature and investigate thoroughly."

Mr Gilfillan said the Democrats would introduce a bill to establish the ICACC in the Legislative Council today.

Mr Lewis quit on Monday to avoid being ousted as speaker by a Government-initiated no confidence motion.

The Government lost faith in him after he went public with claims of a sitting paedophile MP in State Parliament.

The independent MP said the claims were made to him separately by two gay men, since murdered in Adelaide.


Adelaide Advertiser

Lewis to continue sex abuse campaign

07apr05

EMBATTLED former Speaker Peter Lewis plans to open an office in the city to continue his fight to expose child sexual abuse and assist victims of pedophilia.

"I'm not going to let the issue die," he said yesterday.

"Someone the victims trust needs to be a point of contact."

The defiant Independent MP for Hammond said he had put in an offer for office space in the central business district.

"I today signed a contract as an offer on office space in the city," he said.

Mr Lewis would not reveal where for fear of jeopardising the outcome of the lease.

He said the office would be staffed by volunteers with "concern, compassion, credibility and integrity".

Mr Lewis said victims needed to be reassured they would be taken seriously.

"I will reassure them that I'll follow it through and they won't be treated with disdain," he said.

Since his resignation as Speaker on Monday ahead of a no-confidence motion – the result of weeks of pressure since publicly airing allegations of a pedophile MP – Mr Lewis said he had been clearing out his belongings from the Speaker's office.

He said he planned to perform parliamentary duties "just as any other backbencher", and would support new Speaker Bob Such.

He said he felt "used and abused" by the Government, to which he handed power after the 2002 state election in return for becoming Speaker.

He said he wanted the public to know he was "just me" and had been wrongly represented as a trouble-maker.

"I'm not an ordinary sort of politician," he said.



Adelaide Advertiser

 

Police raid homes of Lewis supporters

07apr05

 

THE homes of child abuse activists Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield yesterday were raided by police searching for any documents that may have been removed from the office of former Speaker Peter Lewis.

Police also raided the home of convicted pedophile Craig Ratcliffe after the politician at the centre of pedophile allegations was named on a website to which he contributes.

Anti-Corruption Branch detectives arrived at Mr Standfield's Enfield house about 10am, seizing "several small boxes" of documents after searching the premises.

"They had a search warrant but I was always happy to co-operate with them," Mr Standfield said.

"It was just my normal working papers. I do a bit of work at home helping Peter and it was a couple of boxes of stuff."

Ms Utting's Cherryville house was searched several hours later and more documents were seized.

As detectives entered her home, she expressed concern at them viewing all the documents she had.

An officer told her they were only searching for those relating to the allegations about the politician.

"They are determined to get hold of whatever there is," she said.

"I cannot assure the people who have ever been to Child Protection Watchdog or to myself that their information is protected."

Police and the State Government are concerned documents relating to Mr Lewis's allegations about the politician may have been removed from his Parliament House office following his resignation as Speaker on Monday.

Mr Lewis has refused to hand the documents – claimed by him and his two supporters to be evidence that supports the allegations about the politician – to either police or the Mullighan inquiry into sexual abuse.

The police action came as a website that named the politician at the centre of the unsubstantiated pedophile allegations was referred to the Crown Solicitor for possible criminal defamation action.

The politician's name appeared on the Child Abuse Media South Australia website for almost four hours, until lawyers acting for the politician demanded it be removed.

It was the second time in five days the politician's name had been released publicly, prompting an angry response from the Government.

Last Friday, the politician's identity – and that of a former politician and two serving police officers also subject to similar allegations – were revealed in documents released by Ms Utting and Mr Standfield, volunteers in Mr Lewis's office.

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said yesterday he had requested an opinion on whether the contents of Friday's faxed documents and the website constituted criminal defamation.

"A decision on whether to prosecute anyone would need to be taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions," he said.

Ratcliffe, one of those who made allegations about the politician to Mr Lewis's office, denied he was responsible for yesterday's naming of the MP on the website.



 http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,12790816%255E421,00.html
 

Former prostitute 'defamed' by MPs

08apr05

 

A FORMER male prostitute who has made allegations of sexual misconduct against a former parliamentarian and two police officers is planning legal action against three senior political figures.

Unemployed radio broadcaster Brad, 36, of Whyalla, said yesterday he was launching defamation action against Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, Police Minister Kevin Foley and Liberal backbencher Mark Brindal

Brad, who did not want his surname revealed, claims the trio have defamed him by saying there was no evidence supporting the allegations, made public on Friday, concerning the former MP and police officers.

"They have defamed myself and other victims of child sexual abuse," he said.

Brad said he made a statement on March 14, detailing his allegations to the Mullighan inquiry. He believed this had been handed to police.

"The South Australian Government seems to think it is appropriate behaviour to sledge victims of child sexual assault," he said.

He alleges the sexual acts with the former MP occurred in an underground carpark on South Tce, while the two men he believed were police officers sexually assaulted him at a house in Walkerville between September, 1984, and June, 1985.

Senior police said last night Brad's allegations were already being investigated.

"Police spoke to Brad last week as a result of allegations raised, and have the material he provided to commissioner Mulligan for his inquiry," Assistant Commissioner Bryan Fahy said.

Also yesterday, child protection advocate Professor Freda Briggs called for the serving MP at the centre of other pedophile allegations to stand down during the police investigation.

Professor Briggs, from the University of South Australia, said if the MP in question was to stand down, it would "put it (the issue) to rest".

"I think it is needed for the benefit of those accused and those who claim they were victims," she said.

Professor Briggs said it was common in the Westminster political system for a politician or magistrate being investigated to stand down during the process.

She also called for an independent inquiry, which would need to be headed by someone who was "not a politician, a police officer or a lawyer," because people from all three groups had been "accused or involved".


The Australian

Alleged abuse victim sues MPs

 April 8th, 2005
Tom Richardson   


THE fallout from South Australia's pedophile-naming scandal, which claimed the career of former parliamentary speaker Peter Lewis, took another bizarre turn yesterday as an alleged sex abuse victim launched defamation action against three prominent MPs.

Outspoken Liberal backbencher Mark Brindal, one of the MPs targeted for defamation, said the legal move was part of a "conspiracy" by Mr Lewis's staffers Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield "to keep this whole thing boiling along".

Mr Brindal, who played a key role in establishing an inquiry into child abuse to be conducted by retired Supreme Court judge Ted Mullighan, warned that the "Utting camp" could "absolutely undermine the inquiry".

"Regrettably, these people who did all this work getting the inquiry up now seem to want to be a subsidiary office of the inquiry, giving Mullighan points on how he meets their expectations," Mr Brindal said.

Defamation action was launched by an alleged abuse victim known as Brad, 36, an unemployed radio announcer and former child prostitute who divided his time between gay hangouts in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide in the 1980s.

He said he would sue Mr Brindal, Deputy Premier Kevin Foley and Attorney-General Michael Atkinson over public comments he claims discredit alleged abuse victims who have spoken about their experiences. Yesterday Brad, who declined to have his surname published, hosted one of the strangest press conferences to be held in Adelaide, briefing the media at a notorious gay haunt in Veale Gardens  the scene of alleged pedophile offences by a sitting Labor MP.

Brad says he has no knowledge of the Labor MP but he detailed homosexual dalliances with a former Liberal MP between September 1984 and June 1985. He said he did not realise who the MP was until four years ago, when he saw him on television.

He also repeated claims he made to The Australian last month that he was drugged and raped by two police officers who were members of the notorious "Family" pedophile group. He said the two officers were not the same two named in documents released by Ms Utting and Mr Standfield last week.

Brad, who still frequents gay haunts, said he was "prepared to get into court and say what I've seen".

Mr Brindal said: "We should treat anyone who claims to be a victim with sympathy, but it doesn't mean we are obliged to believe every story we hear, even from someone who is a genuine victim.

"It's a little bit rum when someone I don't know and I can't identify accuses me of defamation."

A Government spokesman said neither Mr Foley nor Mr Atkinson would respond to "idle threats".


Remember New South Wales Parliamentarian, Franca Arena?

She tried to expose the Parliamentary pedophile cover-up conspiracy here in 1996, nine years ago.  Please take a look at the terrific summary provided by Victoria police corruption author Raymond Hoser. He also outlines what happened to whistleblower Alistair Gaisford when in 1996 he blew the lid on pedophile rings involving Australian diplomats in south-east Asia.

 

Please study what has been going on in Victoria which also strongly supports Mr. Lewis's stance.

and please see all our important updates of 2005


 
CHILD PROTECTION WATCHDOG INC
Press Release 9th April 2005
 
WHAT HAS THE ADVERTISER BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?
 
Wendy Utting has for several years publicly voiced her concerns about the serious offences she witnessed first hand in Yatala Prison (whilst working as a nurse).
 
Wendy has exposed the special privileges and protection given to the notorious Bevan Spencer Von Einem through correspondence with the correctional services minister Terry Roberts, radio stations and public speeches.
 
As a 'whistleblower', Wendy identified years ago that Von Einem was able to have pictures of young men on his cell wall and was able to have the 'pick' of the young men amongst other allegations.
 
The initial disclosure of this was to the minister for correctional services, police and to a radio station.
 
Three months later the only response was a police raid on Ms Utting's home, Pamela Ayling's home and the then ASCA office (Advocates for Survivors of Childhood Abuse). The reason? Apparently the raids were looking for documents regarding Peter Liddy and Von Einem allegedly missing from Yatala Prison.
No documents were found in any of the offices. Correctional services minister and police did not approach Ms Utting regarding her concerns about the goings on in the prison.
 
Once again another example of bullying the  'Whistleblowers' and victims. At no time was a statement taken from Ms Utting regarding her allegations.
 
On the 1st of April, just prior to the press conference held by Wendy Utting - Nigel Hunt (Reporter with The Advertiser) approached Ms Utting in the courtyard of Parliament.
 
Mr hunt requested Ms Utting's Curriculum Vitae (Resume) and when she questioned why he required it Mr Hunt said 'If you don't provide it I'll get it the hard way.' This conversation can be verified by a witness standing close by at the time.
 
Ms Utting expressed to several people that day she felt The advertiser were trying to 'vilify' her for speaking on behalf of victims of child abuse, yet they continuously showed little interest regarding the facts of allegations against an MP.
 
Seven days later (8th April) as if on a mission and true to past form the front page of The Advertiser has shown once again that they are the tool of the Rann Government by vilifying whistleblowers and victims of child abuse. This can clearly be seen by the lead story punishing Peter Lewis and the real story, a person who gave testimony at the Mullighan inquiry about an Ex senior MP paying him for sex was relegated to the back pages. The very next day another article vilifying both Ms Utting and Barry Stanfdfield. Calling Ms Utting a 'theft suspect' and advising the people of South Australia (only) that Mr Standfield has some outstanding court fines. This is clear and outright bullying by a handful of people seeking to silence the advocates.
 
Wendy Utting
Director
Child Protection Watchdog Inc.
0400025254
 
Michael Mormina
Research Media
Child Protection Watchdog Inc.
0412798418


 

Advertiser

Top squad on Lewis claims

April 10th, 2005

A CRACK police team of senior investigators has been assembled to deal with the pedophilia claims of former Speaker Peter Lewis and his volunteer advisers.

Police Commissioner Mal Hyde revealed the move on Friday amid staff concerns police resources were being diverted from other inquiries.

He also hit back at claims police were not treating pedophilia allegations seriously.

The investigation team comprises a superintendent and seven senior detectives and will be overseen by Assistant Commissioner Bryan Fahy.

Its job is to take over investigations from numerous police branches, including Anti-Corruption, Sexual Crimes and Electronic Crime, into sensational claims raised about public officials and sexual misconduct.

The Special Task Force is expected to take several weeks examining information from Mr Lewis and his volunteers. It has also seized documents in raids on the homes of the volunteers and a third person who have made claims about a serving MP, a former MP and two senior police officers.

"We've put together a Special Task Force, which is quite separate from the other areas," Mr Hyde said.

"We've drawn out things from the Sexual Crimes Investigation Branch; we've taken things from the Anti-Corruption Branch and we've also got to deal with the allegations against the police officers, and we've linked that in as well.

"Bryan Fahy will be responsible for all of it and it will be dealt with in one place."

His comments came as Police Association president Peter Alexander said officers had phoned his office concerned about the number of police diverted from current investigations to look at allegations not backed up by any real evidence.

"Complaints against police go with the patch, but this is beyond that," Mr Alexander said.

Earlier this month the claims of sexual misconduct by a serving MP were inflamed when two volunteers from Mr Lewis's office faxed documents to media outlets naming the MP, a former MP and two serving police as being involved in pedophilia.

The two officers have been moved to other duties in accordance with policy.

On Friday a former male prostitute named "Brad" said no action had been taken on information he provided to the Mullighan Inquiry about a former MP and a pedophile known as "Mother Goose".

But police said they had already interviewed Brad and had investigated his claims.

Mr Hyde detailed the number of past and current investigations being carried out by the various parts of the Sexual Crimes Investigation Branch.

"We've anticipated the changes and pressures in all of this and we started several years ago looking at how we handle serious sexual offences," he said.

"We did a comprehensive review and set up the Sexual Crimes Investigation Branch, and the Pedophile Task Force is part of that.

"We pressed for changes to the law, including the removal of the 1982 bar to prosecutions on historical cases.

"We've also pressed for stronger laws on mandatory reporting."

Mr Hayde said police had a strong liaison with the Mullighan Inquiry into Children in State Care.

But he warned that some people were looking for police to solve a problem they themselves could not solve.

"People should not expect police to deliver desired emotional and political outcomes without real evidence," he said.

"Often people are looking for a criminal investigation to identify something as a criminal offence when sometimes it isn't."


See how the police "special task force" in Victorian treated that state's similar case involving politicians, senior police and media personalities to name a few.

 


Advertiser

MPs investigated over pedophilia
April 10, 2005
From: AAP



A SPECIAL police task force has been set up to investigate allegations of pedophilia against a South Australian MP, a former MP and two police officers.
SA Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said the separate allegations were currently under investigation by different branches of the police force, but would all be brought together into one investigation.
The special task force takes the current, related investigations out of the Anti-Corruption Branch and the Sexual Crimes Investigation Branch, so they can all be dealt with in one area, Mr Hyde said in a statement.
Assistant Commissioner Bryan Fahy would lead the task force, with a team of one primary investigator and five other officers working under him.
The team would be separate to all other police branches, Mr Hyde said.
I understand the public interest in getting answers on the allegations raised, he said.
The special task force will work expeditiously, and I will release as much detail as possible on the outcome of their investigations.
SA's parliamentary Speaker Peter Lewis resigned last week, in the wake of a controversy stirred up when he went public with claims of a sitting pedophile MP in state parliament.
The previous week, volunteers working in his office - Barry Standfield and Wendy Utting - released statutory declarations to media organisations naming the current MP, a former politician and two senior police officers as alleged pedophiles.
The allegations against the sitting MP had been previously investigated by police in 2003 and found not to be substantiated, but were reopened after Mr Lewis claimed to have been provided with new evidence.
Meanwhile, a man who claimed the MP was a pedophile now says it was a case of mistaken identity, the ABC reported.
Craig Ratcliffe had previously claimed he had sex with a Labor MP in the 1980s, who he referred to as Terry.
Mr Ratcliffe said he saw the man in an Adelaide park last week and realised he was not the Labor politician he had previously identified.
We came across a guy who I know as of Terry and it definitely isn't that of the Labor MP - I do apologise to the Labor Party, he told the ABC.
I've spoken to his lawyers the other day and apologised to them and asked them to convey my apologies to the MP involved.
 


Advertiser

 DISGRACE:
Lewis MP sex witness admits he is wrong


11apr05

FORMER Speaker Peter Lewis should "hang his head in shame" after a key witness admitted allegations that a serving MP had been involved in homosexual activities in the south parklands were wrong, the State Government said yesterday.

The demand, including a call for Mr Lewis to publicly apologise, followed the shock revelation from Craig Ratcliff that he had "made a mistake".

But the Government stopped short of calling on Mr Lewis to resign from Parliament, saying it must await a full report from the police investigation into the allegations.

Ratcliff said yesterday his allegations that a serving politician was involved in illegal sexual conduct in the Veale Gardens were wrong.

"It was a case of mistaken identity," he said.

"I saw the guy in the park last weekend. I called out to him but he took off.

"I've tracked him down and (the likeness) is very close, just the hair colour is different.

"I didn't expect it all to get so big.

"Of course I'm sorry and I've passed on my apologies, through my lawyer, to Parliament."

The Advertiser revealed last month that Ratcliff – known as "Wayne" – was a convicted pedophile.

He was convicted in 1991 of seven counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old boy.

Deputy Premier Kevin Foley last night called on Mr Lewis to apologise for his "reckless behaviour" in publicly airing the allegations.

"Peter Lewis's role in this affair has been shameful," Mr Foley said.

"He should hang his head in shame.

"He is a wrecker and there are four families in SA who have been to hell and back thanks to his reckless behaviour and that of Wendy Utting and others. Peter should give a full apology to the Parliament and to the people of SA for his reckless behaviour in pushing these allegations into the public domain."

Ms Utting and Barry Standfield, volunteers in Mr Lewis's office, this month named a serving MP, a former MP and two senior police officers in faxed allegations about pedophilia.

Mr Foley said it was "time for this reckless behaviour to end" and said apologies should be forthcoming to the four individuals and their families.

"Apologies should be made from, for a start, Peter Lewis, Wendy Utting and others who have embarked upon a reckless, ill-informed crusade that has been not only undermining public confidence in our police force and Parliament but putting four families through sheer hell," he said.

Mr Lewis, the Independent MP for Hammond, resigned as Speaker last week, ahead of a no-confidence motion against him, following controversy surrounding the allegations.

When asked if Mr Lewis should resign from his seat, Mr Foley said: "I think there's a strong argument that he should retire from public life altogether but I think that will be up to Hammond at the next election.

"I personally couldn't care less about his future. But I am not going to get ahead of the process. I think that we need to have a completeness in the police investigation."

Mr Foley later clarified his position, saying: "As for (Peter Lewis's) future in Parliament, the Government awaits the police report with great interest and will make our views known quite clearly on receipt of that."

Mr Foley said Ratcliff's apology was "very late" and came after the damage had been done.

"This has been an ugly chapter in South Australia's history," he said.

"To have put these allegations into the public arena and for him now to be apologising and saying it's a case of mistaken identify is just quite appalling. Reckless, baseless allegations against police officers and politicians mean that four families have been to hell and back."

Mr Lewis did not return calls from The Advertiser last night.

Ratcliff's admission came as a special police taskforce was set up to investigate the claims of pedophile activity involving public officials.


 

 

WARDS OF THE STATE LITIGANT CHANGES STORY TO STAY IN LAW SUIT

11TH April 2005

by Michael Mormina

Child Protection Watchdog Inc.

 

A litigant in the Wards of State class action approached Peter Humphries (lawyer for legal firm Duncan Basheer Hannon) demanding that Craig Ratcliff be removed from the class action.

 

They stated their reason for this was that they believed Ratcliffs’ allegations against an MP known as ‘Terry’ would damage the case.

 

Ratcliff was then spoken to by Karen Hannon (of Duncan Basheer Hannon).

 

Within 48 hours, Craig Ratcliff went public to say that he may have been ‘mistaken’ about the identity of Terry. However in an earlier interview with Today/Tonight, he stated he had not seen any footage of the accused, only provided the footage to SA-POL and Federal Police.

 

Karen Hannon has also written to those who listened to the MP allegations, stating that she is acting for a client who says he has been criminally defamed by the then Speaker’s office volunteers, and Craig Ratcliff.

 

Karen Hannon has said in her letter that action is pending, however she is unable to identify her client, as it may defame him.

 

Legal advice is that the pursuance of the matter is almost impossible, unless the complainant can be identified, or those accused are unable to state their defence.

 

A clear conflict of interest, and certainly raises suspicions regarding the sudden change in claims made by Craig Ratcliff.

 

Another allegation is that a lawyer involved in this action ‘tipped off’ Channel 7 media regarding the retraction well before it was aired.

 

The fundamental factor is that the same claims were made by others, who approached the then Speakers’ office looking for the protection of parliamentary privelege.

 

Those people were directed to the Mullighan Inquiry, but unfortunately some died before getting there.

 

The sudden ‘retraction’ from Craig Ratcliff however does not explain the efforts by SA-POL to stop volunteers from the then Speakers’ office from continuing to speak with a Victorian Officer who stated more than once that he had received ‘photographic images’ of the MP

 

It remains questionable how the SA-POL officer was able to identify that contact had been made again with the Victorian officer and to block further communication only 2 hours after the phone call took place. Both the Victorian officer and the former Speaker received letters from the senior SA-POL officer almost immediately after the conversation, saying that no further communication was allowed.

 

Another alleged victim (Brad) who says he engaged in sex with a former MP when he was 15 says that he has never been interviewed by or had his claims investigated by Police , contrary to the claims made by Police in the Sunday Mail 10th April 2005.

 

Brad has also raised serious and legitimate concerns about another conflict of interest. Brad says that the person assigned by the Mullighan Inquiry to listen to his story (Danny Hyam) is also now known to him as the Police Associations’ most trusted lawyer.

 

As stated by ‘Brad’, it makes it almost impossible to trust giving evidence to the inquiry, particularly if allegations against past and former members of police are implicated.

 

That brings us back to ‘what is evidence’. According to the ongoing reports by the Advertiser and various Members of Parliament to name a few, statutory declarations and or witness statements are NOT classed as evidence, effectively dismissing the testimonies of hundreds of victims and or witnesses of child sex abuse.

 

If this is the case, then disgraced former Magistrate Peter Liddy may well be released, as his conviction was based solely on witness testimony.

 

What a sad state of affairs South Australia has led us into.

 

Which brings us back to the reality that Wendy Uttings’ determination to have the investigation dealt with by the Australian Crime Commission is not only the only sensible answer, it is imperative to protect those still alive who have made the allegations.

 

Michael Mormina


The Australian

Error won't stop 'pedophile' naming
April 11, 2005
From: AAP



A CONVICTED pedophile today claimed South Australian MPs were involved in child sex abuse, despite admitting a serving Labor MP he had previously named was innocent.
Craig Ratcliffe pledged to continue to out MPs and others involved in pedophilia.
"I'm not going to give up," he said on ABC radio.
"There are MPs, not only MPs but judicial people including even legal people, as well as high profile business people, that are tied up in this sort of behaviour.
"I will continue to fight on and stop that sort of behaviour in South Australia."
Mr Ratcliffe, who was convicted in 1991 of seven counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old boy, yesterday apologised to the Labor party and admitted he was wrong to have identified a Labor MP as a pedophile.
Mr Ratcliffe had previously claimed he had sex with the MP, who he referred to as "Terry", in the 1980s.
But yesterday, Mr Ratcliffe said it was a case of mistaken identity.
"After doing some surveillance work in one of the parklands we came across a guy I know of as Terry and it definitely isn't that of the Labor MP," he said.
"I do apologise to the Labor party."
Mr Ratcliffe told today's Advertiser in Adelaide the man and the MP looked very similar, but had different hair colours.
SA police have established a taskforce to investigate "complex and very sensitive" pedophile allegations against MPs and two high-ranking police officers.
Assistant Commissioner Bryan Fahy will oversee the investigation, which will also consider whether the four men have been criminally defamed.
All were named in statutory declarations faxed to media outlets around Australia on April 1 by child protection advocates Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield, who work voluntarily for independent MP Peter Lewis.
Mr Lewis was forced to resign as parliamentary speaker three days later, with Labor Premier Mike Rann labelling his unsubstantiated pedophilia allegations "a shameful abuse of power".
 


 

The Australian

 MP's sex claims examined

11apr05

 

SOUTH Australian police have been forced to establish a taskforce to investigate "complex and very sensitive" pedophile allegations made against a senior Labor MP, a former Liberal MP and two high-ranking police officers.

Assistant Commissioner Bryan Fahy will oversee the investigation, which will also consider whether the four men have been criminally defamed.

All were named in statutory declarations faxed to media outlets around Australia on April 1 by child protection advocates Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield, who work voluntarily for independent MP Peter Lewis.

Mr Lewis was forced to resign as parliamentary speaker three days later, with Labor Premier Mike Rann labelling his unsubstantiated pedophilia allegations "a shameful abuse of power".

Mr Fahy denied a conflict of interest, saying "we (police) investigate these matters all the time".

The two senior officers named have been moved to other duties, and the Police Complaints Authority will oversee investigations against them, Mr Fahy said.

The taskforce, due to complete its work in "several weeks", removed responsibility for investigations from the anti-corruption and sex crime investigation branches.

Six police will investigate the pedophile MP claims, initially reopened by the Anti-Corruption Branch on March 7, after claims new evidence was available.

"Police are still searching for evidence that's alleged to exist," Mr Fahy said.

In 2003, the Anti-Corruption Branch investigated allegations made against the Labor MP by convicted pedophile Craig Ratcliffe, but found they could not be substantiated. Police expressed concern about the mental state of Mr Ratcliffe, then police minister Kevin Foley said.

Ms Utting, Mr Lewis's volunteer staffer at the centre of the allegations, said she had confidence in the taskforce.

Police raided the homes of Ms Utting, Mr Ratcliffe and Mr Standfield last week, searching for evidence.

Ms Utting still insisted a national body should investigate, saying there were "multiple reasons why these allegations can't be handed in South Australia".

Mr Lewis said he had been told that the Australian Crime Commission would now take on the complaints against the police and MPs.

A month ago, Mr Lewis said eight people had contacted his office last year, alleging a MP had frequented a homosexual haunt in Adelaide's south parklands.

Two of the men have been murdered since they contacted Mr Lewis's office.

Mr Fahy said he had yet to receive advice sought from the Crown about accessing any documents about the pedophilia allegations at Mr Lewis's office.

The Government failed last week to pass a bill to allow police to raid his office, and to prevent Mr Lewis from naming the public officials under parliamentary privilege.

Mr Lewis said he had passed on "some evidence" to police in the form of sworn statements to retired judge Ted Mullighan, who is conducting a government inquiry into the sex abuse of state wards.

If the person who made the statement agreed, Mr Mullighan had the prerogative of handing it to the police, Mr Lewis said.


 

Sydney Morning Herald Editorial

A privilege doing MPs' business

 April 12th, 2005

 http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2005/04/11/1113071908923.html

 

In 1688 when the British Parliament dethroned James II and established political supremacy over the monarchy, its bill of rights became the fundamental, durable instrument of constitutional law. In article 9, the bill declared "freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament". In other words, MPs bestowed on themselves a right to say in Parliament what they liked, without putting themselves at risk of being sued for defamation. Understandably and appropriately, this absolute freedom of speech - the principle of parliamentary privilege - has persisted over the centuries, shored up by convention and statute and enjoyed by parliaments across the Westminster system.

Public tolerance of this parliamentary freedom is not always generously extended because some MPs who exercise it abuse it. They make unfounded or unsubstantiated allegations against other MPs or against individuals outside parliaments. Some allegations are vile and ruinous and often leave the accused without reasonable means of effective rebuttal. The preposterous claims of the former state MP Franca Arena of a criminal conspiracy among senior politicians, judges and others to protect high-placed pedophiles is an example. Another is the claim, subsequently withdrawn, by the senator Bill Heffernan that a High Court judge used a chauffeur-driven, taxpayer-funded limousine to lure youths for sex - an allegation built on a falsified limousine logbook. There have been many more instances of abuse, giving sustenance to the perception that parliaments sometimes are cowards' castles.

Now, the independent MP in the South Australian Parliament, Peter Lewis, has added to the tarnish, again on the subject of pedophilia. As the Speaker, Mr Lewis was the umpire of parliamentary behaviour and was about to dirty the playground by naming an MP he claims was a pedophile, although the allegation is now withdrawn by the original accuser.

The removal from the speakership of one so reckless as Mr Lewis might have been the end of it had anti-pedophilia activists on the Lewis staff not disgracefully released details of the allegations, and had the Rann Government not panicked, scrambling together a proposed law that would have turned off Mr Lewis's freedom of speech. Fortunately, the bill was defeated in the upper house, but the fact of its drafting is an awakening to the brittleness of freedoms taken for granted.

Parliaments need freedom of speech because they are the chambers in which the people, through the agitation of elected representatives, get to hear allegations that are often well grounded but still would not pass the test of exemption from defamation. Preventing abuse of privilege is the job of parliaments. But it should not be tackled by a method so open to abuse itself; that is, by applying legislation as if a tap can turn off privilege each time a parliament (and here, read "government") wants to silence a troublemaker MP. Parliaments need to instil in MPs a sense that great privileges come with stern responsibilities. Discipline and respect from the leaderships of governments and oppositions would be a good start.

 

(What a strange co-incidence that it's always high-society pedophilia at issue!)


Editorial

  The Australian 
Stick to the evidence on pedophile claims 12 April 2005


THE latest pedophile witch-hunt seems to be coming to an end in South Australia, with the usual results. People have had their reputations besmirched and accusations, made without apparent foundation, resonate through the community. Police are sidetracked into investigating amorphous accusations of pedophile plots in high places, while nothing new is done to improve the circumstances of children at risk of all sorts of harm. The pedophile who claimed a sitting state MP prowled an Adelaide park for illicit sex has now withdrawn the accusation, saying it was a case of mistaken identity. But other allegations, circulated by volunteer staff in the office of the former speaker of state parliament, Peter Lewis, who also gave them credence, remain. This whole affair demonstrates the damage people can do when they believe the justice of their cause permits them to make the most extraordinary accusations without substantial evidence. For the MP, and others who are accused, the risk is !
the mud will stick. When it comes to claims of pedophilia there will always be people willing to assume an absence of evidence is the result of a cover-up.
For his role in feeding this wretched rumour mill Mr Lewis has already rightly paid the price, resigning as speaker last week. But while it seems this witch-hunt is over, another will follow while self-selected crusaders are willing to believe that once they have decided people are guilty, no evidence is necessary to support their suspicions. The South Australian Government overreacted last week with its short-lived plan to remove the protection of privilege to stop Mr Lewis naming individuals in parliament. But it is easy to understand the reasons for the proposal. The importance of the fight against all sorts of violence against children cannot be over-estimated. But untrue allegations that a politician paid for sex with adolescents in Adelaide parks do not help the cause.
 


The Australian

Speaker remains unrepentant
By Tom Richardson
April 12, 2005


 

MAVERICK former South Australian speaker Peter Lewis insists there are credible claims to implicate a sitting Labor MP in pedophile activities, despite the most prominent whistleblower recanting his allegations.
Craig Ratcliffe, one of eight people who told volunteers working at Mr Lewis's office about an alleged pedophile MP, now claims his information may have been incorrect, citing "a case of mistaken identity".
He said he recently saw the man he knew as "Terry" in the notorious Adelaide gay haunt Veale Gardens, and realised he was not the politician he told Mr Lewis's office about.
However, he continues to insist that pedophilia is widespread in state parliament.
"There still are pedophiles in parliament - just not this particular MP," Ratcliffe said yesterday.
Mr Lewis remained steadfast yesterday amid government calls for him to apologise for the allegations made against the Labor MP, a former Liberal MP and two senior police officers, the names of whom were released to the media by his volunteer staffers Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield.
"Craig Ratcliffe's problems are his own," Mr Lewis said.
"He swore the truth of those remarks ... I accepted what he told me in good faith."
Mr Lewis said he asked Ratcliffe four times if he was "absolutely sure" of the identity of "Terry".
"He remonstrated with me for even bothering to question him," Mr Lewis said.
"Craig needs to seek some counselling, he really does. He needs some help."
While statements made to Mr Lewis's office have been passed on to the state's child abuse inquiry commissioner, retired judge Ted Mullighan, the credibility of Ratcliffe, a convicted pedophile, has long been a thorn in Mr Lewis's side.
"If his statement in the first place was not true, then why give more credence to the recantation of it?" Mr Lewis said.
He said Ratcliffe "has to accept the consequences" of swearing a false oath, however he denied the recantation was the last nail in his political coffin.
"(Ratcliffe) wasn't the first person to come to me," he said.
"He was one of those who made statements and provided information to my office - that information has gone to Ted Mullighan, and he will do with it what is appropriate."
Mr Lewis refused to relinquish his parliamentary seat, even if a police inquiry exonerates the accused MP.
"Why would I? I haven't done anything wrong," he said. "I just happened to be in the office of speaker when something happened on my watch. I decided to see if there were further corroborating stories, and there were."
Another whistleblower, known as Brad, who made allegations against a former Liberal MP last week, said Ratcliffe had "obviously been got at".
"He's not the only witness to make allegations against this particular MP," he said. "The fact that there's one down is a bit of a hit to the guts but, at the same time, Craig wasn't really known for his credibility."
South Australian Deputy Premier Kevin Foley said Mr Lewis "and his unfortunate support base" were undermining public confidence in the police and judiciary.
"Four individuals, four families, have been to hell and back, suffering the nightmare of smearing and allegations," Mr Foley said.
"Let's just let the police get on with their work."


Advertiser

 Now `witness' turns on Peter Lewis

April 14th, 2005

FORMER Speaker Peter Lewis's key witness in the pedophile MP allegations controversy last night turned on him, alleging he was asked to consider changing his story again.

Craig Ratcliff last night claimed he "felt pressured" by Mr Lewis and volunteer child abuse advocate Barry Standfield in a meeting on Monday night.

He said the pair had asked him to "reconsider his weekend statement" in which he recanted his allegations about a pedophile MP in Parliament.

That was denied last night by Mr Lewis, however, who said he had simply "advised Mr Ratcliff to tell the truth."

Mr Lewis said Mr Ratcliff had requested the meeting and he "would not detail the discussions that took place between them".

Mr Ratcliff denied he had asked for the meeting, saying Mr Standfield had rung him on Monday, stating he was "coming down and bringing someone with him".

Mr Lewis and Mr Standfield had arrived "about 9.30" and discussed the recanting of his statement.

He said the pair said to him: "You can't back off now, it has gone too far." "I was pretty annoyed about that, I don't mind saying," Mr Ratcliff said.

"I thought what the hell are they doing here, don't they understand I have done the right thing.

"I feel like a puppet. I have had a gutful of this . . ."

The allegation will place even more pressure on Mr Lewis to resign from State Parliament over his role in the political controversy.

He resigned as Speaker on April 4 to avoid being dumped in a no-confidence motion.

His resignation followed five weeks of debate after Mr Lewis raised allegations about a serving politician being involved in pedophile activities in the south parklands.

Mr Ratcliff, the supposed key witness who had made the allegations to Mr Lewis's office, recanted on Sunday, saying "it was a case of mistaken identity" and his allegations against the MP were wrong.

Mr Ratcliff said that at 4pm on Tuesday, he was driven to police headquarters in Flinders St by child abuse advocates Wendy Utting and Michael Mormina to see Anti-Corruption Branch detectives.

"I did make a statement to the police, but I cannot say what it was," Mr Ratcliff said.

Several hours earlier, Mr Mormina had taken him to see retired Justice Ted Mullighan to make a statement about his allegations.

He made a statement to Mr Mullighan – without Mr Mormina present – confirming he had recanted his allegations about the MP.

Mr Ratcliff said Mr Standfield had rung him on Tuesday night and again yesterday morning wanting to know what he had told police and Mr Mullighan in his interviews.

"I did not say anything to him (Standfield)," he said. "I have not changed my story. They are all saying I have changed my mind again. I have not and I am not going to."

Mr Ratcliff said he had wanted to speak to police earlier about his allegations, but had been advised not to by Mr Lewis's volunteers.

"I was basically told not to talk to police because they wanted to get federal police involved in it," he said.

He said he wanted it made clear that he had nothing to do with naming the police officers in other allegations made to Mr Lewis's office. Mr Standfield last night declined to comment on his visit to Mr Ratcliff on Monday night.

Police last night declined to comment on either the content of Mr Ratcliff's interview or the actions of Mr Lewis and Mr Standfield on Monday night. "The Special Task Force investigations are continuing and are a priority," a police spokeswoman said.

"Police acknowledge the public interest in these matters and will release as much information as possible at the conclusion of the investigations."


 Advertiser

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12860273%255E2682,00.html

`Tampering' twist in pedophile saga

15apr05

POLICE investigations into pedophilia allegations against a state MP could take in such issues as witness tampering, Parliament has been told.

Police Minister Kevin Foley said he did not want to comment on police operational matters but he assumed the actions of those involved in the campaign to "distribute, promulgate and advance these allegations would also be the subject of police inquiries".

"Issues such as witness tampering and, perhaps, issues of criminal defamation and false allegations are all issues of a criminal nature, but we do not know, and maybe it will not come to that," he said.

Mr Foley also said:

NO legal costs would be paid by the State Government regarding any allegations involving serving MPs or former MPs.

FORMER speaker Peter Lewis "should be taking some form of legal counsel himself".

Mr Foley said an unofficial request had been made to the Government regarding legal costs for serving police officers.

Two police officers, a current MP and a former MP were named as being involved in pedophile activities in faxes sent out to media outlets by volunteers who had been working in Mr Lewis's parliamentary office. Mr Lewis had asked Premier Mike Rann whether the Government intended to pay the costs of the legal action undertaken by the serving MP who was the subject of allegations of pedophilia, but Mr Foley answered.

"We will make a determination on that issue for serving police officers only, not for current or former MPs," he said.

The Advertiser reported yesterday that Mr Lewis's key witness in the pedophile MP allegations controversy had turned on him, alleging he was asked to consider changing his story again.

Craig Ratcliff claimed he felt pressured by Mr Lewis and volunteer child protection advocate Barry Standfield in a meeting on Monday night.

He said the pair had asked him to "reconsider his weekend statement" in which he recanted his allegations about a pedophile MP.

Mr Lewis has denied the claim, saying he simply advised Mr Ratcliff to tell the truth.

Mr Foley told Parliament he hoped the conclusion of police investigations into the allegations would "put to rest once and for all the most unseemly smear campaign ever conducted by an elected MP, his support staff and volunteers ever in the state's history".

"But one should not automatically assume that police investigations will simply be about the veracity of the allegations and I am talking only in terms of my personal view, because these are operational matters," he said.

Mr Foley said he assumed the actions of those involved in the campaign to distribute the allegations would also be the subject of police inquiries.

He said that matters appearing in The Advertiser on Thursday, in an article by Nigel Hunt, had led him to think that discussion of those might have some impact on police investigations. "I would like to take some counsel from the Police Commissioner," he said.


Man in court for killing 'informant'
 

April 21st, 2005
From: AAP



A MAN has appeared in an Adelaide court on a charge of killing a homosexual who had alleged a serving South Australian MP was a pedophile.

David Richard Fraser, who turned 34 today, was silent during his brief appearance in Adelaide Magistrates Court, charged with murdering Shaine Moore.

Mr Moore, 33, was found dead in his northern Adelaide house by police in February, 10 days after he had been reported missing.
Police had been searching for him to interview him as part of their investigation into the December murder of another gay man, Robert Woodland, at Veale Gardens in Adelaide.

Mr Moore was not a suspect in Mr Woodland's murder, but was one of several members of the gay community sought for interview in relation to the killing and other assaults at Veale Gardens, a known homosexual meeting place.

Following the deaths, former parliamentary speaker Peter Lewis revealed they had each contacted his office about an inquiry into the abuse of wards of the state.

Mr Lewis said the men had claimed a serving MP had been involved in illegal homosexual activities at Veale Gardens.
However, another man who made similar allegations to Mr Lewis, convicted pedophile Craig Ratcliffe, has since retracted his statements.

Mr Fraser, who is unemployed and lives at west suburban Hove, made no application for bail but his lawyer indicated bail may be sought at a later date.

He was remanded in custody to return to court in June.


Advertiser

10th May 2005

 


Ex-Speaker Lewis to stay on
10-05-2005
From: AAP



EMBATTLED independent MP Peter Lewis has vowed to stay on in the South Australian Parliament despite government calls for him to quit and criticism from the Premier that he has smeared innocent people.
A police investigation yesterday found that allegations of pedophilia, raised by Mr Lewis and two of his supporters against a sitting MP and two senior police officers, were without substance.
That prompted acting Premier Kevin Foley to call on Mr Lewis to resign from public office.
Premier Mike Rann, speaking from London, said the action of the former speaker was shameful.
"The former speaker has lost a lot of respect from a lot of people who have been loyal to him over many, many years," Mr Rann said.
"It's time for him to take a good look at himself.
"He's very quick to criticise others. Well, he's got to think about what he says and how that damages other people's reputations.
"What Peter Lewis did and what his supporters did was quite shameful and I think what we saw was a smearing of innocent people, including members of the police force and also, of course, a member of parliament."
Mr Foley said the police investigation brought an end to one of the ugliest chapters in South Australia's political history.
"Peter Lewis should do the honourable, decent thing now  publicly apologise to all that he has damaged so recklessly. He should leave public life, he should resign from parliament immediately," the acting Premier said.
But Mr Lewis said while he accepted the police had thoroughly examined the material before them they could not investigate what people knew who had since died.
He said he planned to stay on in Parliament.
"I'll still be the member for Hammond next week, next month, next year," he said.
Yesterday, Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said a rigorous police investigation into the claims had found no evidence to support the allegations.
"All possible avenues have been examined to identify evidence or confirm the veracity of the allegations," Mr Hyde said today.
He said the investigation files had been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions "to determine whether any person involved in raising these allegations should be charged with a criminal offence".

 


The Australian

May 10th, 2005

Rebel MP faces jail over claim
By Jeremy Roberts
 

 


FORMER parliamentary Speaker Peter Lewis may face jail for criminal defamation after a police investigation found no evidence to support his explosive allegations that a South Australian Labor MP was a pedophile.
Police yesterday referred files from their investigation to Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Pallaras QC, who will examine whether Mr Lewis and two of his volunteer staff, Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield, should be prosecuted.
Mr Lewis and his staff added to allegations made in March by convicted pedophile Craig Ratcliffe about the Labor MP. They alleged eight other people had made similar claims to them last year, four of whom had since been either murdered or attacked. Mr Ratcliffe later recanted.
Police reopened a 2003 investigation into the claims and asked for evidence from Mr Lewis and his staff, starting a month-long stand-off in which Mr Lewis attacked the integrity of the police and then successfully claimed parliamentary privilege when he failed to forward information to the investigation.
Yesterday, Police Commissioner Mal Hyde turned the tables on the former Speaker, declaring the investigation had not found any evidence to support the allegations and instead the files would be forwarded to the DPP to consider charges against Mr Lewis and his staff.
"The public record will confirm that allegations were made by the former Speaker in early March," Mr Hyde said.
"We are referring the files to the DPP for consideration as to whether or not any criminal offences have been committed by the persons who have raised these allegations."
Mr Hyde said he expected the DPP would consider the offences of abuse of office, criminal defamation and creating a false belief.
Mr Lewis's standing among MPs dropped during March and he resigned on April 4 before both sides of politics could vote him out of office.
Yesterday, Acting Premier and Police Minister Kevin Foley called on Mr Lewis to resign from parliament.
"Peter Lewis should do the honourable and decent thing now and publicly apologise for all who he has damaged so recklessly (and) should leave public life," Mr Foley said.
He said the episode had damaged the standing of the police, parliament and the Government, and was a warning for those "making baseless, wild allegations".
"The fact that the former speaker and Ms Utting and Mr Standfield are now the subject of consideration of criminal charges sends a very clear warning that nobody is beyond scrutiny and accountability," Mr Foley said.
The MP accused of the pedophilia has never been questioned by the media and yesterday his office declined to confirm if police had interviewed him as part of the investigation.
Also cleared yesterday were two high-ranking police detectives Ms Utting accused of being pedophiles in a written statement distributed to the media.
Ms Utting and Mr Standfield said yesterday they had no comment, and Mr Lewis said he would not resign and he did not expect to be prosecuted. "I am not guilty," Mr Lewis said.



The ADVERTISER

Pedophile link to 4th murder: Lewis

27may05

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,15419157%255E2682,00.html

AN Elizabeth man murdered in an execution-style shooting was the fourth person to be killed after alleging a state MP was a pedophile, former speaker Peter Lewis told Parliament yesterday.

The body of Walter Handley, 38, was found with a single bullet wound to the head in the Smithfield Sports and Social Club carpark on Wednesday.

Mr Lewis yesterday stunned Parliament when he said Mr Handley was an associate of Shaine Moore, 33, Robert Woodland, 36, and Jaynee Sheridan, 58.

All had claimed to have knowledge of – or to have been the victim of – an alleged pedophile MP.

"He, too, has just been murdered," Mr Lewis told Parliament.

I have not had conversations with him for six months or so, but I have tried to make contact with him lately to encourage him to take courage and to give statements of his knowledge to police.

"I say now to the House that there is a stench of the most heinous kind arising from these crimes and associated activities which comes right into this place and into the front bench."

Mr Lewis said other alleged victims of pedophilia he had spoken with had also been threatened with murder. Police, however, believe the likely motive for Mr Handley's murder was an outstanding debt.

"It may have been an issue regarding a debt that was outstanding," said Detective Superintendent Peter Woite from the Major Crime Investigation Branch.

Det-Supt Woite revealed Mr Handley was shot in the head in the carpark about 1.50pm on Wednesday. He died soon after being taken to Lyell McEwin Hospital.

Police last night would not comment on Mr Lewis's claims. Det-Supt Woite said Mr Handley, who was separated from his wife, is believed to have met his killer at the club. "It is not believed that the shooting was a random incident and his death has now been declared a major crime," he said.

Early investigations suggested the murder was not connected to other crimes, he said. Information so far "does not indicate it to be bikie gang-related" and there was no evidence to suggest drugs or the gay scene was involved.

"From information from some of the people in the near vicinity, it appears there may have been more than one vehicle in the vicinity," he said. Police had spoken to "a whole range" of the victim's associates in their investigations.

For operational reasons, he would not disclose if the victim was armed or was in possession of money.

The type of gun used in the shooting is not known, and police could not confirm how many shots were fired.

There were no witnesses to the murder. Anyone with information about people or vehicles in the vicinity of the club between 1.30pm and 1.50pm on Wednesday should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000


http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/catalog/hansard/2005/ha/wh260505.ha.htm

South Australia hansard

MEDIA, ALLEGED MISREPRESENTATION

 

The Hon. I.P. LEWIS    The Hon. I.P. LEWIS (Hammond): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

     Leave granted.

     The Hon. I.P. LEWIS: Not only have I been misrepre­sented but I will subsequently need leave on the next day of sitting to deal with that misrepresentation in precis form, but sufficiently detailed to be valid and relevant. I will have to do it then because I am not emotionally or physiologically able to do it now. I have been misrepresented in the media reports of my remarks at the Press Club last Friday and by some mischief which has arisen in consequence of a decision taken by police after I had discussions with a police officer following my address to that luncheon, in which he told me that he had no reason to believe that I had done or said anything wrong or requiring further investigation but which has resulted in the police raid on the ABC yesterday.

     These matters arise from the reported activities of paedophiles made to my office by people who were victims or who claimed knowledge of such activities. The reason for my brittleness and rage now is that one of those people who made calls to me personally during the last year and who, in the course of those conversations in confidence, told me of his recent acquaintance and friendship with others who claimed knowledge and/or claimed to be victims of the activities of an MP paedophile and are now dead, have been joined by him. He, too, has just been murdered today.

     I have not had conversations with him for six months or so, but I have tried to make contact with him again lately to encourage him to take courage and to give statements of his knowledge to police. I have had conversations with still others, such as members of the Aboriginal sobriety group, who like him are victims and have been threatened with murder in the past. I have never been distressed in this fashion on news of a death, not even the death of either of my parents, nor when facing death or torture myself, to the extent that I am now.

     I say now to the house that there is a stench of the most heinous kind arising from these crimes and associated activities which comes right into this place and into the frontbench, and in other high places also, which cannot be solved by Ted Mullighan's work and anything else on foot in South Australia at the moment. The ambit of the inqui­ries—

     The SPEAKER: Order! The member is going beyond a personal explanation.

     The Hon. I.P. LEWIS:—and the power to make them is not there. May God rest the souls of those who have been murdered and may God forgive those in this place who could have prevented it had they dealt honestly, frankly and sincerely—

     The SPEAKER: Order! The member is going beyond a personal explanation. Leave will be withdrawn.

     The Hon. I.P. LEWIS:—in the public interest and have chosen to put their self interest and survival ahead of the lives of those—

     The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. This is clearly going beyond a personal explanation, sir.

     The SPEAKER: The honourable member is going beyond a personal explanation, which must refer to an aggrieved situation involving himself. I think the honourable member has made that point.

     The Hon. I.P. LEWIS: Mr Speaker, we need a royal commission in South Australia, and we need it now.

     The SPEAKER: Order! That is not a personal explan­ation. I understand the honourable member's personal situation, but I think he has had the opportunity to explain how he may have been aggrieved. However, he should not go beyond that.


 ADVERTISER

Last words of a haunted man

JUNE 25th, 2005

A VALUABLE missing coin collection and Steve Williams' desire to help victims of childhood abuse are at the centre of the latest theory into the disappearance of the former bikie boss.

Eleven days have passed since the former president of the state chapter of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club went missing.

Theories behind his disappearance and suspected death include retribution from other bikie gangs, or that it was at the hands of Jokers members.

A desire to silence Williams from voicing "bombshell" claims in relation to pedophilia in Adelaide also has been put forward by concerned friends as a motive for his possible murder.

Williams' friend and the man writing his biography, Arthur Veno, believes the bikie is dead.

"I have no doubt but why now? Who and why? It's just speculation," Dr Veno said yesterday. "It could just as easily be retribution, now he no longer had the support of the club."

Several sources, however, have told The Advertiser Williams had been organising a meeting with police to set up a deal for the recovery of valuable property alleged to have been stolen from former magistrate and convicted pedophile Peter Liddy.

Sources say their last conversations centred around property including a coin set.

One dismissed the conversation but was struck by how passionately Williams was in wanting to discuss the matter further. They say he was offered several items including ornamental swords, paintings and coins allegedly by those who stole them and "bragged about where they got them".

Other sources claim Williams told them he wanted to help Liddy's victims.

"He'd had a rocky childhood, he carried a lot of blame and hated pedophiles," a source said.

"He wouldn't go straight to the police because he didn't trust them. He thought they were involved in taking other stuff from the property that went missing – photographs and videotapes, and that there were too many big players involved."

One source claims to have been leaked a list of assets from Liddy's house that was used to crosscheck with the stolen property to confirm its legitimacy.

"(The police officer) was going to organise a buy with Steve," the source said.

It has been alleged that when Williams handed over the goods he would drop a bombshell exposing what he describes in his last written communication as "a group of bent and powerful men, abusing, terrorising and f..king our children".

Relatives, friends and associates of Williams, 39, say while he has been known to lie low before, his complete lack of contact is out of character.

On Tuesday, June 14, Williams was dropped off at his car at the Gepps Cross Hotel by a work associate. He is believed to have driven to visit a relative who described him as being "distracted" during the hour-long visit. It was the last known contact he had with anyone.

His partner, Alena Skipper, reported him missing on Thursday, June 16, after he failed to contact her and missed a scheduled visit with his daughter Blayze, 13.

His car was found that day abandoned at the same northern suburbs hotel. It was impounded and forensically tested before police announced his disappearance as a major crime.

Detectives are working with Avatar, the anti-biker taskforce, and Holden Hill CIB.

The outspoken bikie handed in his club colours last year after being voted out as leader of the outlaw motorcycle club. He had been voted in to fix the club after the notorious Beachport brawl with police during the Jokers' 2001 Christmas club run.

Suggestions he has gone to ground are met with scepticism by those who know Williams well. They say he would never go for so many days without contacting anyone – particularly Blayze.

A poem penned in March for a planned biography – another source of threats against Williams – describes his recent attitude and illustrates how driven he was to have his day in court. He was due in court in August being sued by Star Group officers over the Beachport brawl and friends say he had become focused on the appearance – curbing his drinking and gathering his thoughts, performing community service and working odd jobs.

While many thought the focus was the Beachport brawls, others say Williams was intent on exposing a corrupt system.

"The legacy gives meaning for my struggle and an example for others resisting the system and its abuses," he wrote in the poem, Rider in the Storm. "My trial for whipping the copper turds might help bring down these state terrorist bastards known as The Family spreading fear and hopelessness to the vulnerable in the community, with immunity from laws, rules and morality."

Close friend Stormy Summers said: "Right now his kid wants to feel like she's doing something. She wants her dad and if he's dead, we will accept that, but she needs to be able to lay him to rest."

Blayze's mother, Kim Asling, said Williams leaving the Jokers was him fulfilling a promise he made to his daughter.

"He always said when she was a teenager, he would be out of the club, that he would be just another citizen. He was fulfilling that promise," Ms Asling said.

Williams' departure from the club followed what Premier Mike Rann called a "bizarre publicity stunt". But it was a calculated move in Williams' bigger picture.

At a time when bikies were being blamed for "rape after rape, murder after murder" by the politicians, Williams gave those who usually had no recourse, stuck behind a strict code of silence, a voice.

During his time in the Jokers, Williams changed, with his focus ultimately leading to the vote of no confidence. In his poem, Williams says "the fellas had no choice but to let me go".

Whatever lay behind his disappearance, Williams saw his upcoming court appearance as his last stand. "Being free at last, that's my dream I'll do the trial even if it kills me fast," he wrote in the poem.

"Before this freedom comes to relieve me. I gotta be strong for my last stand on August three. Man I hope this dream turns to reality."

Outside of bikie and underworld connections, Williams was a loving and protective father.

He said he did not understand love until he watched his daughter grow.

Blayze said her father would "do his hair like mine" brushing it back so there "were no bubbles, like I showed him".

"He would blow glass shapes and bend them into things for me, then he'd blow too hard and mess it up and he'd just start all over again," Blayze said.

She remembered the father who showed up in a suit to her primary school graduation when other parents dressed casually because, he said at the time, "it's my daughter's graduation".

 Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.


ABC News Online

Last Update: Thursday, September 1, 2005. 7:33pm (AEST)

Ex-speaker stands by former workers

South Australia's former parliamentary speaker, Peter Lewis, is standing by his former staffers who have been charged with criminal defamation.

The charges relate to the naming of politicians and police in paedophilia allegations.

Police today charged Wendy Utting, 35, and Barry Standfield, 64, with several counts of criminal defamation.

It is alleged the pair released documents to the media in April naming a current MP, a former politician and two police officers allegedly involved in paedophilia.

Ms Utting says she is angry.

"If you accuse someone who is of high standing and you can't prove it you're absolutely screwed," she said.

Mr Lewis was forced to resign after sustained criticism for raising the allegations.

He is standing by the pair and says he does not think he will face charges.

"Why would I be?" he said.

Craig Ratcliff, 44, has also been charged.

He has previously denied allegations that he published one of the politician's names on his website.

In May, a police special task force found no evidence to support the paedophile claims.


ABC News Online

'Paedophile MP' accuser unfazed by defamation charges

One of the informants in the scandal about an alleged paedophile MP in South Australia says he is unfazed by being charged with criminal defamation.

Craig Ratcliff is charged with three counts in connection with two statutory declarations and a television interview in which he named the serving MP.

The 44-year-old has since retracted the allegations, saying it was a case of mistaken identity.

Ratcliff says he is looking forward to his day in court next month.

"I have no problems about it, I'm sort of glad," he said.

"I'm really glad this has come out. I think that it's going to open up a different set of can of worms."

Two volunteers in the office of the former Speaker, Peter Lewis, have also been charged with five counts each of criminal defamation.

It is alleged Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield released documents naming a serving MP, a former politician and two police officers as allegedly being involved in paedophilia.


Speaker's staff charged over claims

By Lauren Ahwan

September 1st, 2005

From: AAP

 

TWO volunteer workers for former South Australian parliamentary speaker Peter Lewis have been charged with criminal defamation after naming two politicians and two police officers as pedophiles.

Former staff members Wendy Utting, 35, and Barry Standfield, 64, along with a 44-year-old man from Adelaide's western suburbs, have been summonsed to appear in court next month.

Ms Utting and Mr Standfield have each been charged with five counts of criminal defamation, while the other man faces three counts of criminal defamation.

The charges follow investigations by a police task force into claims by Mr Lewis earlier this year that there was a pedophile MP in the South Australian Parliament.

Mr Lewis did not identify the MP, but Ms Utting and Mr Standfield later released statutory declarations to the media naming a current Labor MP, a former Liberal MP and two senior police officers as alleged pedophiles.

A police task force into the claims found no evidence that any of the four named in the statutory declarations had been involved in pedophilia.

Mr Lewis, who has not been charged, was forced to resign as parliamentary speaker in April over the allegations.

The charged trio are due to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on October 5.


The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16464026%255E2702,00.html

MP's staff charged with defamation
Jeremy Roberts
September 2nd, 2005



TWO volunteer staff members of former South Australian speaker Peter Lewis have been charged with criminal defamation after naming politicians and police officers as pedophiles.

It is the first time these charges have been laid in South Australia for 45 years.

The three figures in the controversy, Wendy Utting, 35, Barry Standfield, 64, and self-styled whistleblower Craig Ratcliff, 44, have been summonsed to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court next month.

It is understood the DPP recommended not to prosecute Mr Lewis. The charges follow investigations by a police taskforce into claims by Mr Lewis earlier this year that there was a pedophile MP in state parliament.

The trio, who face up to three years' jail, are the first defendants in a criminal defamation case since Rupert Murdoch took the stand in 1960 to successfully defend News Limited and the editor of Adelaide's The News, Rohan Rivett, against claims the chief justice had been libelled.

Mr Lewis and the three defendants all claimed that a Labor MP was a pedophile and had frequented a notorious gay beat for under-age sex.

The claims were given an explosive urgency when all four linked them to three murders and an assault of the people from whom they had received the original claims.

None claimed to have first-hand knowledge of the so-called "pedophile MP" but the media coverage forced politicians to comment on the existence of the MP and any link to a serial-murder plot.

Police Commissioner Mal Hyde in April launched an anti-corruption investigation into the claims. It failed to find any evidence.

Instead, the investigation soon turned on its chief informants, with Ms Utting's and Mr Ratcliffe's houses searched. Mr Lewis claimed parliamentary privilege to prevent a search of his offices.

In May, Commissioner Hyde announced that briefs were being forwarded to the DPP for consideration of criminal charges for defamation, or the lesser charges of creating a false belief or abuse of office. Central to the police case will be the faxing of a letter penned by Ms Utting which named the MP, a former Liberal MP, and two serving police officers as pedophiles.

The letter was addressed to the commissioner into the sex abuse of state wards, Ted Mullighan, but was faxed to media on April 9. Ms Utting denies that she faxed the letter. "I wasn't even in (Parliament House) when it was faxed and records of my electronic pass will show that," Ms Utting said.

She said the prosecutions would "scare away" others concerned about sex abuse by "high-profile" people. "If you act on behalf of victims and publicise allegations against high-profile people, then you find yourself on charges," she said.


Ms Utting and Mr Ratcliffe also swore statutory declarations which named the MP and made them available to the media.

Defamation barrister Paul Heywood-Smith QC said the accused could attempt to prove the truth of their claims, but this was a high-risk strategy. "Truth is a lawful excuse but the onus is on them and if they fail they would likely face a harsher penalty," Mr Heywood-Smith said.

University of South Australia law academic Rick Sarre said the prosecution would need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants were deliberately malicious or reckless with their untrue statements and would irreparably harm those they named.


Sunday Mail (Adelaide Advertiser)

ABUSE CLAIMS PROBED

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19129750%255E910,00.html

May 14th, 2006



A PROMINENT Adelaide legal identity has been accused of having sex with under-age males.

The Mullighan inquiry has been told by a former street kid that the legal identity picked him up at a notorious gay beat and paid him for sex.

The Sunday Mail is unable to publish details of the man's identity – or his job – after an urgent application by his lawyers before Commissioner Ted Mullighan, QC, on Friday.

Mr Mullighan suppressed the submissions made by Michael Abbott, QC, who was engaged by the man several hours earlier.

Mr Abbott's application was made under Section 9 of the Commission of Inquiry (Children in State Care) Act 2004, which relates to confidentiality and disclosure.

The witness gave a lengthy statement in February to Mr Mullighan, who is heading the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry, implicating the legal identity in the alleged conduct.

The 109-page transcript of his evidence also names several of the legal identity's associates who were also allegedly involved in activity with street kids.

One of those named is still a police suspect in one of the so-called "Family" murders, another a well-known lawyer and one a former Correctional Services officer. Besides naming those involved in the alleged activity, the witness also told Mr Mullighan of several suburban locations where street kids picked up at gay beats were taken for sexual encounters.

The transcript, provided to the Sunday Mail by the witness, gives a detailed account of how the legal identity picked him up in Veale Gardens, took him to his home and gave him alcohol and food before their sexual encounter.

He later dropped him back at Veale Gardens and paid him $5 for their encounter – telling him to "get yourself a feed".

The witness, now in his 40s, says in his evidence he only had the one sexual encounter with the legal identity – which occurred in 1979 – but saw him at gay beats numerous times following it.

Mr Mullighan, who a fortnight ago publicly said he had received a considerable amount of evidence relating to pedophile rings, declined to comment on the witness's statement.

However, he said the inquiry had taken evidence from many witnesses who had provided information about such activity.

SAPOL Sex Crimes Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Detective Superintendent John Venditto also declined to comment, other than to say the "Pedophile Task Force works closely with the Commission and will thoroughly investigate all referrals".

The Sunday Mail has learned the legal identity was questioned at length by Major Crime detectives during their investigations into the murder of teenager Richard Kelvin, 15, in 1983.

Bevan Spencer von Einem was subsequently charged with his murder and convicted in 1984 and is serving a life sentence with a 24-year non-parole period.

The legal identity was not questioned as a suspect in the Kelvin case, but because of his association with the man who remains a suspect.

In his evidence to Mr Mullighan, the witness says he was introduced to another lawyer – who was also quizzed by Major Crime detectives because of his homosexual activities and associates – at the home of the legal identity.

According to the witness, the legal identity told his lawyer friend: "I just picked this one up at the beat."

He also details numerous meetings, their circumstances and locations where he became involved with the other men who used street kids as young as 14 for sex.

One such encounter occurred in the premises of the man who remains a police suspect in the Kelvin murder.

The witness, who asked only to be identified as John, told the Sunday Mail this week he realised at the time the legal identity who picked him up was "different to the other men who used to pick me up down there".

John said he was convinced to contact the Mullighan inquiry by a friend who knew of his background.

"I went because what may be irrelevant to me may well be a piece of valuable information to the inquiry and what it is doing," he said.

"I may be gay, but any form of child abuse is abhorrent to me."

John said he had "no doubt" the group of men were involved with a well-organised pedophile ring.

"They need to be brought to justice," he said.

"They think because of their positions they can get away with it, even though it was a long time ago. Once upon a time you could hide that sort of conduct because no one really cared much about it, but things are different now."

The legal identity declined to comment yesterday.

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said the State Government believed that any claims of pedophilia should be "fully investigated by police".

To contact the inquiry, phone 1800 258 668 (freecall) or email cisc@statecareinquiry.sa.gov.au


Adelaide Advertiser

Pedophile $4m liability
by COLIN JAMES
17may06

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,19161539,00.html



THE Anglican Church says it will have to borrow money to pay an estimated $4 million in compensation to victims of a pedophile church official who committed suicide in 1999.

Anglican Archbishop Jeffrey Driver last night said most of the 36 compensation claims by victims of former Church of England Boys Society campsite supervisor Robert Brandenburg had been settled out of court.
The victims launched a class action against the church after a judicial inquiry found Brandenburg had sexually abused members of the Boys Society over several decades.

The Advertiser understands only two of the claims have yet to be settled, with the remaining 34 victims accepting payments of around $100,000 each.

The payments have been made by the church's Adelaide Archdiocese, Archbishop Driver last night confirming that "firm offers of compensation have been made and accepted". He said the church was now examining how it would pay for the compensation payments and the legal costs of the Brandenburg affair.

The Advertiser has been told by senior Anglicans that intense financial pressure has been mounting over the payments since the Anglican Synod voted last October not to sell the archbishop's official residence, Bishop's Court, in North Adelaide.

The church instead decided to sell a beachfront property at Port Elliot known as St Lukes for $8 million. It had been owned by the Church of England Boys Society and donated to the church.

Senior officials also have been pressuring Anglican charity Anglicare to help cover the compensation payments as it employed Brandenburg as a campsite supervisor.

But this has angered some Anglicans, who have told The Advertiser they do not believe the charity should be left financially disadvantaged when the diocese has extensive property holdings.

Archbishop Driver last night said that "cuts will not be made in the diocese's welfare ministry" and that the closure of churches had been ruled out.

"The costs will be shared within the diocese, but I do not expect that any church will be closed as a result of this," he said.

Insurance was not available as the church had been covered by HIH Insurance, which collapsed several years ago, he said.


Adelaide Advertiser
MP defamation case to continue
Article from: TODD CARDY

August 10, 2007

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22221585-2682,00.html

TWO CHILD protection campaigners accused of defaming a South Australian MP have lost a bid to have court action against them permanently halted.

Wendy Utting and Barry Standfield each face six counts of criminal defamation for allegedly wrongly naming a serving politician as a pedophile.

The pair are accused of repeating claims to journalists in March 2005, allegedly made by convicted paedophile Craig Ratcliff, that a Labor MP had been videotaped having sex with a boy.

South Australian Supreme Court justice Margaret Nyland today dismissed an application for a permanent stay of proceedings and ordered the case to proceed as soon as possible.

But a trial may be delayed with Standfield's defence lawyer, Allon (Allon) Reeves, today requesting to withdraw from the case because of a funding disagreement with the SA Legal Aid Commission.

Mr Reeves told the court the commission would not fund senior counsel representation for Mr Standfield, a decision which has angered his client.

"We have basically all of the resources of the state on the prosecution side and on our side we have very meagre resources in a matter which is fundamental to the way our state operates," Mr Standfield told the court.

"I think this is a grave injustice that is being carried out on me at the moment."

Utting and Standfield are accused of naming the politician, along with two senior police officers and another Liberal politician, as paedophiles in a statutory declaration sent to media outlets.

The names were never published and have been suppressed for the defamation case.

The charges against Utting and Standfield were thrown out in the Adelaide Magistrates Court last August but the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) relodged the charges in the higher Supreme Court.

Justice Nyland has reserved her decision on whether to allow Mr Reeves quit the case.


 


 


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