The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 39

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1997 News Review 39 r3 Co Hk Franca Arena's claims of a pedophile conspiracy in high places have been comprehensively demolished and her future is now under a cloud. MALCOLM BROWN reports. but by then it was generally understood that information about pedophiles had been disseminated to various authorities, such as the Child Protection Enforcement Agency (CPA). Arena, who had not responded to requests from the royal commission to give it information or appear before it, received adverse mention. On September 17, Arena dropped her bombshell, suggesting in Parliament that there had been two meetings, one between Carr and Collins on March 21 last year and another between Carr, Sheahan, Delia Bosca and other senior ALP figures three days later.

She suggested that the wheels had been set in motion to protect high-profile pedophiles at the inquiry and that Justice Wood had been approached. She said she had had information from security staff at Parliament House that the latter meeting had taken place, on the Sunday night. The inquiry left no detail uncovered. It moved rapidly to demolish of her case. Mitchell's story was found to be speculative and in any case, according to his evidence, he had told Arena twice in advance of her speech that no meeting between Carr and Collins had gone ahead.

No parliamentary security staff could be found by the Nader inquiry to say that there had been anything in their experience to suggest there was a meeting. A highly irritated Justice Wood rejected the idea that he had been part of a conspiracy. His assertion that the royal commission had been conducted in an entirely ethical arm's length from government, was supported by his senior counsel assisting, Gary Crooke, QC, and Bergin. Superintendent John Hes-lop, commander of the CPA, told Nader this week that more than 100 investigations were in progress by the agency's central unit and several hundred were being carried out by 17 other teams throughout the State. Investigations had been conducted into material supplied by the royal commission and charges had arisen in relation to people mentioned in the royal commission report.

"A couple" had been finalised but the majority, "a substantial were before the court. Franca Arena, above, and inquiry chairman John Nader, left. 'Strident ff'CJ denunciations IS normal in royal commissions, or inquiries of any kind, for a degree of Bar table tension to be apparent among lawyers taking different view of things. This was not so in the Special Commission of Inquiry conducted over the last two weeks by John Nader, QC, in the dusted-up and recently fumigated hearing room behind the Old Mint Building in Mac-quarie Street. As Michael Adams, QC, an imposing figure, launched on Thursday into a total demolition of ALP MLC Franca Arena, arguing that there was absolutely, completely, utterly no conspiracy to cover up for high-profile pedophiles, the rest of the Bar table was a study in poker-faced acquiescence.

And yesterday, four Queen's Counsels lashed out, seeming to want to outdo each other in hyperbole to sink the credibility of the MLC: John McCarthy, representing the Premier; Maurice Neil, for the Opposition Leader, Peter Collins; Peter Hall, for Justice Terry Sheahan, and Greg James, for the Labor Party's NSW branch general secretary, John Delia Bosca. The clean-cut Brett Walker, SC, representing the former Police Royal Commissioner, Justice Wood, was hardly to be outdone, beginning his submission by saying Arena had been "cowardly" and 23 Main photograph by RICK STEVENS would be no helter-skelter naming, because it was not the royal commission's role to do that, and doing so would prejudice those very inquiries and prosecutions. Arena remained unsatisfied. In October last year, she argued within Caucus for a major extension of the royal commission's terms of reference to make it go after pedophiles. Carr resisted, on grounds that he did not want the royal commission to become a police force.

On October 31, Arena stood up in Parliament and named David Yeldham as a prominent person being unfairly protected by the royal commission. Yeldham, who was under investigation by the royal commission and had been interviewed, decided to end it all, an act undoubtedly hastened, or provoked, by Arena. The royal commission's final report, on its pedophilia reference, was released on August 26, It did not name individuals, cessfully sought representation at the Nader inquiry, said she believed the State's politicians, by forcing the inquiry, had made themselves "virtually unaccountable, having got rid of the one person in Parliament pledged to 'keeping the bastards "The proper checks and balances have been removed by the discrediting of the one person prepared to speak out she said. People went to her because nobody else, not even the royal commission, would listen to them." if, for Arena, the worst comes to worst, it will be the culmination of a long saga. The royal commission's inquiry into pedophilia was always going to be rough.

Individuals, including former judge David Yeld-ham and a school principal accused of failing to act on complaints about a schoolteacher, committed suicide. Journalist Alex Mitchell wrote a Sun-Herald story, on which Arena later relied, suggesting prominent people would be "outed" and that a meeting had been planned between Carr and Collins to consider a bipartisan approach to the problem. Justice Wood made several statements that the royal commission was not on a witchhunt, that it was restricted by its terms of reference to inquire into alleged police protection of pedophiles. He said nobody would be protected by reason of reputation or status. Paddy Anne Bergin, his counsel assisting handling the pedophile reference, was to tell the Nader inquiry that the very prominence of an alleged pedophile was reason for the royal commission to look seriously at that person, because of the greater possibility of that person being able to use influence not to be investigated of prosecuted.

Information on pedophiles would be sent to the appropriate authorities for continuing inquiry and prosecution. There at the inquiry may signal thefe!) of ing and suffered a severe political setback. Arena has her supporters in the general community. In its November edition, Family News, edited by the Rev Fred Nile, features a photo of Arena having her hand held aloft by Nile at a rally in October supporting the rights of the child to be free from abuse. If the inquiry signals the end of Arena's career, there will be many dissatisfied that she has been given justice.

Lawyer-by-qualification Kate Wentworth, who unsuc Her speech in Parliament on September 17 naming Carr, Justice Wood, Collins, Justice Sheahan, formerly NSW branch president of ALP and now a judge of the Land and Environment Court, and Delia Bosca as parties to a conspiracy to cover up the public identification of high-profile pedophiles, had been "full of There had been no evidence supporting Arena. The only sound of dissent during the submissions was a groan from the public gallery when Adams endorsed a statement by Carr that she had been motivated by malice after failing to get the numbers to be elected to Cabinet. Arena, having unsuccessfully challenged the validity of the inquiry in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court, the Appeal Court and the High Court of Australia, had also gone back on her statement that she would appear before the inquiry if its validity was upheld. She withdrew her representation and did not respond to appeals by Nader himself to appear, in the interests of natural justice, to respond to damning submissions about her. The strident denunciations of Arena, which are likely to be reflected in Nader's finding, expected towards the end of next week, may signal the fall of Franca.

In fact, Walker submitted yesterday that she should be removed from Par- liament. It is not within the power of the special commission of inquiry to make any findings along those lines, but the parliamentarians can. Certain politicians are known in the last week to have been canvassing that possibility, something which will be greatly helped along by the predicted adverse report from Nader. Hit by ill-health, facing a legal bill of $245,000, Arena looks likely to join ALP MP Deirdre Grusovin as a politician who grasped the pedophilia nettle, was found want r1 hf I 1 1 1 II 11 Lnl il IWyl 1 1 jJU VA WMW MOT fttgKL Today's the day, seize it and get your entry in now. $15million Tonight and $2million on Wednesday November 5.

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