The NSW Police Commissioner has flicked the investigation into the forged Angus Taylor documents to the Australian Federal Police. Probably due to that fact that the commission of this unlawful act (i.e. forging the documents with the intention to deceive) appears to have taken place in the Australian Capital Territory – possibly in the office of the minister – and thus it’s a matter of jurisdiction so the AFP get the guernsey so to speak.
If you remember, Angus Taylor came into possession of some altered or forged documents which he stated came form the website of the Sydney City Council and he still maintains that even though it has been shown not to be the case on numerous occasions. Taylor’s documents showed that SCC had spent Millions ($15.9 million) on overseas travel for Councillors when, in fact, all of the published reports from SCC – including those online – showed that it was more like six thousand dollars.
When young Angus was originally provided with this fake information he couldn’t wait to do a hit job on the SCC and in particular Mayor Clover Moore. In his excitement, he wrote to Moore castigating her for the profligacy of her Council and he made sure he copied in the Daily Telegraph who ran with the story piling on to the Sydney Mayor : interestingly neither Taylor or the Tele bothered to check the accuracy of these figures or the authenticity of the documents – Rupert would you care to comment on journalistic standards within your media organisation ?
No ! I didn’t think so.
So, if this is a federal matter and thus coming under the jurisdiction of the AFP, it follows that it will probably be dealt with under the federal Criminal Code Act 1995. That being the case, it seems that section 144 would not be inappropriate :
144.1 Forgery
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person makes a false document with the intention that the person or another will use it:
(i) to dishonestly induce a third person in the third person’s capacity as a public official to accept it as genuine; and
(ii) if it is so accepted, to dishonestly obtain a gain, dishonestly cause a loss, or dishonestly influence the exercise of a public duty or function; and
(b) the capacity is a capacity as a Commonwealth public official.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years.
So, you may say it should be reasonably simple to bring the culprit to justice – it has already been reported that the person responsible was a Liberal party political operative [not a public servant] within the minister’s office – and be done with this matter.
Under the Westminster system of ministerial accountability, you would normally expect that when the forgery and deception has been exposed and the culprit(s) dealt with under our judicial system, the minister responsible would resign. But there’s a snag which you may, as an alert follower of Australian conservative politics, have identified.
You got it in one !
The minister responsible for the Australian Federal Police just happens to be good mates with minister Taylor and whilst this should not in any way influence the outcome of this independent enquiry and I wouldn’t suggest that for a moment, I will wager London to a brick that this matter will be buried and that there will be no prosecutions and no resignations and no humble apologies.
Call me a cynic if you will and you may be right. So, I will give it until Easter and if there hasn’t been any movement at the station by then, it will be safe to say that the cover-up has been played out.
I’ll get back to you.
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“I have since spoken with the New South Wales Police Commissioner about the investigation and the nature and substance of their inquiries which he advised me were based only on the allegations referred to by the Shadow Attorney-General,” Morrison said last year.
Commissioner Fuller said he hoped to have the investigation wrapped up next week.
“To be honest with you, I actually don’t feel as though the allegations themselves are serious, in terms of the things that I would normally stand up and talk about the types of crimes,” he said.
“But at the end of the day they’re public figures, and at the end of the day I’m assuming that the public and the media would expect that we take all matters seriously against public figures.”
In a statement, Mr Taylor’s office said he would co-operate with the AFP but said he “fully” expected the matter would be found to be “baseless”.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-02/angus-taylor-investigation-referred-to-afp/11837218
Nice hospital pass there Fuller.
How can a forged document printed in a newspaper be baseless?
Kaye, if Fuller said that, he should be sacked in my opinion.
No idea if this is true, but I’ve read in a couple of different places recently that Angus Taylor’s wife is running for Clover Moore’s job – Mayor of Sydney. That might have provided the incentive to try to bring her down.
Angus Taylor obviously employs a bunch of RightWing BratPack deplorables who think its a great idea to run their own Dirty Tricks unit.
Like the rest of you I am cynical about the AFP doing its job on this matter having made the point elsewhere that the AFP is now a Government plaything.
But I want to take,mild (pedantic) issue with one statement in this post, the reference to a bet of ‘London to a brick’. This phrase was coined many years ago by a Sydney race caster whose name escapes me to describe a bet which was such a certainty that even the most expensive amount/item wagered would not be at risk of loss, even though the other part of the wager was a brick.
However the correct betting term was “London to a brick on” indicating such confidence that you would wager London, just to win a brick. And conversely that the opposing wagered only had to put up a brick for the chance of winning London
Now, not being any sort of a racing fan, or a gambler, I am not sure if I have explained this correctly. However I am pretty sure that Ken Howard ??? If indeed that was his name, used my term. Incidentally, Howard might have been using the term “brick” to indicate £20 that note being red and, I believe, often referred to as a brick.
I do note that the shorter “London to a brick” seems to have gained favour.
The fix is on.
Angus Taylor obviously employs a bunch of RightWing BratPack deplorables who think its a great idea to run their own Dirty Tricks unit.
Whatever, I think you will find that we are employing them !!!
The AFP is the “go-to” organisation for the Coalition crooks when they want something done either to cover up their misdeeds or to expose opponents. There is a long list of their activities that show clearly how compromised they are, and indeed how criminally heartless they are, if you remember the Bali Nine (I’m sure the Ministry of Truth has wiped that from the record by now ). How such an organisation can continue to claim any kind of legitimacy in this nation is truly disgusting.
Oh, and now we have some other outfit in black uniforms with automatic weapons who roam around with the Marketing Man just to make sure that if marketing doesn’t work, intimidation will. I read somewhere they showed up, again the next day, at the location where Scotty was told to “piss off” by locals who had lost everything in fires.
I think we are progressing very well. All we need is for Dutton to become PM and organise an “event” so that elections can be cancelled and held in abeyance until the “threat is nullified”. Standard Fascist Tactics 101.
Yes – if in need then go to a ‘uniform’.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/former-afp-chief-to-lead-new-national-bushfire-recovery-agency/news-story/906fdb38810b30dfe6eec300a5f6c168
Matters Not,
Isn’t it much better to appoint someone with a pedigree in law enforcement, rather than focussing on the more specialised facets of (enhanced) natural disaster mitigation/relief, when ‘vetting’ for a specially created position to assist with bushfire recovery?
cb, not sure why Colvin retired when he did but as I understand it he (himself) refused a contract extension. Seems well qualified and perhaps he’d just wanted a quieter life away from Dutton. And I can relate to that given I retired at age 55 now slightly more than two decades ago.
I’m not sure why I retired either.
Fantastic Great move. Well done anus.
BTW, does anybody know if taylor is still alive? Or more importantly, are the weeds on his properties still surviving? Have his properties been burnt out? Yet?
AFP, where investigations go to die