Statement on Proposed Immunity for Those Involved in the Lawyer X Scandal

It is a fundamental principle of the rule of law that no one is above the law. The law must apply equally to all of us, including those given power over citizens to act on behalf of the State. 

Liberty Victoria is deeply concerned that the Allan Government intends to make those involved in the Lawyer X scandal immune from civil and criminal proceedings. 

The legal processes that allow people to sue if they have been wrongfully convicted have two purposes: first, they compensate people for losses they have suffered. This is an important remedy to right the wrongs of the past. 

Second, they act as a disincentive to poor behaviour by those entrusted with extraordinary powers, including the police. This is vitally important in a scandal that involves conduct that the High Court has described as “sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of all police officers to discharge all duties imposed on them faithfully and according to law without favour or affection, malice or ill-will”. 

We will wait to see the Bill, but this is not a matter where this terrible episode in Victoria’s history should be further hidden from public view and made immune from testing through the Courts.

Trust in police and the broader justice system require that the State and police are subject to the usual civil and criminal processes that address the injustices caused by the Lawyer X scandal.