Media release — State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill 2024

If enacted, the Bill would extinguish the right to compensation of those who have suffered loss and damage as a result of what the High Court of Australia has described as “reprehensible conduct” by members of the Victorian Police in breach of their sworn duties as police officers.

Legislation of this kind is unprecedented in this country and incompatible with the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006.  The Commonwealth Parliament does not have the constitutional power to enact such legislation, and all Victorian citizens should be deeply concerned that their State Parliament might seek to do so.

To date there has been no accountability for those members of Victoria Police involved in the use of former barrister Nicola Gobbo as a human source.  Charges that were recommended by the Special Investigator appointed on the recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants were not laid.  Individual civil claims that have been instituted against the State in the Victorian Supreme Court are now a key process by which those involved might be held to account, and those who have suffered might have their claims fairly determined by a Court in accordance with the law.  The Bill, if passed, would retrospectively bring those claims to an end. 

It would also set an extremely disturbing precedent for Parliaments that might in future seek to extinguish people’s rights against the State in other areas if it becomes financially or politically expedient to do so. 

That there has been no consultation on the Bill and that it is sought to be enacted with unreasonable haste are also deeply troubling. Where the fundamental rights of citizens are extinguished to benefit the State, we expect more of Parliament.

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