Mr Norm Taylor on the Morning of Saturday, 29 August 1987. He Related How He Was Shown the Letter at a Cafe in Northbridge
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Mr Norm Taylor on the morning of Saturday, 29 August 1987. He related how he was shown the letter at a cafe in Northbridge. Mr Taylor agreed that he must have been the source of the material if Mr Bennett said he was. Mr Taylor said he had no specific recollection of who gave him the document for the purpose of disseminating it, or what instructions he then received. He accepted, however, that he would have been given the document for the specific purpose of disseminating it to either the Sunday Times, or a particular journalist who had been seeking information or who would get something out of it. Mr Taylor could not recall any specific meetings with Mr Burke in late August 1987 concerning the linking of Mr Laurance with the Society, but he thought the matter may well have been discussed with other press secretaries, or possibly even with the Premier. We doubt that Mr Taylor's professed lack of recollection was genuine. The evidence does not, however, permit us to reach a finding as to the person who gave the material to Mr Taylor. .6 The use of confidential material for purely party political purposes is to be condemned. Modern governments have access to a wide range of extremely confidential personal information. The "leaking" of such material is highly improper. In this case, the auditors' letter contained no criticism of Mr Laurance, who was merely the innocent borrower of a relatively modest sum of money from the Society. The auditors' interest in the matter was merely that the documentation of the loan had not been completed before the loan was made. That could not have been the fault of Mr Laurance. .16 The release by Mr Metaxas of financial information concerning Mr Keith Simpson .1 On 31 August 1987, Mr Metaxas and Mr Morisey met with Mr Martin Saxon, a journalist with The Daily News. They fielded a number of questions concerning the collapse of the Society and, in particular, concerning the large loans. By a memorandum dated 1 September 1987, Mr Metaxas reported to Mr Burke about the principal questions which he had been asked and the answers which he gave. He said he could not predict whether Mr Saxon would bother to run a story, and said he had agreed to meet Mr Saxon "so as to avoid any suggestion that we had anything to hide". This reflects a recognition on the part of Mr Metaxas of Mr Burke's desire to be kept fully informed as to the Society. We have no doubt that this was in fact Mr Burke's desire. .2 The affairs of the Society remained in the public domain. An article published in the Sunday Times on 6 September 1987 reported the "sacking" of Mr Alex Clark and 12 - 84 Mr Bodlovich. On 8 September, in the Parliament, the Opposition gave notice that it would call for a Select Committee to examine the Society's financial difficulties and apparent mismanagement. This was reported in The West Australian on the following day. In the same edition, there was a reference to a "fiery question time" in the Legislative Assembly and a report that the Premier had accused the Opposition of trying to create a run on the State's building societies and credit unions. It is evident from the article that the political heat was being turned up on the issue of the management, or mismanagement, of the Society and the suggested failure of the Government to take prompt action when it became aware of the Society's problems. .3 On 9 September 1987, Mr Metaxas was called to the Premier's office. According to Mr Metaxas, Mr Burke indicated that he had received information from another source that there was "some sort of conspiracy, involvement" on the part of the Liberal Party in relation to the run on the Society in April 1987. He asked if Mr Metaxas was aware of it. Mr Metaxas indicated that he had been aware of "some accusations". He then explained in his evidence: "I couldn't remember names, but I could recall that Alex Clark had mentioned to me on the phone that a person - and I may have mentioned at that stage who I understood to be President of the Liberal Party - had withdrawn a substantial amount in relation to the run, as Alex Clark would have put it. The amount, I don't think I could recall, at that point in time. I was also aware that on some of the documentation in Registry files that there were references to particular politicians in relation to Teachers. Again, the detail I couldn't recall on either of those matters, but I would obtain the information." .4 Mr Metaxas did not think he mentioned the name of Mr Simpson at that time, but said the name had been provided to him as being the name of the President of the Liberal Party. .5 Towards the end of the meeting, according to Mr Metaxas, Mr Burke asked him if it was appropriate, or if it was in order, or a legitimate request, for Mr Burke to obtain the information he had about political interference in the Society, to which Mr Metaxas responded that it was. He went on to say that he had good reason for giving that response. That reason was expressed by him as follows: "To my mind, at that point in time, I had no knowledge whatsoever of 12 - 85 what information had been fed to Mr Burke in relation to this matter. For all I knew, he could have had reams of information suggesting, or proving, or establishing, a bona fide conspiracy in relation to the Society. At the end of the day, it might have meant that I was either withholding information which I should have passed on to other authorities, or else that I, by burying the information, was negligent in my duties. So it seemed to me it was a legitimate request from a Minister to his public servant on how he was handling his position, given that I had no knowledge of what information he had available to him." .6 This was not, however, a normal meeting between a public servant and his Minister. Mr Metaxas thought there may have been as many as seven people present, apart from himself. They included, in addition to Mr Burke, one or two other Ministers and some persons he referred to as "staffers". Mr Metaxas said Mr Dowding may have been one of the Ministers present and, while he was not sure, he thought Mr Pearce may have been there. He thought Mr Taylor was probably there, but did not think that either Mr Edwards or Mr Lloyd was in attendance. Mr Metaxas believed the only person who spoke to him in relation to the matter was Mr Burke. Although it is not possible to conclude who else was present, we do not question the evidence of Mr Metaxas as to there having been a number of other persons in Mr Burke's office at the time. .7 Mr Metaxas was asked whether, while he was in attendance, there was any discussion engaged in by the other members of the group concerning the suggested conspiracy by the Liberal Party to cause a run on the Society in April. He responded: "Only that the -- that notion of the Liberal Party being involved wasn't merely something that seemed to be in the mind of the Premier, but others obviously in the room had heard of it, or were aware of some facet of it." He was then asked whether he could recall who contributed to this discussion, to which he replied: "The Premier and -- Mr Dowding might have asked a question in relation to -- when I indicated that there was some correspondence that I had from Alex Clark dealing with some politicians making speeches in relation to Teachers, he might have said, `Which politician? Which Party?' and I would have had to put up my hands and say, `I'm sorry, but I can't remember the name.'" 12 - 86 .8 Mr Burke called in a stenographer and dictated a letter to her. It was typed and brought back to Mr Burke. He signed it and handed it to Mr Metaxas, who then left the meeting. The letter read: "I am concerned at reports of politicians seeking to influence the affairs of the Teachers Credit Society. Could you please inform me of any knowledge you have about this." .9 Mr Metaxas said he had thought until some time later that the word "politicians" in the letter read "political", with the consequence that he thought he was being asked to inform the Premier about political involvement, rather than about politicians; but the memorandum by which Mr Metaxas responded to Mr Burke's inquiry itself referred to Mr Burke's request for "advice on politicians" seeking to influence the Society. Mr Simpson could not accurately be described as a "politician". .10 Apart from the contents of the letter from Mr Burke, Mr Metaxas denied that he received any instructions as to what was to be provided to Mr Burke. In particular, he said he was not asked to ascertain where the funds withdrawn by Mr Simpson had later been deposited. When asked whether it was suggested to him at the meeting that he should go directly to the Society in order to obtain the information, Mr Metaxas replied: "No. I think that was left -- there was no suggestion as to how I was to obtain the information.