Coroner & Legal
Bartlett warned over top cop
TASMANIA’S Acting Police Commissioner Darren Hine told a parliamentary probe yesterday he strongly warned Premier David Bartlett last year against bringing former top cop Richard McCreadie out of retirement to temporarily head the police service.
Mr Hine told the Legislative Council committee into senior government appointments that, after taking legal advice, he had told the Premier criminal charges were pending against Mr McCreadie.
Mr Hine said he warned Mr Bartlett that Mr McCreadie may be charged with the same criminal offences relating to the improper leaking of official secrets that suspended commissioner Jack Johnston had just been accused of.
The former police commissioner has never been charged with any offence.
The Premier’s most senior adviser, Terry Field, disputed Mr Hine’s version of events.
He told the parliamentary committee he had thought Mr Hine’s suggestion of potential criminal charges against Mr McCreadie was not “a very serious comment”.
He said no alarm bells had rung for either him or the Premier, who had then gone into Parliament to announced Mr McCreadie’s shock return as interim police chief.
Mr Hine, who had been acting police commissioner for two months last October after his former boss Mr Johnston was suspended, said he had mentioned the potential charges because he thought Mr Bartlett needed that information for decision-making.
“I told the Premier the Director of Public Prosecutions was considering charges against Mr McCreadie and that I thought he should know,” Mr Hine said under parliamentary privilege.
“But the Premier said this didn’t dissuade him, that he was going to go ahead with (Mr McCreadie’s) appointment.”
Mr Hine said he then advised Mr Bartlett that before announcing Mr McCreadie’s planned comeback from retirement publicly, that it would be a good idea to first consult the DPP, Tim Ellis.
But Mr Hine left the meeting with the view Mr Bartlett would not heed his suggestion.
Two hours later, without discussing a possible investigation of Mr McCreadie with the DPP, the Premier told Parliament Mr McCreadie had accepted his invitation to fill in for suspended police chief Jack Johnston until his Supreme Court case was resolved.
Picture: ABC