Liberal Party South Australia: Put the blame where it lies Thursday, 28 April 2005
The Opposition joins with the family of Ian Humphrey and the wider community in expressing our deep disappointment with the result of the case against Eugene McGee. Shadow Attorney-General Robert Lawson said that he expected Mike Rann – if he was true to his usual form – to blame the Courts, the lawyers and the law for today’s sentence.

However, this result appears to be the consequence of ineffective policing and/or prosecution – both are within the control of the Government. Both are Mr Rann’s responsibility.

“The Government must accept responsibility for this disaster. They cannot pass the buck on this one,” Mr Lawson said.

“The Government must establish an independent judicial inquiry into the handling of the case.

“Questions such as:
Why the police failed to test McGee for alcohol
Why witnesses were not called
Why there were apparent errors in witness statements; and
Whether the prosecution adequately and appropriately addressed the defence’s psychiatric evidence
must be thoroughly examined by an independent authority.

“We do not believe that it is appropriate to treat these issues as a normal ‘complaint’ against police. Accordingly the current internal police investigation is not sufficiently distant from Government, despite the oversight of the Police Complaints Authority.

The issues in this case are far more important than a standard complaint against the police.”

Authorised by L Sist
104 Greenhill Road Unley 5061 South Australia 2005