Latest news with #JohnMcKechnie
West Australian
a day ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Editorial: Independent corruption watchdog is as important as ever
The role of corruption fighter is not for the faint hearted. By its very nature, the job of being an anti-corruption warrior means being prepared to take on powerful characters. Of course that means the holder of the office may also encounter push back. And it may also mean the office is caught up in political cross-fire. WA's soon to depart Corruption and Crime Commissioner John McKechnie has been no stranger to controversy. WA's first director of public prosecutions, Mr McKechnie went on to spend more than 15 years on the bench of the State's Supreme Court before his appointment as the corruption watchdog chief. He has served as the State's Corruption and Crime Commissioner since 2015 and will retire at the end of this month. Mr McKechnie has seen more cases, tried more cases, heard more cases and written up more cases that possibly any other jurist in the State. Having been the State's DPP for seven years up until 1999, he had overseen prosecutions of the most sensitive kind. Two premiers — Brian Burke and Ray O'Connor — and a deputy premier, David Parker, came under his prosecutorial gaze. As did the Rothwells and horse-race fixing charges laid against Laurie Connell. In his time as a judge of the Supreme Court, then Justice McKechnie sentenced some of the worst offenders, including child killer Dante Arthurs. Under Mr McKechnie's leadership, the CCC uncovered several high-profile public servants accused of corruption, including former Housing Authority boss Paul Whyte, who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $27 million from the Department of Communities. He also led investigations into MPs misusing electoral allowances, five contractors given deals with the North Metropolitan Health Service in exchange for kickbacks for public servants and, more recently, the overseas travel of former ombudsman Chris Field. However, under his leadership the commission also drew criticism from the parliamentary inspector Matthew Zilko, who found it had falsely implied former Japanese trade commissioner Craig Peacock had committed tax evasion. Mr McKechnie was also at the centre of a political storm and came under fierce attack from the Liberal Opposition in the lead up to his 2021 reappointment under the McGowan Labor government. Now the spotlight turns onto who will replace Mr McKechnie. It is said that there can be a tendency for the wheels to fall off when governments are in office for a long time. The State Labor Government is now entering its third term, again with a huge majority. Power and hubris can be a powerful combination if left unchecked. In The West Australian today Mr McKechnie warns that the WA public service was losing its independence. His message is clear. The need for a strong and independent corruption watchdog is as important as ever.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
CCC commissioner John McKechnie retiring after a decade leading corruption watchdog
Western Australia's longest-serving corruption watchdog has announced he will step down at the end of the month, a year ahead of schedule. John McKechnie has served as the Corruption and Crime Commissioner since April 2015, after a career including serving as the state's first director of public prosecutions and 16 years on the Supreme Court. He described the last decade as commissioner as "particularly interesting", with the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) saying 277 reports had been produced under his watch. "As a born and raised Western Australian, it has been a great privilege to have been given the opportunity to serve my state over nearly 50 years," Mr McKechnie said in a statement. "The success of the Commission is in its team and each member of that team contributes directly to the good governance of the state by maintaining a public sector and a police force of integrity or playing a part in the disruption of crime that challenges the fabric of our community." Deputy CCC Commissioner, former Supreme Court judge Michael Corboy SC, will act as commissioner until a replacement is found. WA Attorney-General Tony Buti thanked Mr McKechnie for his service. "As head of the Corruption and Crime Commission, Mr McKechnie has exposed some of the biggest corruption cases in Australia's history," he said. "His work has been undertaken without fear or favour and in the best interests of Western Australians." One of those cases was that of former Department of Communities head Paul Whyte, who in 2021 was sentenced to 12 years in jail for masterminding what was described as Australia's single biggest case of public sector fraud. More recently Mr McKechnie probed the extensive overseas travel of the state's ombudsman and highlighted serious misconduct risks in the way WA Labor used electorate officers. Mr McKechnie's reappointment in 2021 was marred by controversy, with the government resorting to rewriting the law because a four-member parliamentary committee would not ratify his reappointment. At one point, two members of the committee — which was made up of two Labor MPs, as well as one Liberal and one Green — opposed Mr McKechnie's reappointment, which he likened to the "decapitation" of the organisation. Then-premier Mark McGowan and then-attorney-general John Quigley suggested Liberal MP Jim Chown had voted against Mr McKechnie's reappointment because of the CCC's investigations into Liberal MP Phil Edman, prompting the committee to issue a statement rejecting that idea. A 2019 report by the CCC accused Mr Edman of misusing electoral allowances, using the taxpayer funds to pay for strippers and travel for sex. That report included an ominous message Mr Edman sent to a businessman about the contents of a laptop, saying: "There's enough stuff on that f***ing computer to bury f***ing a lot of people". The CCC then seized the laptop and two hard drives, but it sparked a lengthy dispute with non-government Legislative Council MPs, the watchdog and the Supreme Court over whether the computer's contents were protected by parliamentary privilege and could be viewed by the commission. The Supreme Court ruled decisions on parliamentary privilege could only be made by parliament itself, and the impasse was resolved in 2021 when the president of the Legislative Council handed over more than half a million documents. Two years later the commission said those documents did not reach the threshold of serious misconduct but had informed a further investigation.
West Australian
3 days ago
- Politics
- West Australian
John McKechnie: WA's long-serving anti-corruption chief to retire at the end of the month
The West Australian exclusive John McKechnie: WA's long-serving anti-corruption chief to retire at the end of the month
West Australian
28-05-2025
- West Australian
Former judge John McKechnie slams police over ‘appalling' investigation into Dante Arthurs in explosive memoir
The West Australian exclusive Former judge John McKechnie slams police over 'appalling' investigation into Dante Arthurs in explosive memoir
