Doone case - What the PM said

The Prime Minister urged a newspaper to continue investigating the embattled Police Commissioner and to hang tough.

The revelation raises new questions about Helen Clark's role in the resignation of former commissioner Peter Doone.

Her words are understood to be contained in briefs of evidence from the journalists, the accuracy of which Helen Clark is believed to have accepted in her brief.

Mr Doone, forced to resign as commissioner on January 25, 2000, plans to file defamation action against Helen Clark as early as this week. This follows his withdrawal of defamation action against the Sunday Star-Times last week, after it published a news report on January 16, 2000 and an editorial on January 23, 2000 about an incident in which Mr Doone and his partner Robyn Johnstone were stopped by a routine police patrol.

The Star-Times report said Mr Doone told the junior officer, who was carrying an alcohol sniffer device: "that won't be necessary". It later transpired that Mr Doone did not say those words, and the newspaper apologised.

However, last week Star-Times publisher Fairfax revealed Helen Clark was used as a verification source for the quote. The Doones now want to take action against her.

It is understood two journalists - the former Star-Times editor and its reporter - were to give evidence in the newspaper's hearing that Helen Clark encouraged the newspaper, and in one case said to hang tough.

 

In at least two of her five conversations with the newspaper, Helen Clark said she was relying on an inquiry report prepared by deputy commissioner Rob Robinson. But those four words were not in the report, issued publicly two weeks later.

Even after Mr Doone issued a public statement threatening to sue the newspaper, Helen Clark privately reassured the journalists their story had been correct.

According to the editor's evidence, Helen Clark was adamant the paper had not reported any incorrect information. Indeed, she encouraged the newspaper to continue its investigation as the matter was reaching its critical stages. The paper subsequently admitted it had got it wrong.

Mr Doone told the Herald on Sunday he and his wife were "shocked and amazed" at the Prime Minister's involvement, blaming her private allegations and not a critical police report for their damaged reputations. "I believe that without the defamatory statements made at the time and published in the Sunday Star-Times I wouldn't have made the decision to retire." The Star-Times was to defend the defamation claim and Clark has also said she will defend any action.

Some legal sources estimate the Doones' legal costs could top $500,000, and Mr Doone acknowledged it would be incredibly expensive. "But what price your reputation? And I know from speaking to many people from many walks of life that their perception is that I obstructed a constable and Robyn is a drunk driver."

The Prime Minister was not due back in the country from Gallipoli until the early hours of this morning, and a spokesman said she was not commenting.

Papers on the court file show that even before the report went to print, Attorney-General Margaret Wilson had written to Mr Doone's lawyer "to set out the Ministerial concerns over the Government's ability to retain confidence in Mr Doone as Commissioner of Police".

A public relations damage assessment, commissioned by Mr Doone, indicated that final perceptions of his actions would be shaped by a PCA report, not media.


- HERALD ON SUNDAY