Dr Death inquiry challenge of lifetime for QC

BRISBANE - He has defended porn kings, rock stars and notorious corporate fugitive Christopher Skase.

But top Brisbane barrister Tony Morris thinks his greatest challenge will be unravelling the truth behind a sick health system and the world of Dr Death.

Morris, 45, has been appointed by the Queensland Government to investigate the fallout from the Bundaberg Base Hospital scandal in what Premier Peter Beattie says will be "the most significant and far-reaching examination of Queensland Health in living memory".

Morris, a Queen's Counsel, will lead the commission of inquiry into issues arising from the appointment of rogue doctor Jayant Patel to the southeast Queensland hospital.

At least 20 people are thought to have died at the hands of the Indian-trained surgeon - dubbed Dr Death.

Despite Opposition concerns about the scope of the inquiry, Morris is being described by both sides of the political spectrum as the right man for the job.

During a highly successful career the barrister represented Skase until the failed tycoon died in Majorca, Spain, in 2001.

He headed a probe into the 1989 Heiner inquiry into sexual abuse in Queensland's juvenile justice system, defended Australia's answer to American porn king Larry Flynt and represented rock group Savage Garden.

Even the loudest critics of the Dr Death scandal - the Australian Medical Association, the Queensland Nurses' Union and law firms representing 100 of Patel's former patients - are lauding Morris as the man to deliver a "full and frank inquiry" into the catastrophe.

Despite an extensive legal resume, Morris admits the Dr Death probe will prove his greatest career challenge.

"The biggest challenge as I see it is to do a comprehensive and useful job with the speed and efficiency which everyone wants.

"It can't become a Fitzgerald [inquiry] mark II. We can't go on for years chasing down every rabbit warren looking for results."

The Queensland Government will pay Morris US$5500 ($7530) a day to head the inquiry - a considerable pay cut from his US$8000 a day fee as a silk.

At 32, Morris was the youngest barrister to be appointed a QC in Australia.

He was first admitted to the Queensland bar in April 1983 and later to the bars of NSW, Victoria, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea.

STELLAR CAREER

Represented failed business tycoon Christopher Skase until his death in 2001.

In the late 1990s worked without charge for Tony Abbott during the Health Minister's mission to derail Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

In 2000 acted for Brisbane duo Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes from Savage Garden after the singers' former managers, Paul and Sharon Redfern, sued them over their dismissal.

In 2001 fought a legal tug-of-war between rival television stations Seven and Nine after Queensland news reader Melissa Downes swapped allegiances.

In 2003, acted for sex shop king John Lark, who founded the Australian version of Hustler magazine, after the Brisbane District Court convicted and fined Lark US$24,750 - the largest fine imposed in Queensland for the sale of adult publications.

- AAP