News
Govt urged to investigate Tasmanian police use of listening devices & its oversight regime
31st Aug 2022
The Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service and the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) jointly call upon the State government to hold a commission of inquiry into Tasmania Police practices in relation to seeking and executing warrants for the use of listening devices.
“The Prisoners Legal Service and the Australian Lawyers Alliance are both seriously concerned about the findings made yesterday in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in the prosecution of Jeffrey Ian Thompson,” said Fabiano Cangelosi, Hobart barrister and spokesperson for the ALA.
“The findings indicate that Tasmania Police engaged in a gross violation of confidential communications between inmates of Risdon Prison and their legal representatives.
“Such conduct had the capacity to undermine the administration of justice.”
At paragraph [35] of the judgment, the Court said:
“I am simply not persuaded that police took sufficient care to either inform the magistrate of the proper operation of the system nor to obviate any risks related to the potential for the recording and/or monitoring of unrelated private or privileged conversations. The public interest in ensuring that such conversations are protected from unlawful surveillance by law enforcement authorities is of significant importance.”
“The practices of Tasmania Police in seeking and executing warrants for the use of listening devices, and the efficacy of the current oversight regime, must be reviewed,” said Mr Cangelosi.
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