AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX From: The Australian May 10, 2013
A NSW detective who publicly claimed he was ordered to stop investigating child abuse within the Catholic Church co-ordinated his revelation with the ABC, Fairfax Media and a Greens MP as part of a campaign to force a royal commission.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox was also given the opportunity to view a transcript of part of a proposed edition of the ABC’s Lateline program, which he successfully requested not be broadcast.
In an email sent to the program’s reporter Suzanne Smith a day before the interview, Inspector Fox wrote: “We can string it out and drip feed . . . it will only give us larger coverage and a much bigger impact.
“Please don’t lose sight of our objective here for the sake of a good, quick story now.”
The part of the program Inspector Fox asked not be broadcast included a separate interview with NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge. Giving evidence yesterday to a state inquiry into the allegations he made on the program, Inspector Fox said he was also given a draft of a public statement the MP planned to make after the broadcast, which he asked him to delay.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.