Part Two – Michael Murphy, the Voldemort clause, the Police Union & the NT ICAC

This is Part Two of an article examining recent events involving the NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, the NT ICAC, the NT government and the NT Police Association.

You can read Part One here.

Operation Apollo & The Voldemort clause

Eight months on from the 2024 NT general election there is little evidence that any of the proposed reforms and commitments Murphy announced at Garma in August have been commenced or implemented, whether in part or whole.

Any sense of monsoon seasonal torpor was dispelled on Friday February 28, when Patricia Kelly SC, retired President of the South Australian Court of Appeal and NT ICAC delegate, dropped a bombshell Public Statement.

For Murphy and others caught up in her Operation Apollo investigation Kelly’s spare two-page summary should have come as no surprise; they’d have been aware of the nature and scope of the investigation and of ICAC’s likely target or targets.

But because that evidence had been gained under compulsion Kelly was constrained by s. 55 of the ICAC Act from making the identity of that target or targets public. Because ICAC was so constrained, so too were NT Chief Minister Finocchiaro, her legal advisors and the media when called upon to comment on ICAC’s findings.

Meanwhile the public was left guessing and was stranded in that benighted state of grace for nearly a week.

Like Harry Potter’s archenemy Voldemort, the subject of ICAC’s investigation was a “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

Darwin is a very small town and the political, legal and media cliques swirl around each other in a monsoonal fishbowl, so by the following Monday – three days after the release of the ICAC statement – it was no surprise that the identity of ICAC’s target was an open secret.

This unseemly farce dragged on for the best part of week until, late on Thursday afternoon Murphy broke his silence and outed himself as the target of Operation Apollo.

Murphy accepted “that [he] should have dealt better with a conflict of interest, a friendship and a referee report in relation to an appointee … I should have managed the friendship and the conflict of interest to a higher standard and on at least one occasion should have recused myself from the appointment process in order to ensure community confidence.” (added emphasis)

Sounding very much like a man ready to sort things out and to get on with the job rather than fall on his sword, Murphy continued, “I have accepted the two recommendations made by the ICAC and have commenced the process of implementing them … Amongst other things, this will deal with issues relating to conflicts of interest.”

The NTPA and tears before bedtime

Railing against Murphy in a hyperbolic late-night statement, the NTPA claimed its members’ trust in Murphy had been “destroyed” and he should “tender his resignation.”  

Disappointingly, the NT News joined the Murphy pile-on the next day, accusing him of lacking the courage to out himself earlier than he did, calling his behaviour “inexcusable” and urging him to resign. “He must go” screamed the News editorial in a case of “the lady doth protest too much, methinks,” as Shakespeare’s Queen Gertrude said in response to the insincere overacting of a character in Hamlet.**

Finocchiaro waited until late Saturday night to join the stacks-on-the-Murphy-mill, advising in a late night statement that Murphy had lost the government’s confidence, had given him “the opportunity to resign” and appointed his good mate Martin Dole as Acting Commissioner in Murphy’s stead.

Dole’s appointment is curious and raises questions about what Finocchiaro knew or had been advised about Dole’s involvement in the events examined in Operation Apollo. Yesterday afternoon Dole admitted to the NT News that he had been on the same interview panel the subject of ICAC’s scrutiny as Michael Murphy and had been listed as a referee “for more than one of the applicants” but didn’t “provide a personal reference to any applicant.”

Finocchiaro’s late night statement went on to note that the government was required to pay Murphy six months remuneration upon termination.

Some might think that a modest reward for someone who has provided 28 years of service, regardless of their apparent infractions.

Better get a lawyer son …

Murphy is still the Commissioner of Police. As Finocchiaro noted, he is entitled to natural justice: to know the details of any charges and allegations made against him.

One of the first things that any lawyer worth their brief would be asking for is an unredacted copy of ICAC’s Operation Apollo report – not the 2-page summary statement released by Patricia Kelly SC.

The complete Operation Apollo report will be a key document that should already have been provided to both Murphy and Finocchiaro. That may explain Finocchiaro’s relative caution and Murphy’s virtual silence – they may both be considering their options and taking legal advice.

It would take a very brave boss indeed to sack a 28-year loyal servant of the Territory for the transgressions – serious as they may be – set out in the scant material provided by ICAC to date.  

The curious case of Paul Brereton, the NACC and popularity versus integrity

This is particularly so when we consider the case of Paul Brereton, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

As Michelle Grattan reported in The Conversation last year: “Brereton was found by the Inspector of the NACC to have committed ‘officer misconduct’ because he only partially, rather than adequately, excused himself during the NACC’s consideration of whether the body should investigate six people the royal commission into Robodebt referred to it.”

Brereton dug his heels in and rejected calls that he resign, stating that to be “deterred from discharging my duties by adverse publicity, the important independence of the commission would be undermined. It would be a statement that our yardstick should be popularity, not integrity … From there it is a short path to becoming an architect of oppression and vehicle of vengeance, rather than an instrument of integrity.”

I fell down, I got up, I turned around and then I walked back*

All of which raises the question as to whether Murphy’s unintentional impropriety regarding recruitment processes where members of interview panels are often close friends with applicants really is a ‘hanging offence’, as the NTPA and associated pilers-on so raucously urge.

If he hasn’t already Commissioner Murphy would be well advised to follow Tex Perkins’ sage advice and “… get a lawyer son … better get a real good one” if only to ensure everybody is playing by the rules.

Murphy and the NT government may already be deep into negotiations. Or maybe not.

Watch this space.

Photo of Commissioner Michael Murphy at the 2024 Garma festival – ABC News

* Better Get a Lawyer. The Cruel Sea, on the Three Legged Dog album,1994

** An earlier version of this article attributed this statement to the Northern Territory Police Association. This was corrected on 12 March 2025 at 10:17 PM.