Jacks and Jokers

by Matthew Condon

  As a result, the newspaper ran a sensational page-one story on 8 November. POLITICIANS LINKED TO DRUG RINGS, the headline said. ‘Narcotics agent tells of secret files.’

  The report revealed: ‘Several Queensland politicians were named in confidential Federal Narcotics Bureau files as having had connections with people in the drug smuggling world,’ a narcotics agent said yesterday. ‘We do not have files on the politicians. But they are mentioned on files as being connected with people in a drug organisation.’

  That organisation was Milligan’s. Moller also revealed that the bureau had recently interviewed ‘a former Queensland policeman [Hallahan]’.

  ‘There is no doubt he [the former policeman] was connected with that syndicate and he was assisting them. We know he still has connection with senior police and they have helped certain members of that syndicate to get off charges that they should not have got off.’

  Moller, the unidentified source, said the day would come when he could name those involved in the Milligan syndicate, and added: ‘People are being killed because they are involved. We’re past the days of busting people with deals of grass. We are closing in on the big fish.’

  The day after the story was published Detective Sergeant Alan Barnes contacted Commissioner Lewis with some vital information.

  Lewis diarised: ‘Det. Sgt. Barnes called re John Moller being Narcotics Agent speaking to media; bugging Murphy and Hallahan’s phones; Hallahan still claiming friendship with Murphy and me and an anonymous call re me heading Drug Smuggling ring.’

  As for Moller, whose identity was so swiftly uncovered and reported back to Lewis, he received a volley of telephone threats at his home in Carseldine in the city’s north. ‘I had the usual stuff – “we know where you live,” ’ John Moller remembers. ‘But they also told me they knew that my son [Scott, then three] played on a particular footpath of an afternoon.

  ‘They told me to back off.’

  Scandal in the House

  Hot on the heels of the growing drugs scandal was Labor opposition leader and the member for Mackay, Ed Casey.

  After just one year in the job as Labor head, the affable Casey was a competent and steady parliamentary performer without wit or flair, unlike his predecessor Tom Burns.

  A former truck business operator and bank clerk, and a keen sportsman in his youth (he would later be a devoted patron of the Queensland Table Tennis Association), the Catholic Casey wanted to capitalise on the Moller revelations and used the privilege of parliament to do so. He thought he had an opportunity to inflict huge damage on the government.

  So on Tuesday 20 November, at 11.34 a.m., Casey rose in the House: ‘On 7 November 1979, an allegation was made on Brisbane radio that several Queensland politicians were named in Federal Narcotics Bureau files as having had connections with people in the drug-smuggling world.’

  Minister for Local Government and Main Roads Russ Hinze immediately rose to a point of order, hosing down Casey. ‘I query the authenticity of the document that is being presented to the House by the Leader of the Opposition, and I ask whether he is making a ministerial statement, a personal explanation, or just what he is doing.’

  Casey was again permitted to speak, citing subsequent newspaper reports on the narcotics scandal. ‘Through resources available to me,’ Casey went on, ‘I have been able to locate the said Narcotics Bureau agent and have spoken with him on this subject.

  ‘I want to make it quite clear that, as a result of discussions with him, I am satisfied that no member of the state parliamentary Labor Party is named in the files to which he referred and that the parliamentarians concerned are from the Government coalition parties in this House.

  ‘I have learned that the Narcotics Bureau in Sydney possesses the taped record of the interrogation of a notorious international drug runner following his recent arrest. In this taped record of interview, which I understand was also witnessed, I am informed that the drug operator refers by name to a senior member of this Queensland coalition Government.’

  The Premier himself rose on a point of order and tried to flip the entire thing back on Casey: ‘All I want to say is that the Leader of the Opposition knows that his policy is to legalise the use of drugs.’

  Casey ploughed on. He argued that as former Queensland police officers had also been named, the Woodward Royal Commission ‘clearly shows that there is overwhelming evidence to indicate the presence of a drug-smuggling ring in Queensland of huge proportions.’ He claimed that further evidence would be forthcoming in the impending Williams Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drugs, and called on the Premier and the Queensland Government to set up its own royal commission.

  The Speaker interjected and said Casey would not be permitted to make any further personal explanations and was asked to resume his seat. Casey’s motion to be further heard on the matter was voted down 49 to 20.

  By mid-evening, following the television news where Casey had been interviewed about the drugs scandal, Police Minister Ron Camm stood in the House and fired back. ‘Is this another Casey lead balloon? Is this another statement from the Leader of the Opposition that has no substance in fact and cannot be proved by any action that may be taken by the Police Force in this State?’

  Deputy Premier and Treasurer Dr Llew Edwards also weighed into the fracas: ‘… when questioned by the reporter, the Leader of the Opposition refused to give information and squirmed in his seat. He said that he would make it available to parliament tomorrow. For that reason parliament is now giving the Leader of the Opposition and, indeed, all Opposition members, an opportunity to make the alle­gations now.’

  At 10.12 p.m., Casey relished the opportunity to reply to the criticism. ‘It was less than 12 hours ago in this Chamber that the very same persons who have tried to make dramatic gestures on this subject were the movers in having me gagged in this parliament. They said absolutely nothing in relation to it.

  ‘Why the turn-around? Why, in this short space of time, has the Government taken the step of holding a special Cabinet meeting and then displaying a complete about-face in this parliament? It is for the simple reason that the Government is absolutely frightened out of its very boots at the public reaction to the way in which it has been conducting the affairs of this State. Very dramatic!’

  ‘Give us the names of the members of parliament. Come on!’ the Premier baited.

  Casey went on to outline details of the drug trade in Queensland, citing the Woodward and Williams royal commissions and his own sources. Amid constant interjection from the coalition and innumer­able points of order, Casey eventually came to the strange tale of John Edward Milligan, former Associate to District Court Justice Seaman.

  ‘On his arrest, Milligan gave long and detailed evidence to the Narcotics Bureau in Sydney. It was very alarming evidence. I am led to believe that the evidence given by Milligan implicated a very senior member of this parliament and also very senior police officers in this state.

  ‘I also believe that Milligan made it quite clear in presenting the evidence to the people doing the interrogation that he had friends in high places, and that the people doing the investigation should be careful. Consequently, a tape-recording was taken in front of witnesses. My understanding is that the tape was then sent to Mr. Fife, the Federal Minister responsible for the Narcotics Bureau. The tape is, or was, in the possession of Mr. Fife.’

  After a long, fiery debate, Casey finally put his trump card on the table. He said ‘… that particular person Milligan did name in that tape the Minister for Justice in this parliament, Mr. Lickiss, as having had some dealings …’

  The House erupted.

  ‘I would be a little bit concerned if I were Mr. Lickiss,’ said Casey.

  ‘Order! The House will come to order,’ shrieked the Speaker.

  The debate raged into the early hours of the morning leaving little doubt that Casey’s revelations a
nd the bitter debate had its impact on Bjelke-Petersen and the government.

  While still baying that the ALP policy was to legalise marihuana, the Premier made an extraordinary concession: ‘I have listened with a great deal of interest to the allegations being made by the Leader of the Opposition both within this House and outside it. Mr. Justice Williams is presently commissioned by the Australian Government and four of the State Governments, including Queensland, to inquire into drug trafficking. He is currently finalising his reports to the respective Governments.

  ‘I have asked that he give the highest priority possible to investigating the allegations – not only the allegations mentioned here but anything associated with the Labor Party.’

  It was 1.56 a.m., and within a matter of hours the government and opposition would be at each other’s throats again.

  The Premier was true to his word. Although Justice Williams was tying up his lengthy royal commission into drugs, Bjelke-Petersen wrote to the Secretary of the Commission asking the commission to give priority to allegations that officers of the Queensland Police Force and members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly were involved in the illegal drug trade.

  He also asked Justice Williams that all Queensland-related issues that were being dealt with under the umbrella of the commission be deferred until this priority was acquitted. Queensland police officers O’Brien and Pointing were attached to the commission to assist Justice Williams.

  Later that month, Milligan came up directly in Lewis’s official diary: ‘Insp. T. Pointing called re interview with a Mr Milligan wherein he stated that ex-Det. Hallahan said that he would have me give any necessary assistance to Milligan.’

  Here was direct evidence that Pointing, working for the com­mission of inquiry and with full access to confidential Narcotics Bureau data, was surreptitiously reporting back to the Commissioner.

  The Milligan allegations were as serious a scrutiny as any previously suffered by Lewis, Murphy and Hallahan. Still, the life of the state’s top cop continued as usual. On the day Pointing passed on his drug intelligence to Lewis, the Commissioner and his wife, Hazel, attended a march-past of the 4th Signals Regiment in King George Square, and later that evening the Commissioner went to a Christmas party for the Fraud Squad.

  Lickiss Rises

  About 11.20 a.m. on 21 November, the MPs, including the Premier, were all back in the chamber in Parliament House at the southern end of George Street, just hours after the previous day’s explosive debate that had roared into the early morning.

  Naturally, Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Bill Lickiss, the member for Mount Coot-tha, was one of the first to speak.

  Mr. Speaker, as you and other honourable members of this House would expect, I rise to reply to certain allegations raised last night by the Leader of the Opposition,’ Lickiss said. ‘The honourable Leader of the Opposition has “named” me as being accused of being associated with people involved in drug-trafficking. The accusations are, to say the least, most nebulous and come from sources which are again, to say the least, tainted.

  Lickiss was dour and matter-of-fact. It was a quality that had kept him in good stead through a colourful life. He was a navigator with the RAAF in World War II and later a surveyor, map-maker and pineapple farmer. He was awarded a bravery medal following a dangerous incident during the Brisbane floods of 1974. He had been elected to parliament in 1963.

  The source seems to be Milligan who is reported to have claimed that he had friends in high places. Presumably, I am supposed to be one of Milligan’s friends. I can say, categorically, that I do not know any John Milligan and certainly am not a friend of the John Milligan who is the primary source of the allegations …

  My reputation for honesty and integrity is such, I believe, that it and any of my dealings with trust accounts or any aspects of criminal investigation and prosecution will stand up to the closest scrutiny.

  Fellow Liberal and relative newcomer to parliament, the equally colourful Angus Innes, member for Sherwood, later rose in defence of his colleague.

  ‘The nearest the Minister for Justice would ever have come to drugs would be cutting the grass on his own rider-mower around his home. It was an outrageous proposition, and one that was totally unsubstantiated. He [Casey] did not rely upon any evidence whatsoever,’ said Innes.

  The House returned to relative calm, debating the Motor Vehicle Safety Bill. During the discussion Don Lane was accused ironically of being a ‘big, tough ex-cop’, and he in turn accused the Opposition of being ‘anti-police’.

  In the afternoon, members chewed over the Port of Brisbane Authority Act Amendment Bill. Kev Hooper, the member for Archerfield, offered a soft but curious interjection: ‘Is there any truth in the rumour that Mr. Max Hodges will be the new chairman?’

  It had been only three months since Hodges, the former Police Minister under Commissioner Ray Whitrod, and perhaps his greatest ally, had stepped away from his political career. It was Hodges who had joined forces with Whitrod in attempting to eliminate the Rat Pack in the early to mid-1970s, and who had lost the Police portfolio when he stood up against Premier Bjelke-Petersen over the street-march fiasco, where a young woman was struck on the head with a police baton. He knew of John Edward Milligan’s activities, as did former commissioner Whitrod. Now, in the wake of the drug scandal, his name resurfaced.

  Again, Hooper’s contacts were spot on.

  At that, parliament adjourned comparatively peacefully at 5.39 p.m.

  The Stranger

  Just over a week before Christmas Day 1979, a young man with pitch-black hair, an English accent and spectacles, started work at the Licensing Branch on the seventh floor of police headquarters in the city.

  He was Nigel Donald Powell, 28, who had previous experience with the West Midlands Police, covering Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton in central England.

  Powell had joined the Queensland police as a constable on 5 July following his training and was seconded to the City station in Makerston Street. Just days into his new job on ‘beat #2’ in the CBD, at 10.55 p.m. in King George Square, beneath the giant illuminated clock face of the City Hall tower, Powell came across a dishevelled man who appeared a little worse for wear.

  Powell wanted to check if the man was alright. The man became aggressive when Powell enquired about his wellbeing. ‘Police here are terrible,’ the man said in a European accent. ‘You’re harassing me!’

  ‘I’m just trying to see if you’re alright,’ the young constable replied.

  The man identified himself as Albert Rosen, chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and that he was residing at the Crest Hotel. Powell was shocked by the man’s reaction to police, something he’d never experienced in the West Midlands.

  ‘I remember going home [to a small flat in Herston] and having a conversation with my wife, Heather, about it,’ says Powell. ‘She remarked that it appeared people didn’t like the police in Queensland. She told me she didn’t tell anyone that I worked as a police officer in Brisbane.’

  Three weeks later, Powell was on the beat again in the city. He decided to check out the public toilets in Albert Park, a notorious gay beat not far from the police station in Makerston Street. It was 1.30 a.m. on 26 July.

  Powell checked the Ladies. His partner went into the Mens, and quickly rushed out.

  ‘I’ve caught two of them at it,’ the young officer said.

  Powell then interviewed one of the men, who identified himself as Paul Anthony Griffin, a television broadcaster. (Griffin was in fact an anchor for Channel Nine news in Brisbane. In 1979 he would win a TV Week Logie Award for Most Popular Male Personality in Queensland.)

  ‘Tell me what happened here tonight,’ Powell asked Griffin.

  ‘I went to use the urinal and had a torch shone in my face,’ the media personality replied.

  ‘You must realise the
other officer has seen a circumstance that raises suspicion.’

  ‘I cannot see why.’

  Powell asked Griffin about his movements that evening.

  Griffin said he had finished work around midnight at the station up on Mount Coot-tha and had dropped into Lucky’s pizzeria in the Valley. ‘I had a couple of glasses of wine and wanted to go to the toilet before I left so I came here,’ Griffin explained.

  ‘Did you see the other gentleman in the toilet?’ Powell inquired.

  ‘No, it’s very dark in there.’

  The media identity refused to go down to the station to discuss the matter, and an inspector was called to the scene. It was the word of two against one police constable, and Griffin was permitted to leave without charge.

  Not long after that, on 10 August, Powell arrested a man who had damaged a glass pane and some lights at the Allegro Restaurant in Edward Street. It turned out the offender, who acknowledged he had committed the offence, was detective Sergeant Second Class Peter Reiken of the Fraud Squad. Reiken was taken to the city station and charged on summons.

  Powell had unwittingly breached a powerful police code. He had arrested a brother officer. He wasn’t made to forget it.

  Walking the beat, police cars would cruise by him. ‘Are you Powell the Pom?’ they’d ask. ‘You arrested Peter Reiken?’ On other occasions they would simply gawk at him and shake their heads.

  On 15 October, Powell was then sent to the suburban station at Nundah – 8 kilometres north-east of the CBD. Just two months later he was informed he’d been transferred to the Licensing Branch. He took up his duties on 17 December.

  Unwittingly, Powell was placed in a difficult situation. He was the stranger in town, and he had a natural desire to be liked and accepted. Powell had come from a comparatively sophisticated police force in the UK. In Queensland he hit an antiquated system head on.