Arthur Moses says report about DPP Sally Dowling cannot be ignored
The NSW government should consider introducing a new layer of parliamentary scrutiny over the Director of Public Prosecutions and the findings of the upper house inquiry must be carefully considered, a senior official has said.
One controversial reportIn the report released on Tuesday, a 4-3 majority of NSW MPs made damning findings that DPP Sally Dowling, SC authorized her office to pass a negative story about District Court Judge Penelope Wass to a media outlet in 2024, which she falsely denied in her parliamentary testimony.
The majority recommended that the state government consider establishing a new parliamentary oversight committee for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
The investigation was criticized as a “stitch” by Attorney-General Michael Daley, and former DPP Nicholas Cowdery, KC, described the report as “outrageous”.
Sydney Silk Arthur Moses SC, former president of the NSW Bar Association and the Law Council of Australia, said the majority reached a “serious finding about the DPP’s evidence”.
When asked for his opinion on the report, Moses said: “The finding cannot be summarily dismissed or ridiculed using extreme language.”
‘The finding cannot be summarily dismissed or ridiculed using extreme language.’
Arthur Moses, SC, on the NSW upper house report on ODPP.
“There will need to be careful consideration of what happens if anything happens with the finding.
“The demand for transparency and accountability has arisen to prevent public confidence in the administration of justice being undermined. Consideration of the finding must be made calmly and carefully, with due respect to the people of NSW, Judge Wass, the SC and the DPP.”
The majority of the committee recommended that the state government consider establishing a new parliamentary oversight committee for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, raising concerns about the potential politicization of the independent body.
Moses supported consideration of a parliamentary committee overseeing the ODPP with a limited role that would not include overseeing prosecutorial decisions.
The government should “conduct serious consideration of a particular standing parliament, similar to the standing parliamentary committee that oversees the ICAC, or the UK House of Commons Justice Committee, which oversees the management, funding and efficiency of the DPP in the UK”.
“I strongly object to any committee playing an oversight role in decisions to prosecute or not to prosecute for the reasons given by Nicholas Cowdery, the ROK and the NSW Bar Association, but there is no apparent reason why a standing committee should not be considered to oversee matters similar to the UK committee,” Moses said.
In her testimony before the upper house justice and communities committee last year, Dowling admitted her office effectively passed a story about District Court Judge Penelope Wass to 2GB in October 2024.
Dowling vehemently denied allowing ODPP’s media manager to provide information to 2GB and said she only learned more than a year later, in December 2025, that her office was the source of the story. The majority did not accept his rejection.
Moses said “it would never be the ODPP’s job to investigate or leak the background to stories about judges.” He said this behavior could tend to undermine public confidence in the judiciary.
“This is never acceptable,” he said. “Judges must decide cases according to the evidence and the law.”
2GB’s story was published at a time of apparent conflict between the ODPP and some District Court judges, including Wass, over sexual assault cases.
“The committee is satisfied that the story was put forward in retaliation for Judge Wass’s earlier criticism. [ODPP]said the majority.
However, two of the three Labor MPs on the committee and one Green MP made strong dissenting statements.
Greens MP Sue Higginson said in her dissent that the majority’s “unfounded and biased findings… are both irresponsible and incredible”.
The upper house inquiry was ostensibly set up to examine legal identity protections for children in criminal cases, but it focused almost exclusively on the hearings on Dowling and Wass.
There was no hint in its name or general description to suggest an unrelated purpose, which led some observers to wonder. including leading Sydney silk Geoffrey Watson, SCto label it a “hatchet job.”
Former senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi (KC) said on Tuesday that he had worked with Dowling for many years and that she was “an extremely honest and competent person”.
“The findings of the majority of the committee are contradicted by the only evidence they have,” Tedeschi said.
“They would never stand up in court of law. I remain confident that he can fulfill his important role as DPP.”
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