NSW DPP Sally Dowling, SC backed by top prosecutors amid parliamentary probe
Updated ,first published
NSW Attorney General Michael Daley has described the upper house inquiry with damning findings into the state attorney general as a “seam” after a majority of the committee concluded he gave false evidence to parliament.
One explosives report In what is likely to trigger fears of the politicization of the agency, a 4-3 majority of upper house MPs recommended that the state government consider setting up a new parliamentary oversight committee for the Office of the Prosecutor.
The majority of the inquiry found devastating findings that DPP Sally Dowling, SC, authorized her office to relay a negative story about District Court Judge Penelope Wass to Sydney radio station 2GB in 2024 and “mistakenly denied this in her evidence to the committee”.
But Daley called it “the worst parliamentary committee report I have seen in nearly 21 years of parliament” and said it was “further evidence of the unruly misbehavior we regularly see from the legislative council”.
“The report includes findings that are not supported by evidence. It reaches conclusions contrary to the affidavits. It treats mere suspicion and speculation as fact,” he said.
“It was a stitch from the beginning.”
He said he had full confidence in Dowling and that the DPP “is and should remain an independent legal authority operating free from political interference”.
“Given my serious concerns about the recommendations and findings contained in this report, I will instruct the Crown Solicitor’s Office to brief senior counsel to review the report.”
The Public Service Association of NSW condemned the majority’s findings and said the committee was “involved in political farce”.
“These committees are not there to operate as a star chamber or a de facto court,” he said.
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] …and perhaps for additional reasons unknown to the committee,” the majority said.
The majority recommended that Daley “consider establishing a formal investigation with mandatory powers” to examine the incident “to determine whether there are grounds to remove” Dowling from office.
It said the remit of any new oversight committee for the ODPP “should be similar to existing committees with responsibility for overseeing the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the NSW Crime Commission and the Ombudsman and Law Enforcement Commission.”
‘Unfounded and biased findings’
But the findings caused a deep divide in the committee. Greens MP Sue Higginson and Labor MPs Cameron Murphy and Bob Nanva did not support the findings and recommendations.
In his dissent, Higginson said the majority’s “unfounded and biased findings… are both irresponsible and incredible.”
“The report’s allegations that the principal may have broken the law by presenting false evidence to the committee and that the principal’s conduct probably warranted his dismissal are extremely serious allegations made irresponsibly and erroneously. They must be rejected.”
In a separate dissent, Murphy and Nanva said: “When a parliamentary committee makes findings that could seriously affect an individual, his or her career and, in the case of this report, the administration of justice, those findings must be rigorously tested and based on factual evidence.”
They said the findings and recommendations regarding Dowling “fall far short of that standard.”
“The consequences are serious, but the evidence is shockingly lacking,” Labor MPs said.
Legal heavyweights support DPP
Dowling’s Commonwealth, state and territory counterparts were locked behind him in a letter to Daley on June 30, days before the report was published.
Senior prosecutors said Dowling was “a person of integrity who always conducted himself in an exemplary and ethical manner in our dealings.”
In her testimony before the upper house justice and communities committee last year, Dowling admitted her office had effectively passed a story about Wass to 2GB in October 2024.
Dowling vehemently denied allowing the ODPP’s media manager to provide information to 2GB and said his office only learned he was the source of the story days before the parliamentary hearing in December 2025.
damn findings
The majority of the upper house committee (the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party’s Robert Borsak, Labour’s Stephen Lawrence and the Liberals Susan Carter and Natasha Maclaren-Jones) found Dowling’s evidence to be inaccurate in this respect and allowed the story to be given to 2GB.
They concluded that Dowling’s unsubstantiated denials included a claim that he “only discovered that the story had been put forward by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in December 2025”, despite having attended an internal meeting where the matter was discussed the day before the 2GB story.
Lawrence supported the majority’s findings but went further in dissent, saying: “Powerful people have a special tendency to attract loyalty and support from their peers as well as from their subordinates.
“This report reveals media comment guidelines were not administered properly and information was used inappropriately. Public confidence in the ODPP needs to be restored and maintained.”
‘Foregone conclusion’
In his dissenting statement, Higginson said the committee could not be satisfied by the evidence before it that Dowling “knowingly allowed the story to be made available to 2GB”.
“The report jettisons affidavits and relies on fabricated evidence and inferences to assume the principal is guilty, a conclusion that some committee members point to as inevitable.”
investigation
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.
The absence of any hint of an unrelated purpose in its name or general terms of reference has led some observers, including leading Sydney silk Geoffrey Watson, SC, to label it a “hatchet job”.
Judge’s explosive presentation
An explosive 68-page presentation of the inquiry was quietly published on the NSW parliament’s website the night before Dowling gave evidence and Australian That morning, Wass accused the ODPP of releasing 2GB of information to “embarrass and defame him”.
Wass claimed this was “part of a deliberate strategy by some within the ODPP, including Ms Dowling, to attack her personally or to influence her judicial conduct, or both”.
The judge said the committee may consider sending top ODPP officials to the governor “for removal.”
‘Ambush’ from the Committee
In a later submission to the inquiry, the ODPP said it was “difficult to avoid the inference that the committee intended to ambush”. [Dowling] with the judge’s statement at the investigation hearing”.
The 2GB story was about Wass’ invitation to an Indigenous youth for whom he was sentenced to a severe break and penetration involving sexual contact with an older woman.
Wass invited him to do what he called a “Welcome to Country”. Instead of a culturally inappropriate welcome, he delivered a brief speech of thanks to the “traditional owners and custodians of these lands” via video link.
Ben Fordham, presenter of 2GB’s breakfast show, described the “welcome”, which airs on October 25, 2024, as a “local scandal”.
The parliamentary inquiry heard Dowling was present at an internal meeting with the ODPP media manager and an external media consultant the day before the 2GB story was published.
Dowling told the committee after the meeting that the media manager did not dispute that he “had a misunderstanding” that he had been given the authority to raise the story with 2GB. But he said he “does not and will not approve of this happening.”
Dowling said that during that meeting he “also read emails and texts, as usual, regarding various prosecutions and other ODPP business.”
“I now deeply regret not giving this meeting my full attention,” Dowling said.
The 2GB story follows a wave of negative publicity towards ODPP.
The majority of the committee said they were “unconvinced by Ms Dowling’s explanation” in light of the “long-standing dispute between the DPP and the judge”.
The claim that ‘#MeToo is over-exaggerated’
Some District Court judges, including Wass, had issued rulings criticizing the office’s handling of sexual assault cases. Australian To report on the claim that “#MeToo has gone overboard.” The judges expressed the view that the ODPP was conducting unfair investigations.
Dowling complained to the Judiciary Committee about two decisions by justices Peter Whitford and Robert Newlinds. The watchdog said in 2024 that his comments were inappropriate and had no evidentiary basis. Both judges apologized.
The only connection between Wass, Dowling and child identity protections is that ODPP gave 2GB the name of the Indigenous offender invited to the “welcome” ceremony to corroborate the story.
However, in accordance with the legal ban on publicly publishing information identifying children in criminal cases, 2GB did not mention his name on the live broadcast.
Wass stated that he contacted the police because he was concerned that this ban might have been violated after the 2GB broadcast.
But he also said that “based on the insufficient information currently known, the ODPP is justified in asserting that there has been no violation of this provision.”
Police completed their investigation early last year. No charges were made.
Borsak said in his foreword to the committee report: “Although no violation of the legislation was detected, the statement should never have been made, this is a fact accepted by all parties.”
In his dissenting statement, Higginson said: “proactive presentation of a story [by the ODPP to 2GB] It created the impression that there was negative media coverage due to the disagreement between the judge and the principal.”
“The potential to create such an impression is an example of why proactive stories about cases involving children and young people should not be told.”
Higginson said media coverage of the ODPP should be limited to fact-checking on a reactive and cautious basis.
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