Luna Park bosses guilty of contempt
August 18, 2007, Sydney Morning Herald,
Geesche Jacobsen and Andrew Clennell
TWO executives involved in the running of Luna Park - including a close friend of the Premier, Morris Iemma - have been found guilty of contempt of court over sending confidential documents about noise complaints to a NSW minister.
The documents, produced in a legal discovery process, are a noise report on the Ranger ride produced for a residents group taking legal action against the then newly reopened amusement park and an affidavit by a resident, Susan Hesse, about the effect of the noise.
The court found the two executives, Peter Hearne and David Tierney, had emailed the documents to the then sport and recreation minister, Sandra Nori, "to denigrate [residents'] complaints about noise from Luna Park".
Ms Nori later referred to the material in Parliament when introducing legislation preventing legal action against noise from the park.
Mr Hearne, the chief executive of Luna Park Sydney Pty Ltd, and Mr Tierney, an adviser to Multiplex Developments Australia Pty Ltd - a part owner of Luna Park Sydney - had sent two emails to Ms Nori in July and October 2005.
Mr Tierney has been a close friend of Mr Iemma's since he and the Premier used to work for the former senator Graham Richardson in Canberra. Mr Iemma is understood to have offered Mr Tierney a job as his chief of staff upon becoming Premier.
Mr Tierney said in the email that the material could be used for "rhetorical or debating" purposes in Parliament to "show how unreasonable the residents" were. He said: "This cannot be quote[d] as it could be in contempt of court."
The emails were sent after Luna Park Sydney breached a court undertaking by leaking other evidence to a Sydney newspaper. Afterwards, the company apologised and undertook not to release such material to the media or "any other person not properly connected to the proceedings".
Lawyers for the men later said they believed only the "public dissemination" of the material would amount to contempt.
In his ruling, overturning a Supreme Court decision, the Court of Appeal's Justice David Ipp found there was "a reasonable possibility" the men would breach the undertaking again in future if it benefited Luna Park Sydney.
In a dissenting opinion, acting Justice Kenneth Handley said the men should not have been found guilty and that the company should have been sued instead.
He also said it was possible the legal action against the men, which he believed was designed to "punish" them, might be in contempt of Parliament.
The court has ordered another judge to determine how they should be penalised.
The residents' action against the amusement park, now conducted against alleged breaches of trade practices legislation and the Crown Lands Act, remains to be determined.
Glenn Byres, a spokesman for the Premier, said last night: "These are matters appropriately dealt with by a court independently."
The Deputy Opposition Leader and member for North Shore, Jillian Skinner, said she was not surprised by the court's decision. "I have raised concerns about the management of Luna Park many, many times over the last 10 years and the community have never been satisfied with the answers," she said.