How an angry letter to the editor exposed a fake identity and earned an ICAC referral

2 weeks ago 6

A substance connection sent from a Southern Highlands section councillor and authorities MP to the exertion of a tiny determination paper has blown retired into a bizarre nationalist saga involving a faked individuality and allegations of attempts to power editorial coverage, and resulted successful a referral to the state’s corruption body.

In an editorial successful Wednesday’s Southern Highlands Express newspaper, exertion Cristian King published a substance from autarkic Wollondilly MP Judy Hannan, which is alleged to connection a quid pro quo: she would bargain advertizing abstraction successful the insubstantial if helium revealed confidential accusation astir the idiosyncratic who had written a missive captious of her.

Judy Hannan and Southern Highlands Express exertion Cristian King.

Hannan utilized a assembly gathering successful February to suggest naming a Wollondilly Council-owned plus successful honour of a councillor and erstwhile politician who was retiring aft 25 years, an thought yet rejected by her colleagues.

The question was outrageous to Louise Werrington, purportedly a Thirlmere resident, who was published successful the Express decrying the thought arsenic a “dangerous precedent for section governance”, earlier penning 4 much paragraphs astir however she thought Hannan was failing arsenic a section MP.

“It seems that our section subordinate has wholly mislaid interaction with what matters astir to residents and reminds maine of our erstwhile Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s infamous ‘Captains Pick’ to knight Prince Phillip connected Australia Day,” she wrote.

Hannan said she recognised the sanction Louise Werrington from a assemblage forum held successful February, which featured a near-identical submission from the writer accompanied by a station bureau box, an anonymous email code and a telephone fig that was missing a digit.

“They weren’t astatine the meeting, they weren’t online, and they had it work retired by a [council] director,” she said erstwhile contacted astir the ruckus connected Wednesday.

The archetypal missive to the exertion from a Louise Werrington, published successful an earlier variation of the Southern Highlands Express newspaper.

Hannan said she had tried “multiple times” implicit respective weeks to interaction King, 29, the paper’s editor, to pass him that she believed the individuality was fake, astir apt a effect of “party politicking” against her.

“I privation to cognize who that idiosyncratic is due to the fact that that idiosyncratic doesn’t exist,” she said. “The thought was for them to realise they’d printed thing from idiosyncratic who doesn’t exist.”

But erstwhile her calls and texts went unanswered, the paper’s advertizing typical suggested she effort to substance him. “His advertizing radical said helium could beryllium anyplace successful the world, and to connection aft 12pm,” Hannan said.

“Hi Cristian, Judy here,” she texted the paper. “Can you delight archer maine who sent you the missive to the Editor by ‘Louise Werrington’. In a erstwhile Feb/March explicit Paper. Email code of the sender please. Once I person that, I’ll enactment immoderate advertizing into the paper. Kind regards, Judy H.”

King ne'er responded, but told this masthead helium was “shocked” by the offer.

“I’ve been doing this for implicit 10 years now, and I’ve conscionable ne'er received a connection similar that before, conscionable truthful explicit,” helium said.

So, successful his adjacent variation of the paper, King wrote astir it.

“We instrumentality the privateness of our correspondents precise earnestly and volition ne'er supply their details to a 3rd party, nary substance what the inducement,” King told readers of the hyper-local paper, which has a constricted online beingness and is lone distributed successful section shops.

Southern Highlands Express exertion Cristian King’s enactment astir Judy Hannan’s substance message.

“Which brings maine to the taxable of Ms Hannan offering a fiscal payment to the Express, successful the signifier of advertisements, successful speech for specified information. Simply put, it’s not on.

“On advice, we person referred the substance to the due authorities.”

He told the Herald: “I did notation it to ICAC.”

An ICAC spokesperson said it could neither corroborate nor contradict whether it had received immoderate accusation oregon referrals.

Searches of spot records for a Louise Werrington returned nary results, and nary societal media profiles lucifer the name.

Speaking connected Ben Fordham’s 2GB amusement connected Thursday morning, King claimed helium had verified the beingness of Werrington.

“We tin corroborate that it is simply a existent person, we person emailed backmost to them to convey them for their submission,” helium said.

Wollindilly Shire Council Deputy Mayor Matthew Deeth.

But successful an explosive 1500-word connection connected her website connected Thursday morning, Hannan said a returned state of accusation petition had exposed the truth: assembly documents, she claimed, proved Wollondilly Shire Council Deputy Mayor Matthew Deeth was connected to Werrington and the archetypal submission of Louise Werrington to the assemblage forum.

After being contacted by the Herald, Deeth confirmed Werrington did not exist, but said she was an alias for a nonmigratory who was acrophobic that penning the missive publically would “directly interaction their livelihood”.

“The idiosyncratic who raised this was truly rather acrophobic astir their individuality and the implications of that coming out, arsenic it would straight interaction their livelihood,” helium said.

“That was the biggest interest to the individual; that was her main worry. I saw determination was thing successful the assemblage guidelines astir stopping a pseudonym being used, and that was my proposal to the idiosyncratic called Louise.”

The accusation was lone exposed due to the fact that of an email mishap: successful penning an email to the idiosyncratic known arsenic Louise, Deeth inadvertently sent the email to the council’s governance staff, catching it wrong a state of accusation request.

Hannan said she accepted her substance connection to King was “poorly worded” and work arsenic an onslaught connected journalistic independence. But she said attacks that were anonymous oregon written nether pseudonyms acceptable their ain “dangerous precedent”.

“I americium consenting to instrumentality disapproval and prosecute successful discussions, but lone with a existent idiosyncratic and not idiosyncratic hiding down a fake name,” she wrote.

As for the idiosyncratic down the Louise Werrington pseudonym, Hannan said she would beryllium “most delighted” to conscionable them.

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