The Assassination of Neville Wran

Neville Wran is the most electorally successful Labor premier in NSW history. In 13 years leading the Labor Party in Australia’s largest state, Wran did not lose an election or lose a seat at a by-election. His government (1976-1986) is acknowledged as a reformist administration. Wran’s political influence extended beyond NSW. He was elected Federal President of the ALP and the “Wran model” – moderate, stable, fiscally cautious but progressive government – was a template for a new generation of Labor leaders in other States.

Despite this record, it is now commonplace for journalists to describe the Wran Government as a “byword for corruption” and “riddled with corruption”. Journalists and others have also claimed that Wran was personally corrupt. An ABC TV documentary alleged Wran had a friendly relationship with prominent crime figure Abe Saffron; had covered up Saffron’s involvement in the Luna Park fire; and had delivered a new lease for the park to a Saffron-linked company. A former NSW chief magistrate has claimed “corruption got into the magistracy under Wran”.

Was Wran corrupt? Did he run a corrupt administration? The book answers these questions by critically and forensically examining various incidents and events that have caused people to question his honesty. Each chapter effectively stands on its own; each addressing what Wran himself called a “log of allegations of corruption”. These include Wran’s reluctance to reform the NSW Police Force and his controversial promotion of a senior policeman later found to be corrupt; his long-standing friendship with controversial bookmaker Bill Waterhouse; the Luna Park ghost train fire conspiracy; the Street Royal Commission and alleged corruption within the magistracy; an allegation arising from “the Age tapes”; the jailing of his corrective services minister, Rex Jackson; and alleged favours for media moguls, including the introduction of Lotto. One chapter details how Wran built his wealth since the size of his estate has also fed claims he must have been corrupt.

The book contains much previously unpublished material. Access to unreported file notes of the head of the Premier’s Department alters the common narrative that the Wran Government dragged its feet in investigating Federal Police wiretaps revealing possible corruption of a prisoner early-release scheme. A previously secret report by a federal Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, released in 2017 but unreported until now, exonerates Wran on an allegation arising from “the Age tapes” that he promoted a public servant at the urging of controversial solicitor Morgan Ryan. Details of Wran’s wealth and the dispute over his will are revealed.

The book will be controversial since it is critical, supported by evidence, of the work of prominent journalists, including Andrew Rule, Kate McClymont, Tony Jones, Bob Bottom and Rodney Tiffen. One chapter demolishes, in forensic detail, allegations made by a lauded ABC-TV documentary of Wran’s supposed involvement in the Luna Park fire tragedy. Another chapter similarly pulls apart claims by a former NSW chief magistrate, Clarrie Briese, that the Street Royal Commission got it wrong when it exonerated Wran on claims he perverted the course of justice. Allegations made against two Wran Government ministers, in books published after their deaths, are also forensically examined and shown to have no credible foundation.

The final chapter summarises the findings of the author’s detailed examination of these various “whacks on the coffin lid”. This chapter also examines why the Wran Government has attracted these corruption claims and why Wran has been personally singled out for character assassination after his death.

Milton Cockburn is a former Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and co-author of Wran: An Unauthorised Biography. He was an adviser to Premier Wran for four years.