NSW’s top prosecutor gave false evidence on media leak about young Indigenous offender, inquiry finds

New South Wales parliamentary committee has released findings into Sally Dowling. Photograph: Steven Markham/AAP View image in fullscreen New South Wales parliamentary committee has released findings into Sally Dowling. Photograph: Steven Markham/AAP NSW’s top prosecutor gave false evidence on media leak about young Indigenous offender, inquiry finds Sally Dowling admits her office pitched the story but says it was not authorised by her, while her colleagues call her ‘a person of integrity’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A New South Wales parliamentary committee report has made findings accusing the state’s top prosecutor of giving false evidence under oath to an inquiry and recommended the attorney general investigate whether there are grounds to remove her from office. But the state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, has called the report a “stitch-up from the outset” and said it was “the worst … that I have seen in my nearly 21 years in parliament”. The upper house inquiry voted 4-3 to find that the NSW director of public prosecutions, Sally Dowling, authorised pitching a story to radio station 2GB about a sentencing hearing involving a young person, and “falsely denied having done so in her evidence to the committee”. Naidoc Week isn’t just a party – it’s a protest pursuing justice and self-determination for Indigenous Australians | Bronwyn Carlson for the Conversation Read more Its report, released on Tuesday, found there was “no genuine public interest” in the office of the director of public prosecutions (ODPP) “proactively and surreptitiously” pitching the story. It found the action had risked identifying the child involved, and would “most likely constitute a breach of the prosecution guidelines ”. The committee recommended that Daley “consider establishing a formal inquiry with compulsory powers to examine [the findings] … with a view to determining whether there are grounds to remove the Director of Public Prosecutions from office”. Dowling, who gave evidence to the inquiry, has admitted her office pitched the story, but strongly rejected any suggestions she authorised it. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The inquiry, which was set up to examine protections against identifying children in court proceedings, which is an offence in NSW, instead focused mostly on an October 2024 incident which saw Dowling’s department share details to 2GB about the sentencing hearing of an Indigenous child. The child, incorrectly described in the broadcast as having performed a “welcome” to country , was not named on air. A police investigation into whether the child had been illegally identified ended last year with no charges being laid. District court judge Penelope Wass, who had allowed the child to perform an acknowledgment of country before sentencing them for serious crimes, wrote a 68-page submission to the inquiry alleging Dowling had organised the l