AMAZING DENIAL OF JUSTICE FINALLY RIGHTED

What could be more basic than being told what you are accused of and being given a chance to answer it?

Former NSW deputy police commissioner Jeff Jarratt will collect more than $1 million after winning a four-year court battle against his 2001 sacking. Mr Jarratt, a police officer since 1967, was appointed deputy commissioner for three years in 1997 and had his $218,000-a-year contract extended for a further five years in 2000. He was fired without notice by then police commissioner Peter Ryan in September 2001. Mr Ryan said the dismissal was on grounds related to Mr Jarratt's performance.

Mr Jarratt complained he had been given no opportunity to be heard on the substance of any criticisms of his performance. Yesterday, the full bench of the High Court ruled that under the rules of natural justice, Mr Jarratt, 57, was entitled to be given anopportunity to answer the criticisms. He will receive compensation of more than $642,000 for the abrupt dismissal and be reimbursed $400,000 in court costs.

Mr Jarratt's solicitor, Robert Tassell, said yesterday the outcome was a final victory in a long case. "They found that the termination of his appointment was invalid and allowed him the damages ... which is a real win for us. We're absolutely ecstatic. It's a great result for a great individual, against the state."

Mr Jarratt had battled through the courts since 2001 for compensation after the police commissioner and the NSW Government argued he was not entitled to a hearing. The NSW Police Service Act provided that a deputy commissioner could be removed from office at any time by the NSW governor on the recommendation of the police commissioner, submitted with the approval of the police minister. Mr Jarratt began court proceedings arguing he had not been validly removed under the act.

In July 2002, judge Carolyn Simpson ruled that his dismissal was invalid and that he had been denied natural justice. She said he was entitled to damages of $642,936 for the balance of his five-year contract.

The NSW Government appealed and the Court of Appeal reversed the decision, ruling that Mr Jarratt had not been entitled to a hearing by the NSW police commissioner before he recommending his removal, and that the common-law principle relied on by the commissioner and the state applied. In 2003, the Court of Appeal ruled the dismissal was lawful and Mr Jarratt lost his compensation payout and was ordered to pay $400,000 in legal costs.

Mr Jarratt applied for special leave to appeal to the High Court and the court unanimously granted his application. Yesterday, the High Court held that under the Police Service Act there was an obligation to give Mr Jarratt procedural fairness and that the "dismissal at pleasure" principle did not apply. The court, led by Chief Justice Murray Gleeson, ruled that the police commissioner's office had an obligation to give Mr Jarratt procedural fairness. The court held that unless excluded by plain words, an exercise of power by a public official, such as the NSW police commissioner, to prejudice the rights of Mr Jarratt was to accord with the rules of natural justice.

NSW Police Association secretary Peter Remfrey welcomed the decision, saying it was vital that senior police were protected from being sacked at will. "It's particularly critical, in our view, that senior police are insulated from being terminated without reason or at will," Mr Remfrey said. "Otherwise, you run the inevitable risk that political considerations will influence their decision-making. And that's not good for policing; that's not good for the public."

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