Standard practice in NSW when appointing special ICAC Commissioners
to preside over highly political inquiries such as Orange Grove has been to find
a retired Judge; the theory is they’re beyond the influence of the
Government. But in the case of the ICAC inquiry into Orange Grove, the NSW
Government made an exception and appointed the President of the NSW Bar
Association, Ian Harrison SC.

The result? A well scripted inquiry that found precisely nothing
of substance, held no one responsible – and even recommended that the planning
laws in NSW be changed to assist the high profile ALP donor Westfield in their
struggle to make a dollar or two.

The swirling scuttlebutt in legal circles is that Harrison is poised
to follow in the steps of every other President of Bar for the past 50 years; be
appointed to the bench of Supreme Court of NSW, by – you guessed it – the same
government he just cleared of any wrongdoing.

All entirely on merit, naturally. It has, of course, been observed
that the NSW ALP right looks after their mates. But not in this case, surely.
Otherwise the Government would have appointed someone to ICAC like Jeff Shaw,
wouldn’t they?