Three books have now been written advocating the innocence of Phuong Ngo who was convicted 32 years ago for Australia’s first political assassination, the killing of John Newman. Author Carlotta McIntosh puts the case for his release from prison.
There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark, when an innocent man rots in gaol for a crime he didn’t do.
Thirty-two years have now passed, to this day, since Australia’s first political assassination. While the shooter has never been found, an innocent man has spent 28 years behind bars. His alleged accomplices were acquitted.
Despite three books and dozens of articles by journalists and lawyers, questioning Ngo’s conviction, the case remains firmly closed. In the last 12 months two books, The Man Who Couldn’t Wait by former ABC 4 Corners journalist and lawyer Debbie Whitmont and my book, A Marked Man; the questionable conviction of Phuong Ngo, have been virtually ignored or patronised.
An earlier book Who Killed John Newman by lawyer and former NSW MP Peter Breen, has met a similar fate.
The question is why? Racism?
A widespread belief that justice has been done?
After all, there has been a coronial inquest, a committal hearing, three trials, numerous appeals and a judicial inquiry. Millions have been spent on the court processes.
Anyone who wants to uncover the real story comes up against a legal system that has closed ranks. There was no evidence against Ngo until the NSW Crime Commission got involved. I cannot say what I think of that body because I am constrained by the terms of the Act.
Australia’s first political assasination or miscarriage of justice?
I reported on Fairfield Council and Fairfield Local Court in the 1990’s and the only time I saw Ngo in trouble was when he was fined $100 for going through a red light. But on the same day I discovered that his licence had been suspended from 1990 to 1995, so on 5 September 1994 he was driving without a licence.
True, Phuong Ngo lied to the police when they asked where he was at the time of the murder of Cabramatta MP John Newman.
Put yourself in his shoes.
He was on the cusp of realising his dream of becoming the first Vietnamese born man or woman to sit in an Australian parliament. In fact the secretary of NSW Labor party John Della Bosca had offered him Newman’s seat hours before the assassination.
Political intrigue
Phuong Canh Ngo is no saint but he didn’t kill Cabramatta MP John Newman, nor did he get others to do it for him. Sent to die in prison, Ngo’s real crime was to be too proud to admit he was lying to police.
And yet, over lunch in Chinatown about nine hours before the murder, the General Secretary of the NSW ALP John Della Bosca offered the Cabramatta seat to Ngo, who declined because he wanted and indeed expected to go to the NSW Upper House, not the Lower House where Newman sat. This evidence was verified by a police running sheet entry of an interview with Della Bosca.
Federal Labor MPs Ted Grace and Grahame Richardson also gave evidence that Ngo wanted to go to the Upper House. Newman was the candidate for 1995 and the endorsement could not be overturned, Della Bosca said.
But anyone who has followed ALP politics knows that the party bosses in Sussex Street have a history of overruling the branches and installing candidates of their choosing. We saw that in the federal electorate of Fowler, when Christina Keneally was parachuted in over the local candidate Tu Le.
The Golden Son
Ngo joined the Labor Party in 1993 and for a while he was the golden son. The Governor General Bill Hayden opened the Mekong Club where Ngo held large party branch meetings. Bob Hawke and Grahame Richardson visited Cabramatta.
Unfortunately for Ngo, the jury believed the prosecution narrative – that Ngo killed Newman for his seat in parliament. Bob Carr has denied in writing to this writer that Newman was about to lose his endorsement. “If he had been I would have known about it.”
I am appealing for a review of his sentence.
He has been through an inquest, a committal hearing, three trials, an appeal and a judicial inquiry and was found guilty. Guilty or not, he has served 26 years for murder and the identity of the killer is still unknown. It is to be hoped that Ngo is guilty. Otherwise this story will be a stain on our justice system.
A Criminal Cases Review Commission such as has been set up in the UK, Canada and New Zealand could review the sentences of lifers who have served 25 years or more in detention.
Ngo has already served more than one life sentence. It is time for mercy.
Carlotta is a former print journalist with Fairfax suburban newspapers, Australian Associated Press news agency and the Illawarra Mercury. She is author of the book, A Marked Man, about Phuong Ngo and the assassination of politician John Newman.