TELEVISION CURRENT AFFAIRS, FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY OR SPECIAL (more than 20 minutes) - WINNER

Morag Ramsay and Debbie Whitmont, Four Corners, “The Newman Case”

John Newman was a New South Wales MP shot point blank in 1994, in Australia’s only political assassination. In 2001 Phuong Ngo was convicted of the murder and jailed for life. Two other men, accused of being the driver and the shooter, were acquitted. Ngo had been in prison for 10 years when a report based on five months of investigation by reporter Debbie Whitmont and producer Morag Ramsay was broadcast. Whitmont and Ramsay had the first interviews with the other two men accused of the murder, which illuminated the inconsistent verdicts in the case. The program challenged the reliability of the evidence against Ngo and brought to light new evidence in a case well outside the agenda of mainstream current affairs. A rare judicial review was granted, and a Supreme Court inquiry into the case continues. Despite the complex nature and legal intricacies of the story, the program was riveting to watch. It was translated into Vietnamese and Chinese, and continues to make news in those countries and in Australia. Whitmont was a winner in this category in 2003. Ramsay has been part of Walkley-winning teams in the Indigenous and Social Equity categories.

Judges’ comments

An investigation into a crime described at the time as Australia’s first political assassination. Impressively researched and compellingly presented, the program uncovered several serious anomalies in the process that resulted in the conviction of Phuong Ngo, who has served 10 years of a life sentence. That conviction is now the subject of a judicial review.