Burke urged Morgan to `tell the truth`

Former premier Brian Burke repeatedly told a woman to "tell the truth" to the West
Australian corruption watchdog after she applied for a position on a statutory
planning authority, a court has heard.
Burke is on trial in the WA Magistrates Court on five charges of giving false and
misleading evidence to a Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) hearing in November
2006.
The charges, based on information from intercepts of Burke's phone calls, relate to
his lobbying for a planned development at Smiths Beach, near Yallingup, in the
state's southwest.
A CCC investigating officer has told the court the taps revealed Burke had 38,387
phone "sessions" in the 12 months leading up to the November public hearing.
These comprised home phone, mobile, text messages and faxes, and included 791 calls
in one week in July, 2006.
Burke's lawyer, Grant Donaldson, has told the court that intercepts of his own phone
calls with Burke are a breach of legal professional privilege and part of a scheme
to entrap his client.
Mr Donaldson, who has been given access to many of the CCC's phone transcripts, on
Thursday played a tape intended to counter the prosecution's claims that Burke tried
to influence a cabinet minister and friend, Norm Marlborough, to make a ministerial
appointment.
Prosecutors allege Burke lied to the CCC by denying he sought to have Mr Marlborough
appoint Beryle Morgan, a National Party member and former shire president, to the
South West Development Commission.
In phone conversations between Burke and Ms Morgan, a month before the November 2006
hearing, Ms Morgan said she was concerned that the CCC had widened the scope of its
investigations and was trying to "nab" her and Perth real estate agent and property
developer David McKenzie.
She said she was "very fearful" in giving evidence to private hearings of the CCC,
but felt "comfortable" in that "I've done nothing wrong and I've told the truth".
Burke is heard to say: "Just tell the truth. If you can't remember anything, don't
try and make it up".
" ... Most people get into trouble at these sort of things because they don't tell
the truth.
"(The CCC authorities) are all suspicious. They all believe everything bad they
hear. They never see any good ... they're trying to cling to straws to discredit
everyone."
Mr Donaldson later sought to persuade magistrate Richard Bayley that Burke had no
case to answer on the charge involving his alleged approaches to Mr Marlborough.
He said that at the CCC public hearings, after Burke had denied seeking Ms Morgan's
appointment, the CCC had clarified its position by questioning Burke as to whether
he would have asked Mr Marlborough "as a favour to you".
Mr Donaldson said the change in questioning was "a distortion and misrepresentation
of the evidence", which was maintained in the prosecutors' opening submissions to
the court hearing.
Prosecutor James Mactaggart said Burke's statements to Mr Marlborough could not be
misinterpreted.
These included conversations in which he said to Marlborough: "You're not going to
let me down on Beryle, are you?" and "I want that Beryle appointment; don't let them
talk you out of it".
The hearing continues.