Inquiry Finds NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Gave False Evidence
Sally Dowling admits her office pitched the story but denies authorising it, while colleagues defend her integrity.
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A parliamentary committee report has concluded that New South Wales’ top prosecutor gave false evidence under oath during an inquiry and recommended that the attorney general investigate whether there are grounds to remove her from office.
However, the state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, described the report as a "stitch-up from the outset" and called it "the worst … that I have seen in my nearly 21 years in parliament".
The upper house inquiry voted 4-3 to find that the NSW director of public prosecutions, Sally Dowling, authorised pitching a story to radio station 2GB about a sentencing hearing involving a young person, and "falsely denied having done so in her evidence to the committee".
The report, released on Tuesday, stated there was "no genuine public interest" in the office of the director of public prosecutions (ODPP) "proactively and surreptitiously" pitching the story. It found the action risked identifying the child involved and would "most likely constitute a breach of the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987".
The committee recommended that the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, "consider establishing a formal inquiry with compulsory powers to examine [the findings] … with a view to determining whether there are grounds to remove the Director of Public Prosecutions from office".
Dowling, who gave evidence to the inquiry, admitted her office pitched the story but strongly rejected any suggestion she authorised it.
Focus of the Inquiry
The inquiry, established to examine protections against identifying children in court proceedings—an offence in NSW—primarily focused on an October 2024 incident when Dowling’s department shared details with 2GB about the sentencing hearing of an Indigenous child.
The child, incorrectly described in the broadcast as having committed serious offences, was not named on air. A police investigation into whether the child had been illegally identified concluded last year with no charges laid.
District court judge Penelope Wass, who had allowed the child to perform an acknowledgment of country before sentencing them for serious crimes, submitted a 68-page document to the inquiry alleging Dowling had organised the leak.
Wass, who has criticised the ODPP’s handling of sexual assault prosecutions under Dowling’s tenure, said the alleged leak was "designed to embarrass and defame me and to undermine the independence of a district court judge with whom the ODPP has had issue".
When Dowling first appeared before the inquiry last year, she said she had only learned two days before her December 2025 appearance that her office was the source of the story. She alleged Wass had a "personal grievance" against her and the ODPP, and accused the inquiry of a "gross denial of procedural fairness".
Evidence from ODPP Media Manager
The inquiry later heard from ODPP media manager Sally Killoran about a meeting with Dowling and an external media adviser the day before the story aired on Ben Fordham’s breakfast show on 25 October 2024.
Killoran said during the meeting she discussed "proactively pitch[ing]" the story to the Daily Telegraph, but the external media adviser suggested that 2GB "would be more interested".
No one objected to this suggestion and, therefore, at the time, I believed I had approval to pitch the story to the radio station. Believing I was authorised to do so, I contacted 2GB.
Dowling later told the inquiry that while she did not dispute Killoran’s "mistaken understanding", she did not authorise pitching the story. The external media adviser did not appear before the inquiry or make herself available to be served.
In written evidence, Dowling said she had been reading emails and text messages about other ODPP matters during the meeting.
The 4-3 majority on the committee found that Dowling gave false evidence, including "claiming she only discovered in December 2025 the story had been pitched by the [ODPP], despite having sat in the meeting where pitching the story to 2GB was decided upon".
Support for Dowling
Before the report’s publication on Tuesday, all of Dowling’s commonwealth, state, and territory counterparts wrote to Daley supporting her.
The 30 June letter, seen by Australia, stated:
We have each had significant professional involvement with Ms Dowling SC in her role as the director and collectively hold the view that she is a person of integrity who, in our dealings, has always conducted herself in an exemplary and ethical manner.
Daley said he had full confidence in Dowling.
The report makes findings that are unsupported by the evidence. It reaches conclusions that are contrary to sworn testimony. It treats mere suspicion and speculation as fact.
Given my serious concerns about the recommendations and findings made in this report, I will instruct the Crown Solicitor’s Office to brief senior counsel to review it.
A dissenting statement by the committee’s deputy chair, Greens MLC Sue Higginson, described the "unfounded and biased findings … as both irresponsible and incredible".
The report’s assertions that the Director possibly broke the law by providing false evidence to the committee, and that the Director’s conduct possibly warrants her removal from office, are profoundly serious allegations that have been made irresponsibly and erroneously. They should be rejected.
After reforms in favour of the Minns government, parliamentary committees lost the power to compel witnesses. Higginson said that change, which resulted in at least one key witness not appearing at the inquiry, had "a negative impact on the veracity with which this inquiry can make findings".
Inquiry Findings on Child Identification Protections
The inquiry found that while safeguarding children’s identities during criminal proceedings helps improve rehabilitation prospects, some children in NSW were likely being identified "through a ‘jigsaw’ of information".
It recommended the government expand the definition of information that can lead to identification.
ODPP Response
In response to questions for Dowling and the department, a spokesperson said:
The ODPP and the Director value the attorney general’s support and full confidence, welcoming Daley’s rejection of the findings and decision to brief senior counsel.
The ODPP acts with integrity and independence. That is not going to change. We have nothing further to add.
