By Anthony Segaert and Max Maddison
A text message sent from a Southern Highlands local councillor and state MP to the editor of a tiny regional newspaper has blown out into a bizarre public saga involving a faked identity and allegations of attempts to influence editorial coverage, and resulted in a referral to the state’s corruption body.
In an editorial in Wednesday’s Southern Highlands Express newspaper, editor Cristian King published a text from independent Wollondilly MP Judy Hannan, which is alleged to offer a quid pro quo: she would buy advertising space in the paper if he revealed confidential information about the person who had written a letter critical of her.
Judy Hannan and Southern Highlands Express editor Cristian King.Credit: Artwork: Nathan Perri
Hannan used a council meeting in February to propose naming a Wollondilly Council-owned asset in honour of a councillor and former mayor who was retiring after 25 years, an idea ultimately rejected by her colleagues.
The motion was outrageous to Louise Werrington, purportedly a Thirlmere resident, who was published in the Express decrying the idea as a “dangerous precedent for local governance”, before writing four more paragraphs about how she thought Hannan was failing as a local MP.
“It seems that our local member has completely lost touch with what matters most to residents and reminds me of our previous Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s infamous ‘Captains Pick’ to knight Prince Phillip on Australia Day,” she wrote.
Hannan said she recognised the name Louise Werrington from a community forum held in February, which featured a near-identical submission from the writer accompanied by a post office box, an anonymous email address and a phone number that was missing a digit.
“They weren’t at the meeting, they weren’t online, and they had it read out by a [council] director,” she said when contacted about the ruckus on Wednesday.
The original letter to the editor from a Louise Werrington, published in an earlier edition of the Southern Highlands Express newspaper.Credit: Southern Highlands Express
Hannan said she had tried “multiple times” over several weeks to contact King, 29, the paper’s editor, to inform him that she believed the identity was fake, most likely a result of “party politicking” against her.
“I want to know who that person is because that person doesn’t exist,” she said. “The idea was for them to realise they’d printed something from someone who doesn’t exist.”
But when her calls and texts went unanswered, the paper’s advertising representative suggested she attempt to text him. “His advertising people said he could be anywhere in the world, and to message after 12pm,” Hannan said.
“Hi Cristian, Judy here,” she texted the paper. “Can you please tell me who sent you the letter to the Editor by ‘Louise Werrington’. In a previous Feb/March express Paper. Email address of the sender please. Once I have that, I’ll put some advertising into the paper. Kind regards, Judy H.”
King never responded, but told the Herald he was “shocked” by the offer.
“I’ve been doing this for over 10 years now, and I’ve just never received a message like that before, just so explicit,” he said.
So, in his next edition of the paper, King wrote about it.
“We take the privacy of our correspondents very seriously and will never provide their details to a third party, no matter what the inducement,” King told readers of the hyper-local paper, which has a limited online presence and is only distributed in local shops.
Southern Highlands Express editor Cristian King’s note about Judy Hannan’s text message.Credit: Southern Highlands Express
“Which brings me to the subject of Ms Hannan offering a financial benefit to the Express, in the form of advertisements, in exchange for such information. Simply put, it’s not on.
“On advice, we have referred the matter to the appropriate authorities.”
He told the Herald: “I did refer it to ICAC.”
An ICAC spokesperson said it could neither confirm nor deny whether it had received any information or referrals.
Searches of property records for a Louise Werrington returned no results, and no social media profiles match the name.
Speaking on Ben Fordham’s 2GB show on Thursday morning, King claimed he had verified the existence of Werrington.
“We can confirm that it is a real person, we have emailed back to them to thank them for their submission,” he said.
Wollondilly Shire Council Deputy Mayor Matthew Deeth.Credit: Matthew Deeth/Instagram
But in an explosive 1500-word statement on her website on Thursday morning, Hannan said a freedom of information request had exposed the truth: council documents, she claimed, proved Wollondilly Shire Council Deputy Mayor Matthew Deeth was connected to Werrington and the original submission of Louise Werrington to the community forum.
After being contacted by the Herald, Deeth confirmed Werrington did not exist, but said she was an alias for a resident who was concerned that writing the letter publicly would “directly impact their livelihood”.
“The person who raised this was really quite concerned about their identity and the implications of that coming out, as it would directly impact their livelihood,” he said.
“That was the biggest concern to the individual; that was her main worry. I saw there was nothing in the community guidelines about stopping a pseudonym being used, and that was my advice to the person called Louise.”
This masthead has spoken to the author of the letter, who agreed to speak only on the proviso of anonymity and who explained they were simply a concerned resident.
The information was exposed only because of an email mishap: in writing an email to the person known as Louise, Deeth had inadvertently sent the email to the council’s governance staff, catching it within a freedom of information request.
Hannan said she accepted her text message to King was “poorly worded” and read as an attack on journalistic independence. But she said attacks that were anonymous or written under pseudonyms set their own “dangerous precedent”.
“I am willing to take criticism and engage in discussions, but only with a real person and not someone hiding behind a fake name,” she wrote.
As for the person behind the Louise Werrington pseudonym, Hannan said she would be “most delighted” to meet them.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.