Athol Moffitt
Athol Randolph Moffitt
Biography
Moffit was the son of NSW workers' compensation judge Herbert William Moffitt, and his older sister Gwen was also a practising solicitor. He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School and then studied law at the University of Sydney, where he graduated with first-class honours. He was admitted to the NSW bar in 1938.[1]
At the outset of
Moffitt was appointed a
In 1973 he was appointed to head a royal commission investigating allegations of organised crime in licensed clubs in NSW. The royal commission uncovered apparent links between the
In 1974 Moffitt became
Moffitt retired from the Supreme Court in June 1984, on reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. The following year, he published a book on organised crime, A Quarter to Midnight, which claimed that organised crime in Australia was far more extensive than governments were prepared to admit, that the National Crime Authority was a "lame duck" and that the close ties between the trade union movement and ALP governments was hindering the investigation of criminal activity in unions.[1]
In 1998 he wrote a book on the drug problem, Drug Precipice, and followed by another book on the same subject, Drug Alert, a simpler exposition of the problem.
In 1999 he publicly criticised the opening of a legal heroin injection room in Kings Cross, Sydney and in 2000 he publicly commented that the prosecution of alleged World War II war criminal Konrāds Kalējs was unrealistic.
In his last public address, in 2006, to the professional club, Probus, Moffitt revealed that the late crime boss Lenny McPherson had been a paid informant to his 1973-74 royal commission.[1]
On 29 April 1948, Moffitt married Heather Williams daughter of Mr F. Williams. Together they had two sons one of whom died of a heroin overdose which in part go some way to explain Moffitt's strident attitude towards illegal drugs. His son's death only served to redouble his efforts in relation to the war on drugs and organised crime.[1]
Publications
- Project Kingfisher: The Terrible Story of the Massacres of the Sandakan POWs in Borneo - and the Secret Plan for a Rescue That Never Happened 1989
References
- ^ a b c d e f Sydney Morning Herald obituary, 3 May 2007
- ^ "The Honourable Athol Randolph Moffitt, CMG, QC". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Coventry, CJ. Origins of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (2018: MA thesis submitted at UNSW), 184-185.