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WA senator denies
AFP inquiry claims
By MICHAEL BACHELARD and AAP
Western Australian senator and power-broker Noel
Crichton-Browne denied as "utterly untrue" allega
tions in the Western Australian Parliament yester
day that the Australian Federal Police were investi
gating him for threatening to kill another federal
Liberal senator.
Mr Crichton-Browne, who was forced from the
deputy presidency of the Senate and the WA Senate
ticket this year after revelations that his wife had
taken out a domestic violence restraining order
against him in the 1980s, used the adjournment de
bate last night to deny the latest allegations, which
he called "scurrilous, crude and filthy".
The woman identified on media reports as the vic
tim of the alleged harassment, Senator Sue Knowles
(Lib, WA), issued a statement last night saying, "By
resolution of the State Council of the Liberal Party, I
am not permitted to make a comment on issues
other than policy."
In Question Time in the WA Legislative Assembly
yesterday, Opposition frontbencher John Kobelke
Continued on Page 2

WA senator
denies AFP
probe into
death calls

Continued from Page 1

said Senator Crichton-Browne
had been interviewed by federal
police in Perth last Friday about
allegations that he had made
threatening and obscene tele
phone calls, including death
threats, to a federal Liberal poli
tician in Perth and in Canberra.

Senator Crichton-Browne said
last night he could "not think of
a more vile allegation than one of
this nature". He said he under
stood the federal police were put
ting out a statement to the effect
that it was untrue.

The Canberra Times received
no such statement last night.

He told the Senate he would
"pursue all legal avenues open to
me, however minute," to protect
his reputation and that of his
family, and would scrutinise any
thing Mr Kobelke had said out
side the parliamentary chamber.

Mr Kobelke asked the WA Po
lice Minister, Bob Wiese, what ac
tion he proposed to take on the
allegations, and whether it was
also true that the person said to
be threatened was now under po
lice protection.

Mr Wiese said he was not
aware of the matter but if it had
substance, he would refer it to
state police. Outside Parliament,
he said WA police were not
aware of the allegations and it
appeared to be a federal police

matter.

A federal police spokeswoman
said Senator Crichton-Browne
had raised certain matters with
the AFP which it was examining.
The AFP had received no com
plaints against Senator Crichton

Browne.

"He has actually brought cer
tain matters to the attention of
the AFP ... these matters are be
ing investigated. The AFP in
Perth is handling the matter."

She declined to detail the com
plaints.

A key powerbroker in the WA
branch of the Liberal Party, Sena
tor Crichton-Browne's opponents
within the party claim he has un
due influence in the branch.

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