Council calls for ex-cop to quit

FORMER Tasmanian Department of Justice chief Simon Overland is under pressure to quit his $400,000-a-year job as chief executive of Whittlesea council in Victoria, amid safety fears following a death threat.

Four out of 11 Whittlesea councillors have called for Mr Overland, also a former Victorian chief commissioner, to step down.

Councillors Ricky Kirkham, Alahna Desiato, Norm Kelly and Caz Monteleone say Mr Overland, likely to be a major witness at a royal commission into the Lawyer X police informant scandal, should step aside for ratepayers’ sake.

They plan to move a motion to sack him at the next council meeting if he refuses to quit.

But Whittlesea mayor Lawrie Cox is backing his chief executive, who he said was a victim of “party politics”.

A council customer service officer received a death threat after Mr Overland’s appointment in August last year, after heading up Tasmania’s Department of Justice since 2011.

Cr Desiato said she was concerned that criminals could attack Mr Overland at a council meeting.

“He should resign,” she said. “This puts councillors and staff in an awkward position.”

Cr Kelly said Mr Overland could not “do his duties” while being the subject of a royal commission, and he had upset some dangerous people.

“We’re not talking about people who have stolen a packet of chewy at a milk bar. These are hardened criminals,” Cr Kelly said.

Mr Overland was Victoria Police deputy commissioner when a gangland lawyer, dubbed Lawyer X, was used as a police informer in an attempt to end Melbourne’s bloody underworld war.

He held regular meetings with Lawyer X and is reported to have dismissed concerns about using her as a source.

Lawyer X received a $2.9 million payout from Victoria Police and senior officers were “very worried” she would reveal how they used her.

She claimed to have provided information that led to the arrest of, or laying of charges against, 386 people. Those convicted with the use of information provided by her could now appeal on the basis of a breach of legal professional privilege.

Simon Overland