Raymond Hoser, the author of Victoria Police Corruption 1 and 2, is under the legal hammer once again. A year after the Victorian Attorney General ordered Victoria Police Corruption 1 and 2 off Australian bookshelves (after 10,000 copies of the bestseller were sold); Rob Hulls has instructed his department to sue Hoser and his publisher Kotabi for contempt.
The charge of contempt alleges that Hoser has in his publications, scandalised the Victorian Courts. The writ cites various statements in Hoser's books about magistrates and judges as potentially scandalising the courts. Similar proceedings before Justice Bill Gilliard in April 2000 were unsuccessful and costs were awarded in Hoser's favour. This time the matter has been taken to the Victorian Supreme Court. Hulls' tax funded legal team will be applying to the Supreme Court on Wednesday the 30th of May to have Hoser fined and possibly jailed for contempt and have Kotabi publishers closed down once and for all.
It's interesting to see how far the Victorian Government is willing to go to have Victoria Police Corruption 1 and 11 banned once and for all. Considering that large slabs of the book have been printed in the mainstream media and the book is available on the Internet offshore, it's ironical that the Victorian government has acted once the horse was well and truly bolted. Whether you like Hoser's personal style or not, this is a matter of political censorship.
Victoria Police Corruption 1 and 2 hit at the soft underbelly of the Victorian police. Many of the accusations raised in the book have been vindicated in the fullness of time. You have to wonder why Hulls and his department have taken so long to shut Hoser up. Considering the Victorian government's close relationship with the Police and that the Victorian Police Union are now affiliated with Trades Hall, it doesn't take much grey matter to put two and two together. The Bracks Labor government won power on the back of a Victoria Police Union anti-Kennett campaign. It's interesting to speculate why these proceedings are being held now, two years after the book was published.
Copies of the writs are posted on