Former WA trade commissioner Craig Peacock has letter to Premier Roger Cook seeking compensation rejected

Craig Peacock — the former WA trade commissioner to Japan — was rebuffed after seeking compensation from Premier Roger Cook for a Corruption and Crime Commission report that destroyed his reputation. Mr Peacock was fired in 2019 after the CCC accused him of corruptly using taxpayer money for the benefit of himself and others for many years. The probe into Mr Peacock was later found to have made three crucial errors by the parliamentary inspector — including creating the false impression that he had committed tax evasion in Japan. The 2019 report found Mr Peacock had covered up a crash in a work car whilst intoxicated — leading to him spending two days in a cell — and that the commissioner arranged for former Liberal politicians Phil Edman and Brian Ellis to attend a Tokyo “bathhouse”. Inspector Matthew Zilko said there was “no basis to dispute the Commission’s opinion of serious misconduct” and that most of its processes were “appropriate”. But Mr Zilko lashed the CCC for falsely implying Mr Peacock had been stripped of his Visa by the Japanese Government and for omitting that the former commissioner of 17 years had offered to repay the nearly $500,000 overpayment of his allowances after being notified. Mr Peacock wrote to the Premier seeking compensation on January 23, claiming the ordeal had shortened his working life by 13 years. “I ask you, Premier, to consider the situation in which the State has placed me and my family on the strength of a flawed report containing significantly wrong conclusions, which, upon invitation to do so, the CCC has declined to correct for the public record,” the letter read. “Both the language used by the Commission and these florid and eye-catching statements remain on the public record, available to a simple Google search. They have rendered me unemployable.” But on Christmas Eve, Mr Peacock confirmed on his Substack account that, after seven months, his request was denied. Mr Peacock said the Premier left it to the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation director general to reply. This move, he claimed, added “insult to injury”. Mr Peacock’s office in Japan was initially overseen by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, but later fell under DJTSI. “My appeal was rejected based purely on the initial and highly debunked CCC report, not on the Parliamentary Inspector’s (review),” he said. “The letter gave no recognition to my mental condition at the time of my persecution and pursuit.”