Easton Affair

The Easton affair was the name which came to be used to describe a Western Australian political scandal. A member of the Labor Party, then in government, tabled a document on 5 November 1992 in the Western Australian Legislative Council claiming that confidential information was improperly released by the Liberal Opposition Leader, Richard Court, to one side of a divorce case before the Family Court of Western Australia, a woman named Penny Easton, about the financial arrangements of her former husband. The claim, which attracted significant public interest, was followed four days later by Easton's suicide. The government and in particular the Premier, Carmen Lawrence, denied any prior knowledge of the petition. Following the defeat of Labor at the 1993 election, Court, who had succeeded Lawrence as Premier, requested a Royal Commission to be held. In November 1995, the Commission found that Lawrence had misled the Western Australian parliament. She was charged with three counts of perjury but acquitted on 23 May 1999 following a trial by jury.