John Lomax wins payout from Australian police for wrongful arrest

FAIRFAX AUSTRALIA

Former Kiwis international John Lomax has won a payout from Australian Federal Police for his wrongful arrest in Canberra in 2015.

Former Kiwis rugby league international John Lomax has won an undisclosed payout from the Australia Federal Police over his wrongful arrest during the Canberra construction union official union's royal commission.

Lomax, a Canberra construction union official, sued the Australian Federal Police for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution after the charge was later withdrawn.

Lomax, 52, settled the lawsuit earlier in the year.

While details of the payout are subject to a strict confidentiality agreement, Fairfax Media understand the figure is in the tens of thousands of dollars.

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The Australian Federal Police confirmed the claim had been resolved.

"But the terms and nature of the resolution are confidential," an AFP spokesman said.

Lomax was arrested and charged with blackmail in July 2015 during the Canberra hearings of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

He pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court the following month.

Police alleged he had forced a Canberra painting company to sign a union enterprise bargaining agreement, causing a financial loss.

In October 2015, Canberra prosecutors offered no evidence in court and dropped the case.

In 2016, Lomax launched action in the ACT Supreme Court against the AFP to recover his legal costs and claim compensation.

The civil case alleged three AFP officers had brought a trumped-up charge, which they knew had no chance of a conviction, against Lomax in a bid to pressure the Canberra Raiders great into giving evidence against his union colleagues.

Lomax has declined to comment about the settlement.

CFMEU construction and general national secretary Dave Noonan confirmed the matter had been settled, but said he did not know the specifics as the case had been run by Mr Lomax, not the union.

However, Noonan said a number of inferences could be made as a result of the deal.

"The fact [the police] settled it means they didn't want the case to proceed and the facts to be made public," Mr Noonan said.

Lomax's case is one of a number of failures linked to the Coalition's royal commission into unions, which was called by then prime minister Tony Abbott in 2014.

In 2017, the AFP was also forced to pay the bulk of the construction union's costs for a court challenge against an illegal raid on its Canberra headquarters.

Lomax, who started his playing career in Wainuiomata, played 15 tests for the Kiwis between 1993 and 1998. He is best known in Australia for his 65 matches for the Canberra Raiders. He won their player of the year award in 1994 but missed that year's grand final, which they won, because of suspension.

He later played 44 games for the North Queensland Cowboys, before having a season with the Melbourne Storm.