Moira Raynor

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Moira Rayner (1948- ) Australian feminist lawyer and left wing advocate.

[edit] Equal Opportunity Lawyer

Rayner graduated from the University of Western Australia with an LL.B (Hons) and an M.A. (Public Policy), after which she joined the Western Australian Bar in 1972. Rayner subsequently moved to the East coast of Australia and settled for a time practising as a solicitor in Melbourne. In the 1980s and 1990s Rayner made her name as an outspoken advocate of equality and feminist politics. She was in this period, and remains, a close friend and associate of former Labor Premier of Victoria Joan Kirner.

In 1990 Kirner appointed Rayner as Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, Victoria, a position she held until 1994.

Raynor has also been appointed to various quasi-academic positions, including Adjunct Professor at a number of Universities and a Senior Fellow in the Law School of Melbourne University and a Visiting Scholar at the School of Social Inquiry at Murdoch University.

[edit] Perverting the Course of Justice Claims

Ironically, Raynor’s undoing came with her appointment by the Labor Government of Western Australia as an acting Commissioner of the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission. Aware that an old friend and Labor Party crony, Laurie Marquet, was under investigation by the Commission for corruption, she has admitted that she visited Marquet and discussed the investigation and advised him that he should not use his phone (which she knew was being tapped by the Commission).

After Raynor’s conduct came to light she immediately resigned from the Corruption and Crime Commission and departed for the East coast, amid a flood of media reports across the nation. Raynor has since returned to Western Australia to face charges (which she defended) of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

According to her defence Counsel, Robert Richter QC, Raynor "stepped over the line through mateship". According to The Age newspaper Raynor herself told the Perth District Court that: "I compromised my job, not that investigation, by that remark. It made it necessary to resign. The risk was to my job and I paid for it."

A criminal trial found her not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Raynor has kept a low public profile since the scandal broke in 2005.

[edit] Books and Life of Joan Kirner

She has co-written The Women’s Power Handbook (with her old friend Joan Kirner) and Resilient Children and Young People (with Meg Montague).

She is currently writing a book about the life and political downfall of Joan Kirner.