Evan Whitton

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Evan Whitton is an Australian journalist who currently is a columnist the online legal journal Justinian. He was editor of The National Times from 1978 to 1981, Chief Reporter and European Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald, Reader in Journalism at the University of Queensland, Journalist of the Year, five times winner of the Walkley Award for National Journalism and author of 'Can of Worms' (1986), 'Amazing Scenes' (1987), 'The Hillbilly Dictator' (1989), 'Trial by Voodoo', 'The Cartel: Lawyers and their Nine Magic Tricks' and 'Serial Liars: How Lawyers Get the Money and Get the Criminals Off.'

After training to be a teacher he switched to journalism in 1964. He made his name in 1969 by releasing details of a police protection racket. In 1969 he was a journalist working on The Truth, a newspaper derided as a "tits-and-bums" rag. Under the editorship of Sol Chandler, though, Truth uncovered cracking news stories almost as often as it uncovered buxom models.

Whitton became close to Bertram Wainer who was crusading against the dangers of medically untrained and unsupervised abortionists as well as the laws prohibiting abortion. Wainer believed bad laws bred corruption.

Eventually Wainer and Whitton persuaded three doctors to sign sworn affidavits alleging that thousands of dollars of protection money had been paid to top-ranking Victorian police officers to allow illegal abortions to be done without fear of police intervention.

The state government was forced to set up an inquiry that eventually led to the gaoling of three police officers.