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A hastily handwritten note was passed to NSW Premier Chris Minns with unbelievably good news – missing bushwalker Lily Hooper had been found alive after eight days in a rugged national park in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Even more unbelievably, she had been discovered with “half a bottle of water with her”, he told a live-streamed parliamentary budget estimates.
This was not correct.
NSW Police have been forced into damage control, facing questions as to how this incorrect information could be communicated so widely, including to Hooper’s family.
The communication will be investigated by the police, and the information passed to the coroner, which will examine the circumstances around Hooper’s death.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has also been questioned about whether Hooper was actually found with a water bottle, or whether the phrase was a code used by SES rescuers to communicate her condition.
The communication mishap occurred less than two weeks after police launched a murder investigation into what was later revealed to be a life-like sex doll.
Here’s how the news unfolded.
August 12: The experienced bushwalker had been set to walk the Bonnum Pic trail in Nattai National Park, a strenuous, rugged track with limited phone signal. She left her home in Oakdale, south-west of Sydney, about 8am on Wednesday, August 12, and had contacted her family.
By 10pm, she had not returned home, and her family sounded the alarm. Her car was found parked on Wanganderry Road, near the trailhead.
Almost 1000 search and rescue personnel, including Australian Defence Force members, police riding on horseback and motorbikes, firefighters, national park rangers, paramedics and SES volunteers, were involved in the search.
August 20, 11.30am: On day eight of a lengthy, exhaustive search, an SES rescuer located Hooper’s body in the scrub. That rescuer radioed the information to the command post, where it was relayed to police, who communicated the news to family.
Assistant Commissioner Joseph Cassar said rescuers and police tried to keep the family informed at every step of the rescue effort.
“We’ve been keeping them up to date with identifications of items of clothing, and in this case, the discovery of the person that we believe to be Lily,” he said on Thursday afternoon.
“The searchers believed she was alive; that’s what was communicated.”
11.50am: After almost 20 minutes, the family were told that this information was incorrect. But the updated news was slow to trickle to Sydney.
“News that she had been located and at that time alive was very significant. It’s not unusual that we would quickly report that up through our minister’s office,” Lanyon said.
“That miscommunication [had] gone through policing commands up to government.”
The updated news was slow to arrive in parliament.
11.50am: In the midst of a heated parliamentary grilling at about 11.50am, Minns was handed a handwritten note. “Is this accurate?” he asked an advisor behind him before turning back and advising the committee: “We’ve got some fantastic news.”
“I can imagine her family are just over the moon, and everyone in NSW is rooting for her,” Minns said, thanking rescuers.
Those in the room joined the celebrations with shouts of “hear, hear”, while others, including federal and state leaders of the opposition, Angus Taylor and Kellie Sloane, shared the news on social media.
12.15pm: Twenty-six minutes later, Minns was forced to correct his statement.
“I’ve got some terrible news, and I apologise to the committee, but it seems as if the early advice was wrong, and Lily’s body’s been found. She’s been found deceased,” he said.
“This is obviously devastating, and I’m just profoundly sad for her family and all those concerned. I apologise to the community.”
Taylor and Sloane quickly deleted their social media posts. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Taylor led a moment of silence in federal parliament about 2pm, while Sloane said in a statement the news of Hooper’s death was “devastating”.
4.30pm: Lanyon has shouldered the blame, apologising for the communication error which caused “embarrassment and confusion”. The information was passed to Minns via Police Minister Yasmin Catley.
“I unashamedly apologise for any additional trauma that may have caused Lily’s family,” he said.
“The miscommunication obviously was born out of elation that Lily had been found, and her condition at that time was such that searchers were relieved … Tragically, that miscommunication then led to a deflation.”
Catley was advised by NSW Police based on the information available at the time, a spokesperson said.
“That information was updated as the operation progressed,” the spokesperson said.
“Throughout this operation, the priority of every agency involved has been finding [Hooper] and supporting her family through an incredibly difficult time. Our deepest condolences are with them on this heartbreaking day.”
Hooper’s body has not yet been retrieved from the national park as dense canopy hampers a helicopter rescue effort. Police will attempt to recover her body on foot later this week.
“We’d like her to bring her back to be with the family and obviously go through the investigative process,” Lanyon said.
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Amber Schultz is a crime and justice reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
Anthony Segaert is the Parramatta bureau chief at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously an urban affairs reporter.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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