On 5 November 1992, a petition was tabled in the Western Australian Legislative Council by John Halden MLC containing an allegation that the state Opposition Leader, Richard Court, had improperly provided confidential information to a party in a divorce case.
Ms Easton had been corresponding with Liberal Members of Parliament in an attempt to obtain assistance in proving that her husband had concealed from the Family Court some of his earnings as a public servant.
The amount in question was A$200,000 which he was alleged to have received as a retirement benefit from Exim Corporation, a body created by the State Government during the WA Inc era and of which Easton had been General Manager.
[1] In May 1995, Richard Court, who had succeeded Lawrence as Premier following the election of 1993, requested the creation of a Royal Commission to determine the circumstances of the tabling of the Easton petition.
The federal Member for Perth, Stephen Smith, was particularly hostile and made public comments, before the identity of the commissioner was announced, warning that any judge who agreed to head the inquiry should be prepared for political attack.
[2] On 14 November 1995, the Marks Royal Commission released a report which found that Lawrence had misled the Western Australian Parliament concerning her knowledge of and role in the tabling of the petition.
Following the defeat of the Keating government in the election held on 2 March 1996, Carmen Lawrence had been appointed to the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Environment Minister.