The man who ordered Lindy Chamberlain's release from prison says the Northern Territory has been unfairly demonised for its handling of one of the most sensational cases in Australia's history.
Lindy and her late former husband Michael Chamberlain were convicted, pardoned, exonerated and compensated over the death of their daughter Azaria, who disappeared on a family camping trip to Uluru in 1980.
Despite saying a dingo took the little girl, Lindy Chamberlain was jailed in 1982 after she was found guilty of murder while Michael Chamberlain was given a suspended sentence for being an accessory.
Mr Chamberlain, who died on Monday from complications with leukaemia, had slammed the 32-year legal saga of trials, appeals and inquests as "one of the worst perversions of justice and forensic science in Australian history".
But former Northern Territory Chief Minister Steve Hatton has rallied to defend the authorities involved, insisting they acted appropriately throughout the case.
"I feel quite sad for Michael and his family. He's obviously been through some traumas in his life," he told AAP on Tuesday.
"(But) the Northern Territory police force and judicial system shouldn't be continually facing this level of ongoing national and international acrimony."
Mr Hatton noted that after the initial NT jury trial convicted the Chamberlains, two subsequent appeals in federal courts upheld the decision.
He said it was then the NT government which initiated the inquiry that eventually freed them.
"We didn't do it under pressure, we did it because it was a fair thing to do," he said.
The NT government released Lindy Chamberlain from prison in 1986 following the discovery of her daughter's matinee jacket at Uluru, new evidence that triggered a commission of inquiry.
Mr Hatton said he never bought Mrs Chamberlain's story of a baby-snatching dingo, but he didn't believe she should have gone to jail for murder either.
"None of us believed that she didn't kill the baby," he said.
"I believed she was suffering from stress and went into a post natal depression episode. Under normal circumstances she would never have been convicted of murder as a result of that."
Mr Hatton said Meryl Streep's Oscar-nominated performance as Lindy Chamberlain in the 1988 Australian film Evil Angels badly misrepresented the NT police force's motivations.
"Meryl Streep got it wrong. That movie Evil Angels was evil in itself," he said.
"It implied that there was some sort of sinister motive to put these people behind bars."
NT Police Deputy Commissioner Kate Vanderlaan admitted the various inquests and trials Mr Chamberlain endured highlighted shortcomings within the force and impacted on his life.
"There's no denying that the NT Police were criticised for some things they did during that trial. We always learn and we've made improvements in our forensic procedures," she said on Tuesday.
Ms Vanderlaan said the force has come a long way since 1980.
"There's a lot of water under the bridge. The apologies have been given, people have admitted mistakes and there's no point now going back over that," she said.
