Government’s secrets around Collaery should be first focus of federal ICAC

Justice David Mossop of the ACT Supreme Court brought proceedings against whistleblower Bernard Collaery to an end last Friday, following Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’ correct and welcome no-billing of the case, but some unfinished business remains. Large volumes of it.

As a result of the prosecution — and attorneys-general Christian Porter’s and Michaelia Cash’s determination to try to prosecute Collaery in secret, use secret evidence against him, deny him the chance to defend himself, and otherwise delay and drag out a vexatious prosecution — a large volume of secret material has been compiled dealing with the conduct of the Howard government and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in bugging the Timor-Leste cabinet.

This was all submitted by the Commonwealth to justify its attempt to conduct the prosecution in as much secrecy as possible. This material could now be used to expose the perpetrators of both the original bugging and its subsequent cover-up — the likes of John Howard, Alexander Downer, their advisers and senior officials of the time.