Scott Morrison runs the government with an iron fist behind closed doors so you can take it for granted that on Wednesday (10/11/21) when Attorney-General Michaelia Cash declared she wanted to introduce new “super-secret” evidence against Bernard Collaery in the Timor-Leste spying case, that Scott Morrison had approved the move. It is a clear tactic to make sure that the court case is dragged out forever so the public never gets to hear the truth, especially before the federal election.
Even the judge was disturbed:
The federal government is attempting to introduce new “super-secret” evidence against Bernard Collaery in the Timor-Leste spying case, prompting fury from Collaery and warnings from a supreme court judge that it may cause a “perpetual vortex” of delay and secrecy.
Collaery, a barrister charged for his alleged role in exposing Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste, won a major victory last month, when the Australia Capital Territory’s court of appeal overturned orders shrouding much of his looming trial in secrecy. The court found the risk posed to national security by hearing the case in public was minimal, while open justice was crucial in deterring “political prosecutions”, among other things.
On Wednesday, however, lawyers for attorney general Michaelia Cash told the ACT supreme court that they wanted to introduce “updated” evidence about the national security risks posed by hearing aspects of the Collaery case openly. (Click here to read more)
Then on Thursday (11/10/21), the day after they are continuing their stitch -up of Bernard Collaery but just in time for the federal election due early next year, the assistant Attorney-General Amanda Stoker announced plans to protect whistleblowers:
“The federal government has outlined a detailed plan to reform Australia’s whistleblowing laws and remove secrecy offences to drive “trust and accountability in the public sector”, as new research shows the current scheme is failing to protect those who speak out about wrongdoing.”
The assistant attorney general, Amanda Stoker, told the National Whistleblowing Symposium on Thursday that the government would move to reform the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which is designed to shield public sector whistleblowers from reprisal.
The government was warned of the failings of Australia’s whistleblower laws more than four years ago, in a review by Philip Moss, but has not yet acted on his recommendations. (Click here to read more)
Scott Morrison has made it obvious over the last week or so that the government is in campaign mode for the next federal election which is due no later than May next year and when government go into election mode they try and make sure negatives are hidden. In this article the 2 negatives that Morrison is trying to hide is the truth coming out in the Bernard Collaery court case and the fact that the government hates whistleblowers.
As the above quote says the government was warned four years ago about the “failings of Australia’s whistleblower laws” and they have done nothing except stitch-up whistleblowers such as Bernard Collaery.
Independent Senator Rex Patrick tweeted:
Scott Morrison says he has never lied in government
Scott Morrison’s big lie in this article is that he has had three years to establish a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) but has refused to do so and he was warned four years ago about the “failings of Australia’s whistleblower laws” but has done nothing other than spend $millions of taxpayer’s money prosecuting whistleblowers to cover-up government corruption.
A federal ICAC and whistleblower protection should be key issues for the federal election as an ICAC relies heavily on whistleblowers to expose corruption. Whistleblowers are also extremely important in any democracy as they help shine a light on a democracy’s failing and Scott Morrison’s government don’t like whistleblowers which should tell voters everything they need to know about Scott Morrison and his government.
Please use Twitter, Facebook, email and the other buttons below and help promote this article.
Kangaroo Court of Australia is an independent website and is reliant on donations to keep publishing so please click on the Patreon button below and support independent journalism.
If you would like to support via PayPal use the button below or for other donation options click here to go to the Donations page.
Thank you for your support.
For the KCA t-shirt shop click here.