Pursuing the real criminals

February 9, 2024

Thanks to Jack Waterford for writing and to John Menadue for publishing these quotations from the ACT Court of Appeal:

The decision to commence a criminal prosecution is an opaque process at the best of times.

The open court principle stands as a bulwark against the possibility of political prosecutions by allowing public scrutiny and assessment of the actions of the respondent and the Attorney-General by reference to the evidence adduced in a criminal trial.

It took the ill-conceived persecution of Bernard Collaery to flush out this long-overdue show of spine from the justice arm of government.

But why are prosecutions not pursued against those who conspired in the ACT to defraud taxpayers of the proceeds of the helium from Greater Sunrise? That was the economic outcome of the ASIS spying on Timor-L’Este under the false flag of Foreign Aid. The diplomatic outcome was that Pacific nations decline our aid. Decades of aid from Foreign Affairs and the work of our envoys has been wasted. The political outcome has been corruption from the resulting campaign donations.

Who reviews the many failures to prosecute the names constantly in our news for wrongdoings?