Mark Dreyfus

The new attorney-general should halt the wretched prosecution — but the tumour of corruption Collaery and Witness K exposed must be cut out.

But the foolish decision of ACT Justice David Mossop to hold that, in effect, intelligence agencies were above judicial scrutiny, will be unfinished business regardless of what Dreyfus does. Beyond that is a larger issue. Even so, to no-bill a prosecution is a major and rare step — as a general principle, it’s best politicians keep out of prosecutorial decisions. This disgraceful prosecution should never have proceeded in the first place, nor $4 million wasted on it. It’s been floated in the media that Dreyfus may not withdraw approval for the prosecution, but abandon the Morrison government’s relentless attempts to cover up the conduct of the trial by imposing a veil of secrecy over much of the material it is using against Collaery. The secrecy was so absurd, Collaery and the defence were not permitted to see the material being used against him. Perhaps that cogent explanation lurks within his briefing package.