He should sack himself,having stacked the deck,at the RC,its all come undone;
Dyson Heydon stepped into the political ring – and he took a king hit
Even before new revelations on Thursday caused Dyson Heydon to again delay deciding on whether to recuse himself from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, the Abbott government was already putting out feelers for a replacement.
On the downside, the aforementioned saga reflects poorly on a government already bedevilled by problems of its own creation, and any good work the commission does will be tainted. Significant political setback
As we already knew, it was at 9.35am on August 13 that The Sydney Morning Herald broke the news on its website that Heydon was to give the address.
What we did not know until Thursday this week was that at 5.30pm on August 12, former Australian Financial Review journalist, former Labor adviser and now lawyer, Marcus "Maxi" Priest, rang the NSW Bar Association's publications manager Chris Winslow expressing surprise at Heydon's acceptance of the invitation to speak at the Liberal Party function.
Winslow emailed counsel assisting the inquiry, Jeremy Stoljar, around 7.30pm: "Is Dyson Heydon aware that the Garfield Barwick Address, which he is due to deliver, is a Liberal Party fundraiser?"
Stoljar replied at 8.05pm: "I'll raise that with him [Heydon]. Thanks."
The commission told the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) on Thursday that Stoljar did not show Heydon these emails, but discussed the issue with him at a meeting at 9am on August 13. This was just 35 minutes before the story broke – by which time, presumably, the journalist would have been typing.
In notes of the meeting released on Thursday, Stoljar said Heydon had shown him an email from the event organiser, lawyer Greg Burton, who asserted it was not a fundraiser.
"Burton is closer to the action than Winslow – he ought to know," Stoljar noted. "So OK to go ahead if JDH [Heydon] writes clarifying + response OK."
At 11.22am, lesss than two hours after the story broke, the Royal Commission released a statement saying Heydon had withdrawn from the Barwick address. The statement suggested Heydon had acted before receiving any questions from the media.
"As early as 9.23 this morning (and prior to any media enquiry being received), he advised the organisers that if there was any possibility that the event could be described as a Liberal Party event, he will be unable to give the address, at least whilst he is in the position of royal commissioner." Perception is everything
Had Priest not rung Winslow, it is highly probable that Heydon would have delivered the address on Wednesday and the NSW Libs gathered a few hundred dollars for their campaign coffers.
Priest's phone call and the subsequent flurry of emails, meetings and statements were related to Heydon withdrawing from the event.
Legally, Heydon considered the material irrelevant to the application to have him disqualify himself from the commission, but this issue has become all about perception – be it of bias, incompetence or otherwise. Not releasing it has exposed him to allegations from the ACTU of being "misleading" in his statement of August 13 when he gave his reasons for withdrawing from the event.
If Heydon stays, Labor and the ACTU will continue to go after him and discredit his findings. The commission is already belching smoke. Stoljar may also find himself in the political firing line.
In politics, if you step into the ring, you get hit. Heydon, whether he meant to or not, stepped into the ring when he took on the role heading an inquiry which was, in part, designed by a government eager to give Julia Gillard yet another going-over regarding events from two decades ago when she was a lawyer, and to damage Shorten over his trade union past.
All the more reason why Heydon, those around him and those who appointed him needed to be absolutely diligent about the commissioner not being seen to have any political allegiance
