Heydon speech not a fundraiser, email said

NSW Liberal director Tony Nutt says a memorial lecture which was to have featured former High Court judge Dyson Heydon was an academic speech not a “significant fundraising event”.

But justice relies on the perception of impartiality.

“If it is true that a royal commissioner investigating Tony Abbott’s political opponents is now attending a Liberal party fundraiser, that is incredibly serious, incredibly concerning”, Shorten told reporters on Thursday. Nonetheless, when a Liberal Party judicial appointee accepts an invitation to attend a Liberal Party function at which guests are invited to donate to party coffers, a fair-minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend that he may not bring an impartial and unprejudiced mind to the resolution of the question that appointee is required to decide.

Asked about possible legal action by unions against the royal commission, Mr O’Connor said: ‘Any affected parties before the commission have to look at their rights here’.

He should resign. Today.

Attorney-General George Brandis believes Labor has overreached in its “disgraceful” attempt to smear unions royal commissioner Dyson Heydon.

There’s more on justice Heydon’s now aborted address here.

Mr Abbott defended Justice Heydon’s reputation in Question Time, describing him as “above reproach”.

“If these reports are true, the royal commission must be immediately terminated”, he said.

Nevertheless, two days after hurriedly withdrawing from a speaking engagement at a Sydney dinner organised for and on behalf of the Liberal Party, Justice Heydon resumed his seat at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in Sydney.

Labor and the unions are not buying that explanation, saying the row proves what they’ve been saying all along – that the royal commission is a political witch-hunt established by the Abbott government to target its enemies.

“It is for this reason that the appearance of departure from neutrality is a ground of disqualification”, the judgment said.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has been grilled at the inquiry.

CFMEU national construction secretary Dave Noonan said the royal commission should be shut down.

Rumours have swirled in recent weeks that the government was considering extending the inquiry into 2016 when the Federal election is expected.