Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, will join Independent Senator Rex Patrick to demand the Federal Government drop its prosecution of lawyer Bernard Collaery, who is due back in court in the ACT today.
Mr Wilkie said the decision to prosecute Witness K and Mr Collaery is unfathomable and unconscionable because it was illegal to bug East Timor’s cabinet rooms in 2004.
“Frankly the Government should establish a Royal Commission into the whole affair rather than trying to turn Witness K and Mr Collaery into political prisoners,” Mr Wilkie said.
“Bernard Collaery is a hero, not a villain and he does not belong in court. It’s time the Government dropped this expensive show prosecution which has already cost the taxpayer more than $3m.
“All Witness K and Mr Collaery did was speak up about the terrible misbehaviour of the Australian Security Intelligence Service and the Howard Government. Of course someone should be answering to a court, but it’s sure not the whistle-blower and his lawyer.”