Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to take action against royal commissioner Dyson Heydon over a planned address to a Liberal Party fundraiser, as the union movement prepares for a High Court legal battle to remove him.
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His withdrawal ahead of media reports on Thursday prompted the Federal Opposition to call for his resignation, amid claims of a perception of bias.
Asked to release all correspondence between himself and the event organisers, as well as the date when he was invited, Mr Heydon, through a spokesman, declined to comment on Friday.
“The real question here is the credibility of the Commissioner, presiding over a matter that was set up for political purposes and now we find that he has a direct association with the Liberal Party, accepting an invitation”, Mr O’Connor told the ABC.
He should resign. Today.
There’s more on justice Heydon’s now aborted address here. Justice Heydon cultivated a reputation for punctiliousness throughout a long career in academia and on the bench, including a 10-year stint on the High Court, and frequently inveighed against what he saw as rulings based on personal or political considerations rather than on existing law – judicial activism.
“He is conflicted, he is biased, the royal commission is a farce”, the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, told parliament.
The Greens called for the royal commission to be immediately terminated.
“Another problem has arisen that I must attend to”. But royal commissions are a powerful institution and they, too, have to be seen to be doing the right thing.
He says the conduct of the former High Court judge has been “unimpeachable”.
“It is for this reason that the appearance of departure from neutrality is a ground of disqualification”, the judgment said.
All royal commissions are “political” in being appointed by and reporting to the government of the day, which agrees to their terms of reference and to their main players, such as the commissioner and counsel assisting.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has been grilled at the inquiry.
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In July, Abetz said Labor had been “engaged in a sensationalised attack on the impartiality, motives and utility of the royal commission and even of the royal commissioner”.
