Scroll to top
Get Access Code.
Enter your email address and Crikey will send a Verification Code
Enter the Verification Code sent to
to confirm your account.
The Verification Code will expire in 1 hour.
Want some assistance?
Contact us on: support@crikey.com.au or call the hotline: +61 (03) 8623 9900.
There may very well be secret prosecutions and secret jailings happening now, and they can and will continue until the law is reformed.
Many readers would have a passing awareness of the “Alan Johns” or “Witness J” matter, in which a former intelligence officer was secretly charged, arraigned, convicted, sentenced and imprisoned in a Canberra jail in “unprecedented” Kafkaesque style in early 2019.
But few would know of this telling exchange between Greens Senator David Shoebridge and the independent national security legislation monitor, Grant Donaldson SC, two months ago.
“All of the orders that were made in the Alan Johns matter that gave rise to [its secrecy] were made by the consent of the parties,” Donaldson said, as he fronted the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
Sign up to keep reading.
Get independent journalism throughout 2023. Sign up for your first 12 weeks of Crikey for $12.
Already a subscriber? Log in to keep reading.
About the Author
Reporter
Maeve McGregor is a reporter for Crikey, with a special interest in law and government integrity issues. Prior to this, she was a lawyer.
Topics
Crikey
7 comments
The Crikey comment section is members-only content. Please login to engage in the commentary.