The Tamil Times

The corruption wars ... Blitzkrieg from The Australian's legal affairs man ... Campaigns to sink ICAC and 18C ... Battles lost in the trenches ... Where are they now? ... Extravagant fulminations ... From Justinian's Archive, April 8, 2017 

Merritt: anti-anti-corruption campaigner

Our commiserations go out to Chris (The Tamil) Merritt, legal affairs man at Rupert Murdoch's The Australian.  

His blunderbuss campaigns against the Independent Commission Against Corruption and section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act have come to nought despite the sacrifice of hundreds of trees and barrels of ink. His coverage is the journalistic equivalent of Lord Raglan's strategy in the Crimea. 

In the pitched battle against ICAC he teamed up with some dark sources in a failed attempt to burn the commission to the ground. Article after rampaging article was catapulted at the anti-corruption body. 

Some of the journalism indicated he was on the drip from the Obeids as he fostered their hopeless conspiracy theory that incriminating government maps of the Mt Penny coal tenements were planted in their office by ICAC. 

This was the basis for the Obeids' civil case against against former ICAC commissioner David Ipp, counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson, and some of the commission's investigators. 

The wax wings of the case against the main defendants melted quickly and it crashed to earth, although the plaintiffs seem to be pressing on with an appeal that affects two ICAC officials, even though Eddie has bigger distractions, what with the appalling tucker at the Cooma Correctional Centre.   

Never one to take a backward step, The Tamil described Justice David Hammerschlag's judgment as a "judicial knife job". 

It must have been doubly galling when last month the judge handed Ipp indemnity costs, saying that the Obeids had brought an "unreasonable ... and irresponsible" lawsuit.   

In the process who can forget these magnificent go-nowhere ripping yarns from The Tamil? 

• Obeids come out swinging against ICAC; 

• State anti-corruption agency's methods on trial as civil case begins; 

• Corruption watchdog in the dock for misfeasance in public office; 

• The Hammer falls on ICAC as well as Obeids; 

• ICAC accused of running 'parallel system of justice': 

• Tide turning in ICAC accountability battle;

• Court can hold ICAC to account ... so why can't our politicians; 

• Geoffrey Watson has more cases to answer; 

• ICAC gave star Obeid witness a special deal. 

The exculpatory evidence that The Tamil lead us to believe would sanctify the Obeids was missing in action. 

Markson: in step with Merritt

We were also promised by Merritt and his former sidekick Sharri Markson that exculpatory evidence would restore the reputations of former police minister Mike Gallacher and Senator Arfur Sinodinos, both of whom featured unhappily in corruption hearings investigating dodgy Liberal Party fundraising. 

Markson wrote: 

"The NSW anti-corruption body deliberately kept evidence supporting the defence cases of former police minister Mike Gallagher and cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos secret while releasing information damaging them." 

Arfur had been peddling advice from the NSW Crown Solicitor he claimed cleared him of improper fundraising for the Libs. Not only did the advice relate to a different set of circumstances, but the NSW Electoral Commission, under chairman Keith Mason, blocked $4.4 million in public funding because the Liberal Party had not disclosed the identity of those who had donated anonymously to the party's money laundry, the Free Enterprise Foundation.  

Mason pointed to evidence from Liberal Party officials to ICAC, "of the involvement of other senior party officials constituting the Party's Finance Committee, including Mr Sinodinos the Finance Director/Treasurer, Mr Webster and others (ICAC transcript reference 7279T) in the arrangements touching the Foundation". 

Gallacher's magic "exculpatory" evidence disappeared after ICAC found in Operation Spicer, released in August 2016, that the former minister was an unreliable witness and "acted with the intention of evading laws" on disclosure of political donations and the prohibition of money coming from property developers.  

Only days earlier Merritt had predicted Gallacher would be exonerated, "which will increase pressure on Premier Mike Baird to restore Mr Gallacher's standing within the Liberal Party".  

Baird promptly announced that Mike Gallacher would not be welcome back into the parliamentary Liberal Party. This month for former police minister threw in the towel and resigned from parliament. 

Having failed to defenestrate ICAC. the campaign has now swung to making sure its investigations are not conducted in public and, should there be a federal ICAC, it too should only hold secret hearings. 

The Tamil incorrectly reported that Transparency International supports a federal ICAC with a default position of secrecy. 

TI has arrived at no such recommendation. 

A recent poll showed that there was 80 percent support for a federal ICAC which held public examinations. 

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Bookshelves Brandis: "people have a right to be bigots"

The Tamil has been incandescent with disappointment that his razor sharp analysis didn't rid the nation of 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. It was outrageous that the government failed to abolish the section or even get its meagre "harass" amendment through the senate. 

Merritt also failed in his insistence that the reasonable person test should reflect the attitudes of the average Australian in the pub, not just a member of the target ethnic or minority community. 

He stormed the nation on this issue - in the name of free speech. He even came up with the convoluted thesis that Labor's support for section 18C will somehow come back to haunt Bill Shorten, even though an overwhelming majority (up to 80 percent) support the race hate protections.  

Work out this one from The Tamil, if you can: 

"The sweeping reach of 18C's restrictions on what can be said on the subject of race - something that Bill Shorten fought hard to retain - are now at risk of becoming his enemy. Until he reveals exactly what he has in mind, he has a quandary.

If he remains silent he can expect to be portrayed as the man who would silence a nation - regardless of whatever policy eventually finds favour. But if he walks away from extending 18C he will look inconsistent." 

A new front is opening up with learned articles in the paper that 18C is unconstitutional. It's a wild card but, if a door opens, rush through it. 

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The Oz's legal affairs man also has taken to giving Fairfax Media advice and warnings about defamation cases they are defending. To this end he's hooked up with members of the wheeler-dealing property and nightclubs Kazal family. 

He gloated over a preliminary judgment of Justice Lucy McCallum in which some of Fairfax's defences were struck out in a case brought by Oscar Kazel over an SMH article called "Bad company". 

Tony Kazal, another member of the clan, is suing Fairfax over aspects of its Unaoil bribe investigation. The Tamil is predicting lots of "pain" for Fairfax in this action. 

Other branches of the Kazal tribe have not fared at all well, with Charif and his brother Adam being stuck with defamation damages of $1.35 million awarded to their former business partner Rodric David. 

Di Girolamo: the vanishing $12 millionWe remember when this time last year, The Tamil went into bat for Nick (Grange) Di Girolamo's defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald fearlessly predicting up to $12 million in damages for the Obeids' lawyer. 

On the fifth day of the trial Di Girolamo withdrew his action and the case was settled, less than one hour into evidence-in-chief from SMH journalist Kate McClymont. 

It followed an earlier failed attempt at settlement, two days before, after documentary evidence was tendered which proved Di Giralomo had lied about the Obeid family's connection with Australian Water Holdings. 

The Tamil has now recruited Sydney barrister Jeffrey Phillips to campaign against the Law Council's equitable briefing policy. 

How many wrong horses can one hack back?

Of course, there was also the Margaret Cunneen affair, where the Lib-Nat controlled parliamentary parliamentary ICAC committee continues to sit on the telephone intercepts of the prosecutor's conversations at the time of the car accident involving her son's then girlfriend. 

Commissioner Megan Latham stood up to the newspaper tirades with great fortitude and only resigned after the government foreshadowed she would have to reapply for her job in a new three commissioner structure.