Heydon reveals email exchanges; Union to decide his disqualification by Thursday

Union demanded time to consider the emails released by the former High Court judge Dyson Heydon to decide whether he should be made to step down from his role as a Royal Commissioner. Heydon admitted that he was aware that the event Annual Sir Garfield Barwick Address, in which he was invited to deliver address, was organised by the Liberal party.

The email exchanges between Heydon and the organisers released by the former High Court judge himself on Friday revealed the event he agreed to address in Sydney had a strong link with the Liberal party. It has also come to the light that in 1980, Heydon was a part of the committee that awarded a Rhodes scholarship to the then-future Prime Minister Tony Abbott to study at Oxford University.

Australian Council of Trade Unions or ACTU has sought time until Thursday afternoon to decide on the disqualification of Heydon based on the emails revealed. If the application is lodged, Heydon will hear verbal submissions on Friday. Sky News reported that Heydon told the Commission hearing in Sydney that in one of the emails dated April 10, 2014, he was made aware of the Liberal party’s connection with the event. The email was sent to him a month after he assumed the role of the Royal Commissioner.

Heydon agreed to address the event organised by one of the lawyer branches of the Liberal Party, which is to be held in August this year, on the condition concluded by the Royal Commission.

“The email stated that it was organised by a body which I was told was one of the lawyer branches of the Liberal Party NSW division which had a focus on professional engagement,” Heydon said. But he held that he was not aware that the event was a fundraiser program. He also said that the Liberal party connection of the event was “overlooked” by him when he received other emails on the event earlier this year.

“My understanding at all times has been that the dinner was not to be a fundraiser,” he said.

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