This claim refers to the prosecution of Bernard Collaery, a Canberra lawyer and former ACT Attorney-General, who was charged in 2018 with breaching national security laws by allegedly revealing classified information about an Australian intelligence operation to ABC journalists [1].
Former Attorneys-General Christian Porter and Michaelia Cash placed so-called "court-only evidence" before Justice David Mossop—material so secret that neither Collaery nor his lawyers were permitted to see it [3].
The government sought to conduct significant portions of Collaery's trial behind closed doors under the National Security Information Act (NSIA), arguing that national security concerns justified keeping evidence and proceedings secret from the defendant and public [5].
However, the claim's framing omits critical context that significantly changes the story:
**The defendant successfully challenged this secrecy.** In October 2021—nearly three years into the case—the ACT Court of Appeal unanimously ruled against the government's secrecy order [6].
The court found that Justice Mossop "gave too much weight to the risk of prejudice to national security and too little weight to the interests of the administration of justice" [7].
The Court of Appeal was explicit: The government's evidence for why secrecy was necessary was "replete with speculation and devoid of any specific basis for concluding that significant risks to national security would materialise" if matters were heard in open court [8].
The court declared that "the interests of the proper administration of justice clearly outweigh any risk of prejudice to national security" in this case [9].
**The prosecution was ultimately discontinued.** Following the election of the Albanese government in May 2022, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC exercised his discretionary power to discontinue the prosecution entirely in July 2022, citing it as a "political prosecution" [10].
**This was not unique to Collaery's case.** The government attempted to present additional judge-only evidence after the Appeal Court ruling, which Collaery's legal team flagged as "cheeky" and likely to provoke further legal challenges [11].
ABC MediaWatch is Australia's leading forum for media analysis and is widely regarded as credible and generally balanced, though Media Bias/Fact Check rates ABC News Australia as having a slight left-center bias [13].
The MediaWatch segment itself is clearly opinion/commentary content (as disclosed in the title and format), but it cites verifiable events and court decisions [14].
**However**, the claim presented to you is not directly stated in the ABC MediaWatch segment.
The segment discusses the ACT Court of Appeal's decision overturning the secrecy order, describing the government's position as attempting to use secret evidence, but it presents this in the context of the government losing that legal battle and a court victory for open justice [15].
**Did Labor do something similar?**
Search conducted: "Labor government secret trial prosecution evidence Australia"
Finding: There is no identified equivalent from the Labor government under Paul Keating or Kevin Rudd/Julia Gillard eras regarding similar attempts to prosecute someone using secret, in-camera evidence the defendant could not see.
* * * *
However, context is important: The use of closed court proceedings under national security legislation is a feature of Australian law that could theoretically be invoked by any government when prosecuting cases involving classified information.
The National Security Information Act (NSIA) under which these proceedings occurred was passed in 2018 and applies regardless of which party is in government [16].
The claim describes a practice that was genuinely problematic from a civil liberties perspective. **The courts themselves agreed with this assessment.** Justice Mossop's initial decision to allow secret evidence and closed proceedings was explicitly found to be erroneous by the Court of Appeal, which noted that "the open court principle stands as a bulwark against the possibility of political prosecutions by allowing public scrutiny and assessment" [17].
The System Worked (Eventually).** While the initial decision by Justice Mossop was problematic, Collaery was able to appeal and succeeded in overturning the secrecy order.
Government Overreach Was Checked.** The government's argument for secrecy was thoroughly rejected by the Court of Appeal, which found the Attorney-General's evidence to be mere "speculation" without factual basis [19].
The new Labor government and legal experts have called for reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act to prevent similar prosecutions of whistleblowers [20].
**5.
Not Unique to Coalition.** While this specific prosecution occurred under Coalition government direction (2018 onwards under Christian Porter), the legal framework enabling secret proceedings could be used by any government.
The Coalition government did indeed attempt to prosecute a whistleblower using secret evidence the defendant could not see, and this was fundamentally at odds with natural justice principles.
The claim, as presented without this context, creates a misleading impression of injustice without conveying that the legal system ultimately prevented it.
The Coalition government did indeed attempt to prosecute a whistleblower using secret evidence the defendant could not see, and this was fundamentally at odds with natural justice principles.
The claim, as presented without this context, creates a misleading impression of injustice without conveying that the legal system ultimately prevented it.