Lionel Murphy to be vindicated by release of documents, Junie Morosi vows

Junie Morosi wishes her close friend Lionel Murphy were alive to see the release today of thousands of documents.

Former Labor staffer Junie Morosi, now 84, and inset, Lionel Murphy. Picture: Ray Strange

Decades after the tumultuous days of the Whitlam government when their lives were engulfed in scandal, Junie Morosi wishes her close friend Lionel Murphy were alive to see the release today of thousands of documents that could help answer unresolved questions about his conduct as a High Court judge.

The 84-year-old former Labor staffer, who shot to national prominence after an affair with former deputy prime minister Jim Cairns, hopes that the “brilliant” Murphy, whom she knew as Gough ­Whitlam’s ­attorney-general before his ­appointment to the bench, will be vindicated.

“I think it would have been ­really great if he would have lived to see himself vindicated,” she said yesterday.

Junie Morosi with Jim Cairns.

But Mr Murphy’s son, Cameron Murphy, hit out yesterday at what he described as the “grossly unfair” release of “never tested” allegations.

Ms Morosi and Lionel Murphy endured a storm of attention in the 1970s over ­allegations he asked ACT minister Gordon Bryant for favourable treatment for Ms ­Morosi in ­obtaining low-cost government employee housing.

It was an early scandal, the first of many for Murphy that would climax in 1986 with two trials on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, his acquittal, and then a further parliamentary commission of inquiry called by the Hawke government when fresh allegations surfaced about Murphy’s conduct.

That inquiry was shut down early when it was revealed that Murphy had only a matter of months to live. The allegations — including one that Murphy tried to bribe a federal police officer — have remained secret for 30 years by law until today when all related documents, previously marked “Class A” confidential, are due to be ­tabled in federal parliament.

Ms Morosi said it was a shame Murphy was not alive to see his name cleared. “It is pretty common knowledge that they really were out to get him,” she said. “They seemed to be pretty spurious allegations — that’s how I see it.

She described Murphy as one of her “best friends” in Canberra. When she first arrived in the national capital in 1974 she captured media attention as a staffer to Cairns, who admitted in 2002 to having an affair with her.

Ms Morosi now calls allegations that arose soon after about Murphy seeking favourable treatment for her to receive government employee housing “spurious”. In her memoir Sex, Prejudice and Politics, she said consideration for such flats was available for all staffers, and that claims Murphy acted inappropriately in helping her were part of the broader “unprecedented” media campaign against her over her relationship with Cairns.

While the “Morosi affair” ultimately led to the political downfall of Cairns, Ms Morosi became a household name, even appearing on the front cover of Women’s Weekly.

Lionel Murphy, right, with Gough Whitlam, Jim Cairns and Clyde Cameron during the Whitlam years.

While Ms Morosi appears confident of Murphy’s vindication, Cameron Murphy predicted the news would be “bad” because the inquiry’s terms of reference allowed anyone to come forward and taint his father in private with legal privilege.

Ms Morosi still lives in a housing co-operative, the Wyuna Co-operative, in Canberra’s Kambah.

She had been appointed a civil marriage celebrant in 1973 when Murphy was Labor attorney-general — she still officiates in that role — and was offered a job the next year by Al Grassby in immigration, which is where she met Cairns and was appointed by him as his principal private secretary when he became treasurer.

Looking back, Ms Morosi says: “Maybe it wasn’t nothing that a woman was in Parliament House.

“I think that shook everyone — I think it was the fact I was unapologetic about my right to be there.”

She believes Murphy was one of the most brilliant thinkers of his time. “Lionel Murphy, Jim Cairns and Al Grassby in particular were so very inspiring — some of the most humane and thoughtful and intelligent brilliant thinkers and doers.

“Whatever has been done, whatever accusations, I don’t think any of it diminishes (Murphy’s) contribution. He was … one of the greatest contributors to our society of any age.

“Let’s face it, he did challenge a lot of assumptions. He did bring in a lot of changes that were quite unacceptable to the Liberal Party. He was ahead of his time.”