Parliament to release Lionel Murphy documents

Approval has been given for the publication of secret documents relating to the late High Court judge Lionel Murphy.

Former Whitlam attorney-general and High Court judge Lionel Murphy.

Federal parliament’s presiding officers have approved the publication of secret documents relating to the conduct of the late High Court judge Lionel Murphy.

The “Class A” documents have been kept secret for 30 years and contain a significant amount of personal information about Murphy, an attorney-general in the Whitlam government and former NSW senator, including information that “potentially attains to illegal behaviour”.

Less highly classified “Class B” documents made public last year show the 1986 parliamentary commission of inquiry into Murphy had been poised to investigate allegations that he offered police officer Don Thomas a highly paid job with the AFP in exchange for his help in a case Thomas was prosecuting.

The inquiry was established to determine if Murphy’s conduct amounted to misbehaviour but was wound up after it was revealed he had a terminal illness.

Senate President Stephen Parry said the clerks of the lower and upper houses would advise people named in the Class A documents and relatives of any ­dead people that they were due to be released.

They are to be published electronically on July 24.

Murphy, the reformist attorney-general of the Whitlam government, had come under a cloud in 1984 with the public airing of claims that he tried to influence court proceedings relating to his “little mate”, Sydney solicitor Morgan Ryan.

One of the greatest judicial scandals since Federation was left with no conclusion, the commission being abandoned when it was revealed Murphy had been diagnosed with cancer and had only months to live.

Murphy had been convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice in June 1985 by trying to protect Ryan from prosecution. The judge was sentenced to jail, although that sentence was almost immediately overturned and he was acquitted in a second trial in April 1986.

Despite that, Murphy’s High Court colleagues objected to his return to judicial duties, forcing then prime minister Bob Hawke to instigate a formal inquiry.

While the inquiry had seen considerable debate at the time about whether it was a witch hunt, the “Class B” documents released last year confirmed the commission was looking into the Ryan claims and others made by Thomas about the alleged AFP job offer.