Keelty out of Control

What an unlikely celebrity is Mohamed Haneef. The humble Indian doctor, unwittingly embroiled in a global terrorism investigation. Something about the case must have appealed to Australians' sense of fairness and love of the underdog. The fact that there wasn't a skerrick of convincing evidence against him probably helped elicit a little empathy, too.

One Australian who doesn't like Haneef is Mick Keelty. As the nation's top cop the buck stops at his desk as far as the investigation of terrorism is concerned, and the publicity and sympathy that Haneef got was, to Keelty, nothing short of an affront and a travesty. Even as the case against Haneef crumbled to dust, the Federal Police Commissioner (with much help from the Attorney General and Immigration Minister) would not back down and continued to insinuate that there was some piece of evidence just under the surface that proved Haneef was an Al Qaeda sympathizer and that the Feds should be left to do their job in peace by a rabid media.

So it seemed to me at the time, and Keelty's speech to the Sydney institute this week more than confirms it. He went so far as to call for a media blackout on all terrorism-related investigations until they had run their complete course through the judicial system. This clearly would have spared him the Haneef-ulcer that is probably throbbing right now under the weight of tonight's spaghetti bolognese, but does anyone else in the country think that justice would have been better served if the AFP had been allowed to quietly lock up Haneef without a fuss? With all the attention history is getting as a school subject, sometimes one really has to wonder if the people in the top jobs have read enough of it.

"He also called for a halt to criticism of public institutions." One almost has to laugh at such a statement, coming from a high-ranking public official. What sort of democracy would this be if such a statement was taken seriously? Although Keelty is probably quite an able cop, it's going to be very hard for the public to put their trust in him after remarks like this. His ability to perform as Commissioner has therefore been weakened by this outburst, and that's just bad for justice in this country.

In a move that I am still getting used to, the Government did exactly the right thing and put the Commissioner in his place. "Access to government information and decision-making are keys to a healthy and vibrant democracy," said A-G Robert McClelland.

Not only that, but Christopher Pyne spoke up for the opposition and agreed with the Government. It's truly amazing what a political difference a few short months can make.