Bernard Collaery case: Australian government’s legal bill spirals despite dropped prosecution

Bernard Collaery said prosecutors should have known there was no lawful basis for the spy mission. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Australian government is amassing an ever-increasing legal bill in its ongoing pursuit of secrecy in the Bernard Collaery case, spending a further $250,000 since dropping the prosecution in July.

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, intervened to end the Collaery prosecution in July, a decision widely welcomed by lawyers, human rights advocates and Collaery’s supporters.