The Lionel Murphy saga, one of Australia's most politically painful and judicially sensational cases, may finally end with the release of files that have been kept secret for more than 30 years.
Parliament on Thursday will release documents collected by a commission of inquiry into Murphy's fitness to remain a High Court judge.
The commission was set up after Murphy was acquitted of attempting to pervert the course of justice and its work was cut short because of his death in 1986.
The material it gathered may help answer the central question: was Murphy corruptly close to underworld figures or simply a bon vivant networker who was unwise in his choice of friends?
Murphy was a Labor hero of the Left.
He was a reforming attorney-general in the Whitlam government. Gareth Evans, a later attorney-general, has said he was the most adventurous member of the government apart from Whitlam himself.
His adventures included a raid on ASIO headquarters because he thought the domestic spy agency was withholding information.
He was appointed to the High Court in 1975.
Murphy's troubles started with the publication of the so-called Age tapes in 1984, which purported to include conversations he had with Sydney solicitor Morgan Ryan, who had been charged over an immigration scam.
Two Senate inquiries were held. The first cleared Murphy on party lines but the second - with Labor members split - found his conduct might have amounted to proved misbehaviour.
By then, NSW chief magistrate Clarrie Briese and District Court judge Paul Flannery had said Murphy had improperly tried to influence them in favour of Ryan.
In January 1985, he was charged with two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The flavour of the trial was set by Briese's evidence that Murphy said to him about Ryan: "And now, what about my little mate."
Murphy was acquitted on the Flannery matter but convicted on the Briese charge.
It was the first time a member of the highest court in the land had been found guilty of a crime, let alone one that went to the heart of the judicial process.
Murphy was ultimately cleared after an appeal and a retrial.
But as he prepared to return to court duties - against the wishes of chief justice Harry Gibbs - fresh claims of misbehaviour, or worse, started circulating.
With a political storm threatening, the government commissioned three retired judges to look at the new allegations and decide whether his behaviour justified his removal from the court.
It's not known just how far it got before Murphy announced he was dying of cancer and the inquiry was shut down. Its records were sealed for 30 years.
Murphy died on October 21, 1986, just after delivering his last judgments.
Now, more than 30 years later, the politico-judicial system will deliver its last judgment on him.
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