A Melbourne jury had that morning acquitted four people of terrorism charges but convicted six others after a trial spread over seven months. Now the Attorney-General was calling the Canberra press gallery together to crow about the convictions. They were, he said, “the most successful terrorist prosecution this country has seen”.

As his lawyers called for the sacking of Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and the judicial inquiry into the bungled inquiry prepared to interview its first senior member of the Howard government - former attorney-general Philip Ruddock - Dr Haneef said the AFP had taken too long to clear his name.

The Howard government’s policy of mandatory detention had essentially stopped the flow of thousands of people illegally entering Australia from Indonesia, Philip Ruddock, a former immigration minister during the Howard years, said today.

ASIO told the inquiry that it provided its assessment on Dr Haneef in writing to then attorney-general Philip Ruddock. However, it is understood the assessment was not passed on to then immigration minister Kevin Andrews, who was heavily criticised after he cancelled Dr Haneef’s visa on the strength of information supplied to him by the Australian Federal Police.