At the height of attempts to silence him, he claims to have been bashed by union thugs in July 1999. In his sworn statement to the royal commission, Kernohan said that three men had set upon him in the outer Melbourne town of Melton, telling him to keep his "mouth shut" and to "stop talking to the press, you grub". Counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar seemed sympathetic to Kernohan's plight, complaining of how he had been "marginalised and victimised" as part of "the mistreatment of whistleblowers".

There's just one problem with this account. In an addendum to his witness statement, Kernohan attached his sworn statement to the Victorian Police tendered the day after the Melton bashing. In this version, two men attacked him, screaming out "give us your wallet, you prick" and "where is your money?" According to Kernohan, "they yelled this out several times". There was no mention of union intimidation. The incident was purely a robbery. The statement was signed off as "true and correct", acknowledging that any falsehood was "liable to the penalties of perjury".

Kernohan, in effect, has exposed himself as a fantasist – someone who, years later, has looked back on the Melton robbery and reframed it as a political event. He has converted an act of theft into something that matches his self-image as an AWU martyr. More worryingly, at the royal commission, he admitted to mental breakdowns and bouts of alcoholism – confirmation of how this troubled character was in no fit state to give evidence.

An obvious question needs to be asked: why did the commission allow Kernohan to testify? Stoljar and the royal commissioner, John Dyson Heydon, had an advance copy of his witness statement, from which it was clear he was about to give seriously flawed evidence. Anyone of average IQ would have seen the contradiction between Kernohan's 1999 police statement and his 2014 affidavit.

I believe an element of exploitation was involved. In their determination to fulfil their charter of uncovering problems in the Labor movement, Heydon and Stoljar appear to be willing to hear from anyone brandishing anti-Labor allegations, no matter how disreputable or unstable they might be. The commissioner and his assistant have disgraced themselves, as have the media urgers close to Kernohan (such as Morrison) who have exploited the poor man for political purposes.