Mr Lee said Mr Ashby had been accused of serious criminal offences, and should not have to put on any evidence or reveal his defence until the case against him had been presented in full. Peter Slipper. Credit:Gary Ramage "We want to proceed in the way common law trials have for centuries. We want to see the state of the forensic case at the close of their (the Commonwealth and Mr Slipper) case. It's entirely orthodox." Mr Lee said a senior Commonwealth minister, Anthony Albanese, had accused Mr Ashby of being involved in a political conspiracy similar to the "Watergate" scandal in the US. The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has also made serious allegations of conspiracy, Mr Lee said.

On June 15, Ms Roxon said she wouldn't use the word "conspiracy", but said "there were a lot of questions to be answered. Who knew what and when?" Mr Ashby, who is suing Mr Slipper and the Commonwealth, claims the stood-aside Speaker made unwelcome advances and sent him sexually suggestive text messages after Mr Ashby joined his staff in December last year. Mr Slipper and the Commonwealth allege Mr Ashby's case was intended to "vilify" Mr Slipper and "destroy or seriously damage" his reputation and career. They are seeking an order that proceedings be stopped as an abuse of process. Justice Steven Rares said Mr Ashby could not be forced to incriminate himself. David Chin, for Mr Slipper, said Mr Ashby could put on some evidence or submissions in reply to the Speaker's abuse of process application, but avoid the areas which may go to criminal offences.

He said if Mr Ashby was allowed to keep his case secret, Mr Slipper would be forced to run the abuse of process case "in a vacuum". Justice Rares said he was concerned about the amount of time and money being spent on the case, especially when the amount of damages Mr Ashby was seeking was likely to be relatively small. Loading "[This case] seems to have got out of all proportion to the allegation made", he said. The hearing continues