Public interest immunity is designed to prevent the release of information that could prejudice a police investigation, reveal law enforcement methodologies or expose the identity of informers and undercover operatives.
Victoria Police hired Mr Murphy to advise on public interest immunity claims and represent Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton at court challenges brought by former Gobbo clients seeking to have their convictions overturned.
Mr Murphy, who has been a barrister since 1971, was also Victoria’s first Public Interest Monitor, the head of the integrity watchdog that oversees the use of covert surveillance and coercive powers.
He was removed from handling Gobbo-related legal matters a fortnight ago after he advised Victoria Police it was making excessive and overly broad public interest immunity claims.
It is not uncommon for lawyers working in complex court cases to take different views on the correct strategy to adopt in respect of difficult issues.
"Brendan refused to play the game the way VicPol wanted. He told them his advice and now he's been sacked as a consequence,” a source said.
A Victoria Police spokesman declined to comment on why Mr Murphy is no longer appearing on its behalf at the royal commission or Gobbo-related court proceedings but said he continues to work for the force on other legal matters.
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“He is one of a number of lawyers we have engaged to undertake work on public interest immunity and other matters. We have taken on extra lawyers in recent months because the volume of public interest immunity work associated with the royal commission and other legal proceedings is immense,” he said.
“It is completely wrong to assert that Victoria Police has disagreed with the advice he has provided.”
Mr Murphy told The Age he was no longer working for Victoria Police, but declined to comment on why, citing client confidentiality.
Victoria Police had used a public interest immunity claim to attempt to block disclosure of Ms Gobbo's work as a police informer while simultaneously representing a who's who of Melbourne's underworld – an argument that was conclusively rejected by the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court.
"Here, the agency of police informer has been so abused as to corrupt the criminal justice system, there arises a greater public interest in disclosure to which the public interest in informer anonymity must yield," the High Court found.
The Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants has grappled with an onslaught of public interest immunity claims since it began its investigations in December, which has consumed a substantial amount of time and resources.
Hearings are routinely closed to the public so the claims can be assessed by Commissioner Margaret McMurdo. There have also been repeated and lengthy delays as documents and witness statements the police have been compelled to produce are reviewed and redacted by teams of lawyers.
The Age has joined with other media on occasion to oppose suppression orders.
A royal commission spokeswoman said that while “time frames remain a challenge”, the commission was committed to clearing material for publication as quickly as possible.
A police spokesman said: “Victoria Police is committed to assisting the royal commission conduct as much of the hearings in public as possible. To that end, we are carefully working closely with counsel assisting the royal commission to ensure that redactions to documents and closed hearings are limited to that which is absolutely necessary.”
The royal commission has issued more than 30 suppression orders since public hearings began in late March.
Commissioner McMurdo has previously described managing the secrecy process as “akin to a boxer fighting a match with one hand tied behind his back and the other bruised and bleeding”.
Chris Vedelago is an investigations reporter for The Age with a special interest in crime and justice.
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