Piers Akerman: ACT government carrying on like a local council

Responding to the Sofronoff inquiry will be a real test for the ACT government which has shown itself to be little more than a self-important local council, writes Piers Akerman.

The ACT’s toy town government’s ineptitude knows no bounds. Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of the damning findings of the Sofronoff inquiry into the ACT’s failed prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has refused to release the document until next week.

The inquiry was sparked after ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold made a series of damaging allegations about the police’s conduct during their investigation of the alleged rape of Ms Higgins in Parliament House in 2019. As has been widely remarked, Drumgold kicked an extraordinary own goal when he demanded an inquiry, which has found that he committed such egregious errors in law that he will have to leave the profession.

Now the ACT government is making itself looking even more foolish by kicking own goals of its own with, firstly, the refusal to release the full report and, secondly, a statement from the local police chief Neil Gaughan saying he was “shocked and distressed” about the impact of the leaking “on the ACT criminal justice system and the Canberra community’s confidence in it”.

If the residents of the ACT weren’t so woke, they’d be shocked and distressed that their legislature, with Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury as Attorney-General, had appointed Drumgold to the position of DPP in the first instance.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC.

Rattenbury appointed Drumgold DPP on January 1, 2019 and made him Senior Counsel 10 months later. The only other territorial DPP, Lloyd Babb, had been a Senior Counsel for four years before he was appointed NSW DPP. He had been an SC for 15 years before being appointed DPP in the NT.

Police chief Gaughan might consider that the inquiry was called by Chief Minister Barr on December 21, following the letter Drumgold sent Gaughan on November 1 outlining his concerns over what Sofronoff called “scandalous allegations” about police conduct.

The report, which – pay attention here police chief Gaughan – says each allegation Drumgold made against the police was “exposed as baseless”.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Picture: Julia Kanapathippillai

ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Inquiry chairman Walter Sofronoff KC, a former president of the Queensland Court of Appeal and Queensland solicitor-general, has not only exposed Drumgold’s many failings but he has also exposed the lightweight nature of the ACT’s administration.

Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates, who acted as an intermediary for Higgins and police and whose multiple appearances walking Higgins to court and standing with her at media conferences sparked ongoing controversy, was cleared of any wrongdoing by Sofronoff but her dual roles as an advocate and a carer clearly were cause for confusion.

Higgins was a complainant when Yates appeared with her. No crime had been proven and no crime has yet been proven though many in the media were quick to act as if it had.

Putting Higgins on the National Press Club stage with Grace Tame, when in her case a man had been convicted and sentenced to jail, was an egregious error for which the woke NPC board must apologise and ensure never happens again.

Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The presumption of innocence is a mystery within the ACT, as the actions of senators Penny Wong, Katy Gallagher and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demonstrated.

Media figure Lisa Wilkinson was also a victim of one of Drumgold’s many attempts to interfere with the course of justice and Sofronoff found the DPP “knowingly lied” in court over the making of notes of his purported warning to Wilkinson about her Logies speech.

The question now is whether the ACT will charge Drumgold with perverting the course of justice and if those successfully prosecuted by the DPP will appeal their convictions.

As former NSW judge Anthony Whealy said, it would be traumatising, particularly for sexual assault victims, to have Drumgold’s cases rehashed in the courts “but nevertheless it has to be done because if standards in the ACT have fallen this far then I think a review of past cases, at least where he’s been involved, is necessary”.

This will be a real test for the ACT government which has time and again shown itself to be little more than a self-important local council and should be regarded as such.

Walter Sofronoff has shone a much-needed light on its failures.