Former judge Walter Sofronoff slams ‘zealots’ who rule with agendas

Former judge and inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff has slammed ‘narcissists and zealots’ whom he believes threaten the rule of law and our institutions.

Walter Sofronoff. Picture: Jack Tran

Former judge and inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff has slammed “narcissists and zealots” whom he believes threaten the rule of law and our institutions, warning of a “subtle and internal” threat within the country’s court system.

Speaking at a Rule of Law Institute of Australia dinner last week in Sydney, Mr Sofronoff also criticised governments that sought to wrongly “restrain journalists’ access to information”, saying the trade’s role was inherent to constitutional democracy.

He told the audience that although Australia’s institutions were robust to withstand external assault, the risks it faced were “subtle and internal”, and he had become concerned by the threat of incremental intrusions into courts by “wrongheaded narcissists and zealots” who did not appreciate that their ideas were in conflict with “essential principles that ought to be eternal”.

“What those sorts of people do is to intrude incrementally so that damage is done… it may be done so many times we become habituated to it,” Mr Sofronoff said.

“We need judges who are independent of the executive. What we mean is judges who are independent of politics.”

Mr Sofronoff lashed judges who attempted to run a trial according to their “own special ideas” of what a fair trial should look like “in order to achieve some idiosyncratic personal aim”.

“As soon as you wed yourself publicly to a policy that you advocate, you become a politician,” he said.

Mr Sofronoff, who is being investigated by ACT Integrity Commissioner for providing two journalists from The Australian with an embargoed copy of his inquiry’s report into Bruce Lehrmann’s failed rape trial, added that while many aspects of government work should remain confidential, a constitutional democracy required that people were accurately informed.