Queensland Bar recordings defended by Walter Sofronoff

Elements of the Queensland Bar Association have failed to act “in accordance with proper standards”.

‘Why would any grown-up member of a board be aghast?’ says Walter Sofronoff QC. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen.

Former Queensland solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff QC yesterday hit out at unnamed elements of the governing body for lawyers in the state, accusing them of not acting “in accordance with proper standards”.

Mr Sofronoff, who has been running a royal commission-style inquiry into the Grantham floods in which 12 people died, came to the defence of the newly retired chief executive of the Bar Association, Robyn Martin.

Ms Martin had been routinely using a visible iPad to record the confidential talks of the elected members of the Bar Council, which considers and determines delicate matters including complaints about the conduct of barristers, judges and the executive government.

However, Bar Council members are said to have been “aghast” and upset on discovering their talks were recorded without their knowledge.

“They were unaware that audio files of their talks were routinely produced by Ms Martin, who said she did it to ensure the accuracy of minutes of the meetings. It is not unlawful to make such recordings in Queensland.

Ms Martin’s September 3 retirement announcement from the Bar Association coincided with her husband, Supreme Court judge Glenn Martin, advising that he was resigning as a life member and asking his name be taken down from the board of life members.

Mr Sofronoff, who resigned as solicitor-general last year shortly before the former Campbell Newman-led government’s controversial appointment of Tim Carmody as chief justice, told The Australian yesterday that no “grown-up” Bar Council member should be aghast.

“Meetings of boards are commonly recorded in order to produce accurate minutes. How else would anyone do it these days?’’ he said.

“When I was vice-president and president of the Bar Association, over four years, we recorded all of our meetings. The CEO of the day did that. I don’t know if anybody noticed but it was no secret. After the minutes are approved by the next meeting, the recording is useless.

“Why would any grown-up member of a board be aghast or upset about having a statement recorded for that purpose?”

He said unless a Bar Council member was “ashamed of what he or she had said, and does not want it recorded in any way at all, whether a scribe records the meeting verbatim in writing or verbatim electronically can make no difference”.

“The incongruity of this affair demonstrates again the bar’s leadership or, at least, senior sources within that leadership, failing to act in accordance with proper standards,’’ Mr Sofronoff said.

“In order to criticise Ms Martin for recording confidential discussions which nobody says she has disclosed, ‘senior sources’, who should know better, anonymously leaked private affairs of the association to a newspaper.”

One of The Australian’s senior legal sources said: “It’s a fact that at no stage until she was asked did she ever advise that she was recording it.”

Prior to her finishing up in the job on Monday, Bar Association president Shane Doyle QC said he had appreciated Ms Martin’s advice, guidance and efforts in helping him in his role.

Mr Sofronoff was highly critical last year of the then attorney-general in the Newman government, Jarrod Bleijie, calling on him to quit for having breached a confidence by disclosing a private conversation with the Court of Appeal president, Margaret McMurdo.

Mr Sofronoff’s Grantham floods inquiry final report is due by the end of the month.