Andrew Barr’s silence on Drumgold scandal is an abuse of the public

Shane Drumgold enters the Bruce Lehrmann Inquiry today. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Dylan Robinson

The Sofronoff inquiry report has exposed the dark core of failing governance at the heart of the Australian Capital Territory, characterised by a lack of due process and falling confidence in its criminal justice system.

The damning revelations that have been published by The Australian, if true, point to a deeply concerning culture that may go well beyond one case.

This is a culture fostered under the eye of a government more interested in deflecting blame for every scandal that befalls it. And now, instead of competently and efficiently responding to these findings, the ACT government has sought to suppress the report, to the detriment of good governance, due process, satisfactory service delivery and the expectations of the public.

I would expect that any first minister – Liberal or Labor – on receiving such a damning report would immediately respond. Instead, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has been in hiding for almost a full week since receiving the report.

Barr’s preferred timetable is telling. He hoped to deliver his version of the report at a time of his own choosing and – as is typical of Barr and his ACT Labor-Greens government – spin it so none of the mud sticks to him.

Shane Drumgold, who resigned his role as Director of Public Prosecutions on Sunday, is a statutory appointee of the ACT Labor-Greens government, now in power for more than two decades. It is reported that Walter Sofronoff’s review concluded there has been a gross miscarriage of justice under Drumgold’s watch.

There are valid questions about whether this was a one-off or simply the tip of the iceberg. Either way, the ACT criminal justice system is now tainted. It must now be urgently rectified.

If the leaked extracts from the report are true, Drumgold is responsible for gross breaches of duty – not only as an officer of the court but as a prosecutor – and this government should have acted with urgency.

A prosecutor is not merely a party to a legal proceeding, but an essential figure in our criminal justice system, with duties that go above and beyond those of other lawyers. As one senior prosecutor from a different jurisdiction told me, prosecutors owe a duty to the broader community (including to the accused) to ensure a fair trial.

This is in stark contrast to what the Sofronoff report apparently stated about Drumgold’s conduct in which he treated the Lehrmann prosecution as “a poker game in which a prosecutor can hide his cards”.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr addresses the ACT Labor Conference in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The deafening silence of Barr and ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury, and their refusal to take swift action following the public coverage of the report, are inexcusable. It is unfathomable that Barr thought it appropriate to keep the report hidden from the public for almost a month. It was only on Sunday – almost a full week after the report was handed to Barr – that Rattenbury released a statement confirming Drumgold had vacated his role as DPP.

Since it became public that the report had been handed to Barr, the Canberra community has been right to demand the immediate release of the report in full. It is also right to ask about other prosecutions led by Drumgold.

Canberra is the nation’s capital, and Canberrans deserve a government that will ensure everyone has access to a fair trial; a government that will take responsibility and show leadership to create public confidence in the criminal justice system.

The ACT Labor-Greens government must urgently act to restore confidence in a justice system worthy of the nation’s capital.

Each day Barr sits on his hands and refuses to address this extraordinary situation is another reminder of this government’s lack of respect for Canberrans.

Elizabeth Lee is the leader of the Canberra Liberals and the member for Kurrajong in the ACT Legislative Assembly.