The dispiriting mess of the Brittany Higgins-Bruce Lehrmann saga has bred hundreds of conspiracy theories, almost all of them based on ignorance and absence of facts.
Now, just when we were about to get the first independent, cool-headed look at what went wrong in the prosecution of the case, the ACT government has decreed that the findings of inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff KC – to be delivered on Monday – will be kept secret for at least another month.
The territory government has a reputation for own goals, but for sheer contempt of its own constituents, this one takes the trophy.
There is no excuse for such a delay; not that Chief Minister Andrew Barr has bothered to offer one.
Barr says he “currently intends” to table some or all of the report at the end of August, at which time he “may” provide an interim response, pending a final response that “may take several months”.
Perhaps the government hopes the public interest in this matter will fade over time.
Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC demanded this inquiry after alleging political interference by Liberal MPs and police sabotage of his prosecution. He can’t complain now that it has not gone the way he wanted.
The ACT’s Labor-Greens coalition government happily commissioned the inquiry, no doubt anticipating some political scalps. It can’t bury the report now that it has not gone the way it expected.
The inquiry’s terms of reference were already so limited that Sofronoff had to ask that they be widened to include Drumgold’s conduct in the preparation of the proceedings and in the hearings.
The reasons for that are now obvious.
There are a number of potential adverse findings against Drumgold. Depending on what, if any, such findings are made against him, it could result in his instant dismissal.
The government set Sofronoff a gruelingly tight deadline to establish the facts, but has given itself a free pass to mull over the spin. When did this cabal plan to announce that the report wasn’t going to see the light of day for at least a month?
If The Australian hadn’t picked up a whiff of panic from the government and requested details of the release – the response to which arrived at 5.22pm on Friday; a time-honoured technique known as “putting out the trash” – we might still be none the wiser.
There is no evidence that Sofronoff has asked that the release of his report be delayed.
If there are parts of the report the commissioner thinks should be kept confidential, there is no reason to suppose he hasn’t made provision for that.
When Sofronoff handed down his report last year into Queensland’s failed forensic DNA testing, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk immediately released the findings and within 48 hours had accepted all 123 recommendations and announced $95m in funding to fix the problems.
Many lives have been damaged by the Lehrmann-Higgins case, and more pain has been inflicted thanks to an inquiry demanded by Drumgold, only for him to admit that his claims about political interference and police conspiring against him were wholly misconceived.
Lehrmann and Higgins are both entitled to know what Sofronoff has found about the way they were treated by police and prosecutors without it being parsed through “a proper cabinet process”.
Just as importantly, the criminal justice system in the ACT is in disarray.
Trust between ACT Policing and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions evaporated during the Lehrmann investigation, with morale at an all-time low and cases stagnating.
Both sides are waiting warily to see what comes of the inquiry.
Sofronoff’s report could well be the circuit-breaker needed to restore a viable working relationship between the two agencies. Another month, or more, of speculation and turmoil will only add to the hostility already rampant.
If there are rules to be changed, laws to be fixed, that is a debate we should be having in public.
The government needs to take a leaf out of Sofronoff’s book: just get on with the job and do it openly and transparently.
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