ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr defends Attorney-General’s meeting over sexual assault dismissals

The ACT government has stood by Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury after the territory’s acting DPP expressed anger at a ‘highly inappropriate’ intervention in his independence.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has backed Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury following revelations the Greens leader told the territory’s Acting Director of Public Prosecutions he was concerned the DPP had terminated several recent sexual assault prosecutions in Canberra.

On Monday The Australian revealed that two months before he was ­rejected for the permanent job as DPP, Anthony Williamson SC, was summoned to a meeting with ­Mr Rattenbury that Mr Williamson later ­described to colleagues as “a highly inappropriate” intervention.

Anthony Williamson SC was the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions for the ACT of the time. Picture: Keegan Carroll

Mr Williamson said he had been “hauled over to (Mr Rattenbury’s) office like an errant little schoolboy to explain myself as an independent statutory ­office holder”, according to ­witnesses.

However, Mr Barr expressed confidence in Mr Rattenbury, saying it was “appropriate for the Attorney-General to discuss matters of ODPP operations and policy with the Director”.

Mr Barr acknowledged that “the Director is independent from government in the manner that the ODPP undertakes prosecutions”, but did not address the specific claim by Mr Williamson that Mr Rattenbury had expressed “concern” over his discontinuance of several sexual assault prosecutions.

Mr Rattenbury told Mr Williamson he understood the DPP had dropped matters “where there was a strong prosecution case” and that these included cases where the accused had made admissions and there was medical evidence.

However, the prosecutions had all been judged by Mr Williamson as baseless cases that would he determined would inevitably have resulted in the acquittal of the accused and would have been an abuse of process to continue. Each case went through rigorous procedure ­before being discontinued.

It is understood that in one of the discontinued cases, prosecutors became aware of video ­footage that proved the complainant’s version of events was untrue, and that in at least two of the cases the police investigators themselves were supportive of the matter being discontinued.

ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Rattenbury is not alleged to have asked Mr Williamson to reverse his decision in the cases raised, but one of those who heard Mr Williamson’s ­account suggested that may have reasonably been seen by Mr Williamson as “the implication” of what Mr Rattenbury expected to come from the meeting.

A source within the ODPP said Mr Williamson was already concerned about the crisis unfolding in the NSW justice system, where chief prosecutor Sally Dowling SC has been criticised by five judges for running “meritless” sexual-­assault trials.

Last week the ACT government appointed NT silk Victoria Engel SC to fill the permanent role of DPP left vacant by Shane Drumgold last year when he stepped down following serious misconduct findings against him. The role had been expected to go to Mr Williamson.

Mr Rattenbury declined to answer questions about what he had raised with Mr Williamson and why he had summoned him.