And so to the University of Melbourne Law School to hear Federal Court Chief Justice Debra (Debbie) Mortimer deliver the Seabrook Chambers Oration. Her topic? Open justice. Or was it a case of open injustice?
Federal Court Chief Justice Debra Mortimer.
The chief justice (let’s not forget she is also senior fellow at Melbourne Law School and a member of the Law School’s Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies) delivered her oration on Wednesday night, after which Professor Heather Douglas moderated the Q&A and issued a formal thanks.
But then came the following confession from Douglas. “Typically we would now present you with something special in appreciation of your speech but unfortunately it seems your gift has been stolen,” Douglas, who teaches criminal law, told the audience, according to a lawyer present in the audience.
Cue a smattering of laughter from the assembled ranks of the profession.
“So we’ll get a replacement to you soon,” Douglas promised.
CBD has its own agents on the case, but maybe the Law School could seek assistance from distinguished jurists present in the audience, including brand new Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane, KC (Melbourne Law Alumnus), or even crack defamation barrister Matt Collins, KC, who is acting for Liberal leader John Pesutto in ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s defamation case.
One UoM graduate definitely not in attendance, as she had given evidence via videolink from a secret overseas location mid-week during her compensation hearing was Lawyer X herself, Nicola Gobbo, the gangland barrister who turned police informer.
The university didn’t want to comment, but didn’t deny the incident. A source suggested that the gift could have been misplaced rather than stolen. In any event we hope her honour does not have to wait too long to be in receipt of her “something special”.
FLIPPING THE BIRD
There’s always a risk when newspapers write about petty crime that the press will find itself in the firing line.
And so it was for CBD HQ this week, aka the Nine Entertainment Co offices in Docklands, when a mysterious yellow bird was spray-painted above the company logo.
Pam the Bird graffiti on The Age and Nine offices in Docklands.Credit: Goodbirdart/Instagram
Passersby may have recognised it as Pam the bird, a graffiti tag that has reached plague proportions across Melbourne’s streets in recent months.
The sheer volume of Pams, and the cheeky hard-to-reach locations where they appear (including the Flinders Street Station clock tower), has prompted great interest from the media, including in these very pages, about the Banksy-esque phenomenon.
Police are not impressed but there are so many out there that we are told people play a kind of Where’s Wally with the cute spray-on critter. How very Melbourne.
After The Age ran a piece on Pam and the accompanying “street art versus vandalism” debate, the bird’s handlers decided it was time to give us a taste of how it feels to get Pammed.
Nine security tells us Pam appeared on the outside of the building last Saturday.
Written above it were the words “Something to report about”. It was swiftly painted over.
The culprits have yet to come forward to claim responsibility.
All we know is that they are from a graffiti crew known as “MP” – oh, and that they read The Age.
HAVANA SYNDROME
In 2016, a CIA agent in Havana began experiencing headaches, dizziness and a ringing in his ears.
Over the following years, several American diplomats, plus military and intelligence figures would report similar feelings of profound, unexplained discombobulation.
Soon, the mystery condition, which forced some spies to come in from the cold, had a name: Havana Syndrome. While its cause remains a mystery, some US officials have long pointed the finger at sonic weaponry used by Russian intelligence.
And there’s further mystery surrounding whether any Australian diplomats and spooks have fallen victim to Havana Syndrome. According to a tranche of documents released under freedom of information, the department has been keeping an eye on Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) since 2021, but thanks to heavy redactions, we’re still left in the dark.
The first references in DFAT internal communications came in August of that year, when US Vice President Kamala Harris delayed her departure for a trip to Vietnam after a suspected incident of Havana Syndrome in Hanoi.
“Our RSO (regional security officer) in Ho Chi Minh City has just advised us of a possible attack/cases of Havana Syndrome in Vietnam,” came the email from a humble department grad to DFAT’s principal medical adviser Leonard Brennan.
“I do however appreciate that Havana Syndrome is somewhat mystical,” the unnamed grad continued.
A few months later, a DFAT internal cable noted the media reporting on AHIs, or Havana Syndrome, and concluded that Australian diplomats had been spared by those dastardly Russians.
“There are no confirmed cases of Havana Syndrome in the Australian diplomatic network and there is no reporting to suggest we are a target of any such activity,” the cable read.
But the mystery deepened. In January 2022, a series of sensitive internal emails were circulated among DFAT staff, including Brennan, with the subject “potential HS incident”. The body of those ominous-sounding missives was entirely redacted.
Late Thursday a department spokeswoman said: “There have been no reported cases of DFAT staff or dependants suffering from anomalous health incidents also known as Havana Syndrome.”
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