Walter Sofronoff knew material shared during Bruce Lehrmann prosecution inquiry was confidential, Federal Court hears

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

Lawyers for the ACT Integrity Commission have rebuffed claims that some of its findings about Walter Sofronoff's conduct during the inquiry into Bruce Lehrmann's prosecution were legally unreasonable.
The Federal Court has concluded a hearing into Mr Sofronoff's bid for a judicial review of the commission's report into his contact with journalists during the inquiry in 2023.
The retired judge was found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct, including by giving confidential material to Janet Albrechtsen of The Australian, and a copy of his final report to her and the ABC's Elizabeth Byrne before it was officially released.
In his application to the court, Mr Sofronoff alleged that a range of findings that acted dishonestly or in bad faith were legally unreasonable, with no evidence to support them.
But counsel for the commission, Scott Robertson, has argued there is ample evidence to support those conclusions.
He pointed to Mr Sofronoff's communications with Ms Albrechtsen, including a text message in which he provided a witness statement with the note "strictly confidential".
"Mr Sofronoff knew that this was material that should be kept confidential … consistent with his own suppression order," Mr Robertson told the court.
"Those inferences haven't been demonstrated to be so far beyond the pale, so far off the rails, as to amount to legal unreasonableness."
Walter Sofronoff has argued the legislation allowed him to do whatever he felt necessary for the fair and prompt conduct of the inquiry, and that he was acting in the public interest.
Mr Robertson said this did not mitigate the finding of corrupt conduct.
"It's not enough just to think … your purposes were higher purposes than those of your statutory function," he said.
In his submissions in reply, Mr Sofronoff's barrister, Adam Pomerenke, argued non-publication orders did not prevent the inquiry chair from disclosing information, and the text message to Ms Albrechtsen did not indicate otherwise.
"It's saying to Ms Albrechtsen: this is strictly confidential, binding on you, do not publish it," Mr Pomerenke told the court.
Justice Wendy Abraham questioned Mr Pomerenke on whether disclosing the material was a breach of witnesses' expectations.
"They would understand that it wouldn't be distributed, because it was confidential," Justice Abraham suggested.
Mr Pomerenke replied that it was not a "legitimate expectation".
He told the court the commission had demonstrated "the unwisdom of what was done".
"But in our respectful submission, [it] has not demonstrated dishonesty," Mr Pomerenke said.
The ACT government called the inquiry after the collapse of Bruce Lehrmann's 2022 criminal trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, which left no verdict.
He later sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over the interview in which Ms Higgins made her allegations.
Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Lehrmann did rape his then-colleague at Parliament House in 2019.
An appeal against that decision is due to be heard next month.
Justice Abraham told the court she would not rule on Mr Sofronoff's application today.
"Not surprisingly, I'm going to reserve my decision; I have plenty to think about," she said.