[Theme music starts]

ANGE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack. This is 7am.

It was three years ago, last week, that Brittany Higgins made allegations that rocked Australia. Those allegations resulted in a mistrial, with Bruce Lehrmann strenuously maintaining his innocence, and it raised many questions about the handling of Higgins’ claims. So, an inquiry was launched, to see if lessons could be learned from the mistrial – to improve the justice system. But last week, we learned more about how the very inquiry meant to fix things, turned into a media circus of its own.

Today, contributor to The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace, on the texts and phone calls between the head of the inquiry and a well-known journalist.

It’s Monday February 19.

[Theme music ends]

ANGE:

Chris, the inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann trial last year, ended in the resignation of the ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold and there were also revelations the head of the inquiry was talking to journalists throughout – but last week we’ve learned even more about what was going on. What’s happened?

CHRIS:

It's a very unfortunate series of events that has led to this week, former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, progressing his case in the ACT Supreme Court…

Audio Excerpt – Reporter:

“There's a lot at stake in the outcome of this case. In launching it, Shane Drumgold sought to undo some of the damage to his reputation…”

CHRIS:

...Applying for the findings of the inquiry into the conduct of the Bruce Lehrmann case in the ACT justice system set aside. Mr. Drumgold is seeking to get these findings set aside because he's arguing there is apprehended bias in the results. And that is because, the chief of the inquiry, an independent inquiry set up by the ACT government, Walter Sofronoff KC, had extensive behind the scenes dealings with journalists, including one journalist in particular.

Telstra records were introduced into evidence showing that Sofronoff had 91 phone calls with journalists. Now, of those 91 phone calls, 71 phone calls were with journalists from one newspaper, The Australian, and 51 of those 71 calls were with one columnist for The Australian, Janet Albrechtson. Janet Albrechtson is a very well-established columnist at The Australian. She's a former board member of the ABC. If you're a conservative Australian, lots of right wingers can't wait to get their copy of The Australian on Janet Albrechtson day. And she's the sort of person that is very much to the forefront of the culture wars in Australia.

Audio Excerpt – Janet Albrechtson:

“By denying us the ability to think political correctness is a heresy if we're truly committed to liberalism. Political correctness, after all, aims to tell us what to think, and it seeps into so many parts of society, so often without us even paying attention to its name.”

CHRIS:

The Telstra records show that Walter Sofronoff and Albrechtson spoke on the phone for a total 11 hours and 27 minutes in all. Between the enquiry being called and his appointment and Mr. Sofronoff handing his report to the ACT government.

ANGE:

And we will get to unpacking the significance of this contact between Walters Sofronoff and Janet Albrechtson. But to take a step back, Chris, how significant was this inquiry in the first place? And why are we hearing about it again now?

CHRIS:

Well, it's three years ago this week that Samantha Maiden and news.com.au and Lisa Wilkinson on Network Ten reported the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House two years before that. And it was like an earthquake went off in Australian politics. The trial eventually happened in Canberra. It was aborted due to juror misconduct. No findings were made against Lehrmann, who continues to deny the allegation of rape. But Canberra too kind of went “what the hell just happened?” And the ACT government wanted an independent inquiry to ask searching questions about, you know, what happens to people who alleged sexual assault in the ACT system. You know, is it handled fairly? There were questions about the police role in all of this.

Audio Excerpt – Reporter:

“Stunning claims have been made about the Brittany Higgins rape allegations against Bruce Lehrrmann. Chief prosecutor raising concerns about political interference. Shane Drumgold SC demanded a public inquiry into the high-profile rape trial.”

CHRIS:

Everybody expected a broad ranging inquiry into the nature of how the system worked here in this kind of situation. Walter Sofronoff KC was chosen. No one had any reason to doubt he would be an excellent appointment. He had a stellar record in Queensland as a former solicitor general and very esteemed judge. But had Shane Drumgold not applied to the Supreme Court to have the Sofronoff report's findings set aside, we would never, ever have known about the extraordinary degree of journalist interaction with this independent inquiry head. Now, of course, what's happened in court this week is all about, well, is that normal? Is that okay? Did it sway Sofronoff’s findings? Has that denied Shane Drumgold natural justice? But this is far from the point where everybody in the ACT government thought we'd all end up, as a result of establishing this inquiry, which seemed like an excellent idea at the time.

ANGE:

So to go back to what we heard last week, particularly around the conduct of that inquiry’s head, Walter Sofronoff… What arguments were Shane Drumgold’s lawyers making about what went on?

CHRIS:

So the case is being heard before Justice Stephen Kay. And the case really turns as Justice Kay summarized O'Gorman’s argument for Drumgold this week. It turns on whether, quote, A fair minded observer might apprehend that Miss Albrechtson had bias because of her basic view of the prosecution, and inflicted that bias onto Mr. Sofronoff. So the suggestion is that Janet Albrechtson, a columnist with a particular position and an approach to this story that was already well established in, in the press, had, in O'Gorman's words, poisoned Sofronoff’s mind against Drumgold before Sofronoff had even heard Drumgold's own testimony. Walter Sofronoff claims he has done nothing wrong and conducted the inquiry impartially. Brendan Lim, representing Sofronoff, argued that in fact, all Sofronoff was doing was responding to journalists' inquiries. It's just that Janet Albrechtson happened to be the most persistent journalist, but it did lead to an extreme asymmetry in the amount of time that Walter Sofronoff was interacting with one journalist in texts on emails, in phone calls, in one case at lunch in Brisbane. The 273 communications, amounted to 1.6 communications per day on average. Sofronoff used a thumbs up emoji in one communication to Albrechtson. In another, he texted “got a minute?” Now as O’Gorman argued, this doesn't suggest a professional relationship, but one rather that has become overly familiar. And certainly the pattern of behaviour seems to support that proposition.

ANGE:

After the break - how an inquiry meant to improve the justice system for survivors has ended up making headlines for the wrong reasons….

[ADVERTISEMENT]

ANGE:

Chris, we are talking about the relationship between Walter Sofronoff and Janet Albrechtson and Shane Drumgold's lawyers, basically arguing that Albrechtson influenced Walters Sofronoff, who is, of course, meant to be fair and impartial. If that's found to be the case, how significant would that be?

CHRIS:

Well, it would be a very great moral victory for Shane Drumgold, who has come out of the whole whole experience of pretty much a broken man. He doesn't claim to be perfect, but he says he was doing his job to the best of his ability. And certainly this is an unexpected result from the case. I think there's a bigger lesson to be drawn here. Forget it was Janet Albrechtson. It could have been anybody. Dan O'Gorman's point that Sofronoff was having exchanges with a journalist about someone who's about to give evidence in the inquiry, namely Drumgold, and he was exchanging views about his behavior with Albrechtson before he'd even heard from Goldman's evidence is extremely worrying. I think O'Gorman’s argument that all of these communications with journalists, if they need to happen, should happen transparently and in public. And he underlined that with, you know, a really obvious tech point, anyone who wanted to watch these proceedings, you can watch it digitally on your computer. It's not like anyone's missing out. So what's the need, the special need for behind the scenes contacts with journalists during such inquiries.

ANGE:

And Chris, the inquiry into the mistrial of Bruce Lehrmann was set up basically to learn from its mistakes, because there were many questions raised about how the Act justice system dealt with Brittany Higgins allegations in the first place. There's so many threads about those initial allegations that have now been sparked, you know, careers being ended, appeals over inquiries. But at the end of the day, where does this leave sexual assault victims, which this inquiry was ultimately trying to help?

CHRIS:

That's a really good question. A searching exploration of the experiences of alleged sexual assault victims in the ACT justice system was expected from the Soffronof inquiry. It still needs to happen. It's still an issue. So this is, you know, outstanding business for the government. It's not the ACT government's fault that it turned out this way. I think it's been just a tremendous shock to the system all round. But that really important issue of the experiences of alleged sexual assault victims in the system, still needs to be dealt with, and there's a lot of work to be done.

ANGE:

Chris, thanks so much for your time today.

CHRIS:

Pleasure.

ANGE:

And if you or anyone you know needs support with domestic or sexual violence, you can call 1800 RESPECT.

[Theme music starts]

ANGE:

Also in the news today…

The mother of Alexei Navalny has said Russian authorities claimed her son died from: “Sudden death syndrome”, while held in an arctic prison. Navalny was the most successful political opponent to Vladimir Putin since he came to power almost 25 years ago – and created a mass movement unlike any other opposition figure through a combination of bravely crusading against corruption and appealing to Russian nationalism.

And…

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reaffirmed his support for sending anyone who arrives to Australia by boat to offshore detention, after two groups of men, who arrived by boat, were found in remote north-west WA by border security.When asked about what would happen to the men, Albanese said he was “very comfortable that the Operation Sovereign Borders has been put in place.”

I’m Ange McCormack, this is 7am. We’ll be back again tomorrow.

[Theme music starts]