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Australia news live: Walter Sofronoff to be investigated over corruption allegations; teenager who killed Emma Lovell jailed for 14 years | Australia news | The GuardianSkip to main contentSkip to navigation
Walter Sofronoff to be investigated over corruption allegations
Sarah Basford Canales
The ACT’s integrity commission has announced it is investigating allegations of corruption by the former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff for his conduct with the media while undertaking an inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann trial.
The commission announced last month it would be assessing whether Sofronoff’s decision to provide a copy of his inquiry’s final report to two journalists – including a columnist for The Australian newspaper, Janet Albrechtsen – before the ACT chief minister had made the report public amounted to corrupt conduct.
Shane Drumgold, the former ACT director of public prosecutions, had launched legal action against adverse findings made by Sofronoff against him, including that Drumgold had “at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment”.
Drumgold had a partial win after a supreme court judge ruled in March Sofronoff’s dealings with Albrechtsen gave the impression he “might have been influenced by the views held and publicly expressed” by her.
The integrity commissioner on Monday said a full investigation would now probe the matter further.
The commission’s statement said:
On 5 April 2024, the ACT integrity commission (the commission) issued a media alert confirming it had received and was assessing allegations of corruption regarding the conduct of the Hon Walter Sofronoff KC as it relates to the board of inquiry into the criminal justice system in the Australian Capital Territory (the board).
The commissioner has completed his assessment of these allegations and has decided to commence an investigation into the impugned conduct as he suspects, on reasonable grounds, that Mr Sofronoff’s conduct may constitute corrupt conduct.
On 1 February 2023, the board was established and commenced under the Inquiries Act 1991 and Mr Sofronoff was appointed to conduct the inquiry. On 31 July 2023, the report resulting from the board of inquiry was delivered to the ACT chief minister.
The allegations assessed by the commissioner relate to the provision by Mr Sofronoff of his report to two journalists before it was made public by the chief minister, allegedly in breach of the requirements of the Inquiries Act 1991 and allegedly constituting corrupt conduct under the Integrity Commission Act 2018.
As the investigation is ongoing, the commission will not be making any further public comments at this time.
That’s a wrap on the blog for today. Here’s what made the news:
The ACT’s integrity commission announced it is investigating allegations of corruption by Walter Sofronoff for his conduct with the media while undertaking an inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann trial.
More than 250 Australian academics and professional university staff signed an open letter in support of pro-Palestine student encampments established around the nation.
The federal court has refused to extend an injunction against Elon Musk’s X over 65 tweets containing video of the Wakeley church stabbing, ahead of a final hearing in the case likely in June.
It’s pretty easy to set up via the Services Victoria app. It only took me a few minutes. I am guessing most people have not used that app since they had to check in at venues when that was still something we had to do.
Musk says ‘not trying to win anything’ over eSafety court ruling in X’s favour
Social media network X’s owner, Elon Musk, has responded to the news of his initial court victory today over the eSafety commissioner after the court refused to continue an injunction. He said:
Not trying to win anything. I just don’t think we should be suppressing Australian’s [sic] rights to free speech.
Not trying to win anything. I just don’t think we should be suppressing Australian’s rights to free speech.
NSW police charge 80th person over Wakley church riot
The New South Wales police say an 80th person has been charged as part of the Wakeley riot outside the church where bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed in April during a sermon.
The 31-year-old man was arrested this morning and appeared in Burwood local court today charged with riot, assault police officer during public disorder, intimidate police officer during public disorder, and two counts of destroy/damage property during public disorder.
He has been granted conditional bail to appear at Fairfield local court on Monday 27 May. Strike Force Dribs is continuing to investigate the riot.
Detection dog Coral from Brisbane’s canine unit. Photograph: Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police says its technology detection dogs have discovered more than 180 items in search warrants across the country so far this year.
The dogs have sniffed out mobile phones, sim cards, USB drives, laptops and digital cameras at over 70 warrant searches this year. There are currently 13 such dogs deployed across the country, out of 91 detection dogs currently operational.
Labradors are the breed predominantly used, and they work for six years before being adopted out.
The assistant commissioner, Alison Wegg, said:
Dogs conducting detection work sniff between five to 10 times a second. Their smell processing capacity is 40 times stronger than humans, and studies have shown they can find a scent as faint as one part per million.
It is very important for us to continue to research and develop new concepts in canine capability to ensure we remain a step ahead of criminals.
The federal government will put $288.1m over four years in tomorrow’s budget to prepare for the rollout of a digital ID system.
The legislation to support the development of a digital ID system passed the Senate in March, but has yet to be passed in the house. The new funding includes:
$155.6m over two years for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to continue operating myGovID and the Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) service;
$46m over two years to Services Australia to operate and enhance the identity exchange that enables transactions across the Australian government digital ID system and undertake the regulatory functions of the system administrator;
$35.2m over two years to the Department of Finance for governance of the digital ID program;
$23.4m over two years for the ATO, Finance and Services Australia to pilot the use of government digital wallets and verifiable credentials;
$11m over four years to the attorney general’s department for enhancing the credential protection register;
$7.8m over two years to the Treasury to support the data standards function to be established under digital ID legislation;
$5.6m to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to provide privacy oversight under digital ID legislation; and
$3.5m over two years to Asio to provide security assessments of entities seeking accreditation or participation in digital ID system.
The budget will also fund pilots for new use cases for digital ID, including using government credentials in a user’s digital wallet. The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said:
The recent data breach across NSW and the ACT involving customer information from licensed clubs shows how important it is to help Australians reduce the risk of identity theft.
Accessing services online with a secure digital ID restricts the oversharing of personal information and means there are less copies of your ID data and documents out in the world.
Thousands of kids safely evacuated after Sydney Olympic Park pool’s solar panels catch fire
Thousands of children competing at a major swimming carnival have been evacuated after solar panels on the roof of Sydney’s Olympic Park aquatic centre caught fire, AAP reports.
Six fire trucks and 24 firefighters rushed to the scene at Homebush, in the city’s west, after reports of thick black smoke billowing from the building about 12.15pm on Monday. Firefighters used a ladder platform to attack the flames, containing the blaze in about 45 minutes.
“More than 2,500 people have been safely evacuated from Sydney Olympic Park aquatic centre in Homebush following a solar panel fire,” Fire and Rescue NSW said in a statement. There were no reported injuries.
NSW Fire and Rescue’s spokesperson, Adam Dewberry, said there could be a number of reasons why the solar panels ignited. “There is pretty extensive damage,” he said.
“It did burn free for a period of time but we were able to get on top and contain it. We’ve had hundreds of people safely evacuated with no injuries reported, so it’s a great outcome so far.”
Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the fire.
Services Union argues AI should unlock four-day work weeks and calls for larger redundancy payouts
Workers should get access to four-day work weeks thanks to efficiencies created by artificial intelligence, while those whose jobs are removed by AI should get larger redundancy payments, the Australian Services Union has told the federal Senate.
A large number of submissions to the Senate’s inquiry into AI have been published online. The ASU said AI created “both opportunities and challenges for workers” and stressed it was “crucial that government prioritise the protection of workers’ rights and interests”.
The union, one of Australia’s largest, said workers should have a say about the use of AI in their workplaces, get training on how to use the technology and called for “a generous safety net for workers whose jobs are lost due to technological changes”.
Government must consider other flexibilities and initiatives for workers whose roles will be impacted by AI, such as a 4-day work week.
Government must also ensure generous redundancy provisions are in place where job losses are unavoidable due to the introduction of AI and significantly improve the current level of social protections that exist for workers and the unemployed.
Numerous other submissions from government departments and private companies spoke of the risks and rewards possible from the new AI technology. The Department of Home Affairs raised concerns about rising espionage and foreign interference, as well as the risks of “foreign governments” using the technology to feed misinformation, incite protests, or underpin inauthentic influence campaigns.
The defence department said “harnessing AI is key to Defence capability priorities” noting its potential “in areas such as logistics, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, targeting, and tracking and strike applications. In particular, AI has the potential to provide decision advantage in high-tempo military operations”.
Thank you for joining me on this news-politics hybrid blog day –I am going to hand you over to Josh Taylor for the rest of the afternoon, so stay tuned!
I’ll be back early tomorrow to guide you through the budget parliamentary day – politics live will be back to cover off all of Albanese government’s third budget – as well as the parliamentary happenings.
Walter Sofronoff to be investigated over corruption allegations
Sarah Basford Canales
The ACT’s integrity commission has announced it is investigating allegations of corruption by the former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff for his conduct with the media while undertaking an inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann trial.
The commission announced last month it would be assessing whether Sofronoff’s decision to provide a copy of his inquiry’s final report to two journalists – including a columnist for The Australian newspaper, Janet Albrechtsen – before the ACT chief minister had made the report public amounted to corrupt conduct.
Shane Drumgold, the former ACT director of public prosecutions, had launched legal action against adverse findings made by Sofronoff against him, including that Drumgold had “at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment”.
Drumgold had a partial win after a supreme court judge ruled in March Sofronoff’s dealings with Albrechtsen gave the impression he “might have been influenced by the views held and publicly expressed” by her.
The integrity commissioner on Monday said a full investigation would now probe the matter further.
The commission’s statement said:
On 5 April 2024, the ACT integrity commission (the commission) issued a media alert confirming it had received and was assessing allegations of corruption regarding the conduct of the Hon Walter Sofronoff KC as it relates to the board of inquiry into the criminal justice system in the Australian Capital Territory (the board).
The commissioner has completed his assessment of these allegations and has decided to commence an investigation into the impugned conduct as he suspects, on reasonable grounds, that Mr Sofronoff’s conduct may constitute corrupt conduct.
On 1 February 2023, the board was established and commenced under the Inquiries Act 1991 and Mr Sofronoff was appointed to conduct the inquiry. On 31 July 2023, the report resulting from the board of inquiry was delivered to the ACT chief minister.
The allegations assessed by the commissioner relate to the provision by Mr Sofronoff of his report to two journalists before it was made public by the chief minister, allegedly in breach of the requirements of the Inquiries Act 1991 and allegedly constituting corrupt conduct under the Integrity Commission Act 2018.
As the investigation is ongoing, the commission will not be making any further public comments at this time.
Coalition criticises Labor decision to back UN resolution on Palestinian statehood
The Coalition has criticised the government’s decision to vote “yes” - together with 142 other countries - to a resolution backing Palestinian membership of the United Nations, arguing it was “putting Israel back in a harder, more difficult position”.
Just nine countries, including Israel and the US, voted against the resolution, while 25 others abstained.
The opposition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, used a Sky News interview today to argue Australia’s vote at the general assembly in New York on Friday night was “a profound shift by the government”.
Birmingham argued that the government was “taking steps and actions that Hamas, Iran and others welcome and see as progress”.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has previously dismissed this line of argument, insisting that the resolution specifically mentioned unwavering support for a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine lived side by side in peace and security.
Wong said on Saturday that the resolution was “a clear rejection of the goals and methods of Hamas” because “a two-state solution, both Israel and Palestine, is the opposite of what Hamas wants”.
During the Sky interview, Birmingham was asked about Wong’s comments. He maintained that “Hamas, Iran and others will see this change in position of Australia, led by the Albanese government and the UN vote, as another step towards what they want to see in terms of the way the international community responds. Because it’s an isolation of Israel. It is putting Israel back in a harder, more difficult position”.
‘It’s never going to be enough to bring her back’: Lee Lovell’s husband speaks
Lee Lovell - husband to murder victim Emma - spoke outside court shortly after the sentence was announced.
He told media he didn’t believe justice had been done, but he was glad the judge had deemed the attack “particularly heinous”.
I suppose my mind ran away into thinking that you’re gonna get like a life sentence. I suppose the judge was going on a lot of other cases to try and get an appropriate sentence.
I suppose it was 14 years, but it’s never going to be enough to bring her back.
Lovell was also injured in the attack, stabbed in the back and kicked in the head by the juvenile assailant. He was accompanied by his two daughters and could be seen visibly crying with his family inside the court after the sentence was handed down.
Teenager who fatally stabbed Queensland woman on Boxing Day 2022 sentenced to 14 years in prison
Andrew Messenger
The teenager who fatally stabbed Queenslander Emma Lovell late at night on Boxing Day 2022 has been sentenced to serve 14 years in jail.
The shocking murder - which took place after an attempted home invasion - scandalised the state, becoming one of the most high-profile attacks in the state in recent years.
Lovell’s family audibly gasped when supreme court justice Tom Sullivan told the court deemed the attack “particularly heinous”, unlocking sentences higher than the usual 10 year maximum jail sentence for children.
The court heard the then 17-year-old had had a difficult upbringing, including violence at home, and the use of drugs and glue. The judge also accepted he was remorseful.
But Sullivan said the juvenile was on probation at the time of the attack and had an extensive criminal history.
With discounts, he will serve a maximum of a little over 9 years. He has already served 503 days in custody, which will count towards the sentence. The now 19 year old showed little emotion as his sentence was read out.
Lee Lovell - her husband - was also stabbed twice in the back and kicked in the head during the attempted robbery.
The murderer cannot be named due to his age at the time of the attack.
First responders call for trauma treatment to be part of budget spend
One of the groups representing emergency services hopes to see government funds for trauma treatment included in the budget spend.
Fortem Australia’s director of policy, James Maskey, said constant exposure to trauma took a toll and without proper support it could lead to burnout and negative mental health outcomes.
It happened to me, and I’ve also seen it happen to my friends and colleagues. That’s why it is essential we address this issue head-on and ensure first responders have the resources they need to stay healthy and resilient.
