Category Archives: Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

Judges to be protected against civil lawsuits after Salvatore Vasta sued over wrongful imprisonment

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Australian government to grant federal circuit court and family court judges the same protections as other commonwealth judges under new legislation

The federal government is preparing to introduce reforms granting greater protections to inferior court judges after a landmark case in which a wrongfully imprisoned man successfully sued Salvatore Vasta.

Vasta, a judge in the federal circuit court, was successfully sued this year by a man who he falsely imprisoned during a routine property dispute after a series of “serious and fundamental errors” and “gross and obvious irregularity of procedure”.

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ACT moves to punish jurors who conduct their own research during trials

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Attorney general says those in breach of proposed new rules could face up to two years in jail

The Australian Capital Territory will introduce new laws punishing jurors who conduct their own research.

Last year, the trial of Bruce Lehrmann collapsed in the ACT supreme court after a juror conducted their own research and brought in material from outside the courtroom.

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Confused cows and more time after work: the pros and cons of daylight saving across Australia

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At 2am on Sunday the clocks roll forward an hour in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT. So why aren’t Queensland, WA and the NT onboard?

Depending on who you ask, it’s either the most wonderful time of the year or the bane of their existence.

As most Australians sleep through Saturday night and into Sunday morning, time will skip ahead one hour – but only in some states and territories.

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The Sofronoff inquiry has only further damaged the public’s faith in the justice system

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Public is now asked to believe flaws exposed by Lehrmann case can be remedied by report whose author had ‘lapse in judgment’

The Sofronoff report was supposed to bring finality.

It was to give some semblance of closure to a saga that has dragged on and on, plumbing new depths in each ghastly iteration.

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Head of inquiry into Lehrmann prosecution gave report to selected journalists before ACT chief minister

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ACT says it remains ‘extremely disappointed’ Walter Sofronoff released report to media outlets

The final Sofronoff inquiry report was handed to journalists prior to the ACT’s chief minister, the government has said.

The fallout from the explosive findings and premature publication of Walter Sofronoff KC’s report continued on Friday, following revelations that the inquiry head had provided embargoed copies of the final report to selected media outlets before police, the director of public prosecutions and other key players.

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Australia news live: ‘nonsense’ to suggest Qantas has an outsized influence over Albanese government, Alan Joyce says

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Queensland to give free meningococcal B vaccine to infants, children and adolescents

The meningococcal B vaccine will be made free for infants, children and adolescents in Queensland.

After hearing the stories of heartbroken Queensland families, I had to act.

We know the meningococcal B strain can be lethal and – if a young person is lucky enough to survive the disease – it’s likely they will develop permanent and sometimes devastating complications.

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Head of inquiry into Lehrmann prosecution released report to media without authorisation

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Walter Sofronoff KC provided copies under embargo to ABC and the Australian, but ACT spokesperson said release ‘affected the inquiry process’

The head of an independent inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann provided embargoed copies of his final report to the media without the knowledge of the ACT government.


In an explosive statement on Thursday afternoon, an ACT government spokesperson said the government was “disappointed that the Sofronoff Board of Inquiry Report has been released to select media outlets”.

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Brittany Higgins accuses Linda Reynolds of targeting her and says it is ‘time to stop’

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Higgins has highlighted media coverage of comments by her former boss, saying ‘this has been going on for years now’

Brittany Higgins has told her former boss Linda Reynolds “it is time to stop” and accused the Liberal senator of targeting her through the media and in parliament.

On Monday, Reynolds confirmed she still intended to refer the commonwealth’s settlement with Higgins to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc), with paperwork expected to be lodged in coming days.

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Lidia Thorpe withdraws accusation made in parliament of sexual assault against senator David Van

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Liberal vehemently denied the claims made by the independent senator under privilege, which she later withdrew to comply with Senate rules

Lidia Thorpe has withdrawn allegations she made in parliament accusing Senate colleague David Van of harassment and sexual assault, an allegation the Liberal politician vehemently denied.

After making the initial claim on Wednesday afternoon, Thorpe returned to the chamber to say she was withdrawing the remarks in order to comply with Senate standing orders, but would make further comment on Thursday. Thorpe made the initial claims under parliamentary privilege during an interjection in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon as Van was speaking about respect in parliament.

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Bruce Lehrmann drops defamation case and settles with News Corp over Brittany Higgins reports

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The two parties reportedly settled with News Corp saying it had not paid any damages and the articles in dispute would remain online

Bruce Lehrmann has discontinued defamation proceedings against News Corp over its initial reporting of Brittany Higgins’ allegations after he settled with the media company.

News.com.au said in a statement that the settlement involved the payment of a portion of Lehrmann’s legal costs only.

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Bruce Lehrmann inquiry: Senior officer held serious concerns about perceptions of collusion with defence

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AFP acting assistant commissioner tells inquiry she was concerned police and defence counsel interactions were feeding ‘conspiratorial ideas of collusion’

A senior ACT police officer has told an inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann for rape that she held serious concerns that there were perceptions her officers were colluding with lawyers for Lehrmann’s defence.

AFP acting assistant commissioner, Joanne Cameron, was a commander in charge of ACT policing investigations when Lehrmann faced trial last year over allegations he raped his former colleague Brittany Higgins in parliament house in 2019.

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Photo on The Australian front page ‘risks interfering’ with Lehrmann probe, head of inquiry says

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Walter Sofronoff KC tells inquiry he had written to the editor of the Australian to understand why the paper ran photograph of Shane Drumgold on page one, but conceded it might serve a valid journalistic purpose

The head of the inquiry into the ACT police investigation of rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann condemned reporting by the Australian as pointless and a risk to “interfering with the course of [the] inquiry”.

In a significantly delayed opening to Monday’s hearings, former Queensland solicitor general Walter Sofronoff KC said the publication of a photo taken of the ACT director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, as he stood in the driveway of his Canberra home appeared entirely unjustified.

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Police did not believe evidence was sufficient to take Bruce Lehrmann to trial, inquiry hears

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AFP’s Scott Moller says he charged Lehrmann on advice of DPP despite investigators not thinking Brittany Higgins’s allegations reached threshold for prosecution

The police officer who investigated an allegation Bruce Lehrmann raped a colleague in Parliament House has told an inquiry he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to take Lehrmann to trial, but charged him on the advice of the director of public prosecutions.

The AFP’s Det Supt Scott Moller oversaw the ACT police’s investigation into Brittany Higgins’s allegation Lehrmann raped her in the Parliament House office of the then Coalition minister Linda Reynolds in 2019.

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Shane Drumgold on leave from DPP role as inquiry into Bruce Lehrmann case continues

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ACT government spokesperson says director of public prosecutions is on leave at his request

The Australian Capital Territory’s director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, is on leave as an inquiry into the handling of a case against the former Liberal staff member Bruce Lehrmann continues.

The ACT government executive has appointed Anthony Williamson, who was the deputy DPP, to act in the role of the territory’s top prosecutor until 13 June.

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This article was amended on 18 May, 2023. A previous version incorrectly stated Shane Drumgold was stood down. He is taking a period of voluntary leave.

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Russian diplomats in Australia refuse to pay $90,000 in traffic fines dating back 15 years

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Exclusive: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is chasing hundreds of overdue fines amid repeated requests to respect the law

Russian diplomats have refused to pay hundreds of overdue speeding, parking and traffic fines dating back more than 15 years, frustrating Australian officials who can only politely ask that they respect local laws.

Freedom of information documents obtained by Guardian Australia indicate the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) is chasing almost $90,000 from the Russian embassy for fines dating back to 2007, despite repeated requests for diplomats to respect the law.

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Lisa Wilkinson disputes Bruce Lehrmann prosecutor’s claim she was warned over Logies speech

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Wilkinson says Shane Drumgold did not tell her publicity over the case posed risk to the trial, contradicting ACT director of public prosecutions

Television personality Lisa Wilkinson says she was not warned not to give a Logies speech referencing Brittany Higgins during a meeting with the ACT director of public prosecutions, contradicting other evidence given to an inquiry.

In a statement provided to an independent inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann, Wilkinson denies she was told that any publicity of the case could be problematic.

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Opposition will ‘use every tactic’ to block bill – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Treasurer pushes ‘middle Australia’ benefits in budget

Jim Chalmers says the big program changes – cheaper medicines, tripling the Medicare bulk billing incentive and childcare subsidy changes (which come in July after forming part of the last budget) will help middle Australia.

And kids under 16 … there are kids right throughout middle Australia and they will benefit substantially, but also we’re making medicines cheaper.

Also … we’ve put these caps on gas and coal and that’s the big reason for the moderation in the … electricity price increases, the household energy upgrades funds, the home guarantee scheme, the Tafe and training places, the fact that we’ve got wages moving after a decade of deliberate wage suppression and stagnation.

I think the divisive commentary is coming from the opposition. I mean … Peter Dutton is a divisive figure, but he’s not a credible figure.

He takes his cues from Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. The rest of Australia has moved on from Abbott and Morrison but he hasn’t. And we’ll see that tonight in his budget reply. He is trying to divide people against each other in this budget.

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Juror responsible for Bruce Lehrmann mistrial also held out on conviction, inquiry told

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Prosecutor Shane Drumgold claims the juror who brought in outside research papers on sexual assault was not in favour of guilty verdict

The juror who brought outside material into Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial was also the juror holding out on a conviction, an inquiry has heard.

The ACT director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, said he believed the juror who brought in outside research papers on sexual assault, which resulted in the trial being abandoned, had also been holding out on convicting Lehrmann.

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Prosecutor feared police shared Brittany Higgins counselling notes in attempt to ‘derail’ case, inquiry hears

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Shane Drumgold says the disclosure to Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer was ‘deeply concerning’ and he worried about the impact on Higgins

Notes from meetings between Brittany Higgins and a counsellor were given to Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer by police in a move that a prosecutor feared was an attempt to “derail” the case, an inquiry has heard.

The ACT director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, is the first witness at an independent inquiry investigating the prosecution of Lehrmann, who was accused of sexually assaulting Higgins.

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‘First proper day of winter’: snow and hail blanket parts of NSW and ACT as cold front settles across south-east

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Widespread areas of frost and temperatures of near or below zero expected for ranges and further west with BoM forecasting ‘cooler days’

Canberra residents have described Sunday as the “first proper day of winter” after snow and hail fell on parts of the city, as a cold front brought cooler temperatures to parts of south-eastern Australia.

Rain, hail and snow fell across parts of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, and though temperature lows are not breaking records just yet, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Gabrielle Woodhause said “we are entering some of the cooler days seen so far this year”.

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