AUSTRALIAN JUDGES – A ROGUES GALLERY OF POLITICAL APPOINTEES
GUILTY- FORMER PRESIDENT OF QUEENSLAND’S COURT OF APPEAL – WALTER SOFRONOFF
As allegations of impropriety and corrupt conduct continue to mount within Queensland’s judiciary (Walter Sofronoff being the latest), Queensland’s Legal Services Commission-the local Law Society – and the LNP government under Premier David Crisafulli, remain passive observers, political and moral eunuchs (a description said to be appropriate by some of Crisafulli’s own party members), for being unresponsive to the escalating crises in abuses of power by judges, and the quality of its serving members of its courts.
Complaints against judges in the state have persisted for decades, encompassing accusations of judicial activism, overreach, intimidation of counsel and witnesses in proceedings and outright illegality favoring one side in a contest over the other in displays of the old school tie and familial loyalties with scant regard for the law.
LSC COMMISIONER-MEGAN MAHON – A PRODUCT OF IDENTITY POLITICS
JUDICIAL IMPUNITY–BULLIES AND VANDALS UNCHECKED AT THE BENCH
As allegations of impropriety, abuse of power and corrupt conduct continue to mount within Queensland’s judiciary, evidenced by the excesses and abuse of judicial power – e.g. the unlawful imprisonment of litigants and mistreatment of counsel (as seen in the case of Judges Guy Andrews and Salvatore Vasta), the silence of government and the Legal Services Commission and its commissioner becomes deafening.
Some recent examples of impermissible and some say outright criminal conduct (actionable and removable conduct by judges at least) ignored by the Legal Services Commissioner and the government of Queensland are detailed below. The list is not exhaustive:
- unauthorized public exchange of rebukes in correspondence between Margaret McMurdo and Court of Appeal Judge Peter Davis concerning former Chief Justice Tim Carmody;
- unlawful recording and dissemination of a private conversation between former Judge John Byrne and former chief justice Tim Carmody;
- an arbitrary ruling by Catherine Holmes former Chief Justice Queensland in a case involving the misappropriation of over $20 million by a prominent Brisbane solicitor, James Nicholas Conomos, entrusted with the $20 million of client money in trust for distribution, admitting uncorroborated self-serving testimony along with key evidence of criminality including fraud, personation, forgery and other forms of criminal and civil breaches, which she failed to act upon, reflecting apparent partiality;
- Ian Callinan KC’s (former High Court judge) conduct in the Whites Industries matter;
- the jailing of a sitting former chief magistrate of Queensland Di Fingleton; and
- more recently, damming findings against a former President of the Queensland Court of Appeal, Judge Walter Sofronoff, on charges corrupt conduct, all point to a culture of privilege and corruption protected by the doctrines of judicial independence, the separation of powers, an indolent Legal Services Commissioner and a government too compromised and weak to act.
GOVERNMENT INACTION-A TEST OF FORTITUDE AND WILL AGAINST THE ROOT OF CRIME
The Crisafulli Government – All Hat and No Cattle
Yet, from Premier Crisafulli, a leader who pledged uncompromising action against criminality, there has been no discernible response. Advocacy groups are mobilizing against his government, while party members depart in significant numbers, disillusioned by his selective approach to law enforcement and other demonstrated shortcomings.
It is widely suggested that, absent intervention, other political parties including Pauline Hanson’s One Nation could capitalize on this discontent, potentially securing victory at the next Queensland elections if not earlier as the outrage over inaction of the Crisafulli government mounts.
The Premier’s reticence, coupled with efforts to suppress criticism of governmental inertia toward a judiciary and legal services commission marred by incompetence and corruption, may prove an insurmountable liability, perpetuating a legacy of institutional malaise that has afflicted the state for nearly a century. All this inspite of his loud promises and pious platitudes to tackle crime (of which corruption is an integral component).
It would be interesting to see how the Legal Services Commission and the Queensland and NSW Bar react to Walter Sofronoff’s failure to overturn a finding of serious corrupt conduct against the man.
The Legal Services Commission  and its commissioner ( a Labour government gender qualified appointee) needs to be investigated for their selective investigations and punishments inflicted on some legal practitioners whilst turning a blind eye to reported serious misconduct against the more powerful amongst them inspite of damming evidence of grievous misconduct and criminality placed before her and the Commission she heads.
The call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Queensland’s Legal and Justice systems grows louder from a quiet whimper into an angry roar.
Ian Whittington
A Civil Societies Contribution
