What were you thinking, Walter Sofronoff?

afr.com:

The puzzle of the week is Walter Sofronoff. How could the former judge have thought it was a good idea to share his final report on the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann?

The ACT government is furious, and rightly so, that the commissioner provided advance copies to two journalists who covered the inquiry before he handed over his report.

Sofronoff said this was done “upon the express agreement by them that the copy was embargoed until the government had published it”.

Former Queensland Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff, KC, gave his report to journalists before the ACT government. Robert Shakespeare

“It served to ensure that when the government published the report that those two journalists would be in a position swiftly and promptly to write and broadcast stories that would have at their foundation a true appreciation of the result of the work of the Commission,” Mr Sofronoff wrote in a letter to ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

How did we know this? Via a leak, of course.

Even if he had the best intentions, there are now questions about whether Sofronoff was breaking the law.

The ACT’s Inquiries Act says reports are to be submitted only to the chief minister, who decides when and if they are to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly.

Under section 17, it is a criminal offence for any member of a board of inquiry to divulge any information or document “either directly or indirectly”. The maximum penalty is six months’ jail.

The lucky recipients were Janet Albrechtsen of The Australian and Elizabeth Byrne of the ABC.

The Australian is insisting that it didn’t break Sofronoff’s embargo when it published at 2.16pm on August 3. Albrechtsen has written that she obtained a copy of the report by other means. Good luck to