/qnotables23/ - ===Q Notables 2023===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18829366 (111004ZMAY23) Notable: ACT's top prosecutor says he was wrong to suspect federal political interference in Bruce Lehrmann case - In a dramatic about-face, the ACT's top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold has told an inquiry he was mistaken to suspect political interference in the investigation of former Liberal Party adviser Bruce Lehrmann. "Your suspicions about the existence of political interference to prevent the case properly going ahead were mistaken?" inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff asked. "I do accept that," Mr Drumgold replied.

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>>42767

>>42830

ACT's top prosecutor says he was wrong to suspect federal political interference in Bruce Lehrmann case

Patrick Bell - 11 May 2023

In a dramatic about-face, the ACT's top prosecutor has told an inquiry he was mistaken to suspect political interference in the investigation of former Liberal Party adviser Bruce Lehrmann.

Shane Drumgold, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, is facing a fourth day of questioning in the board of inquiry into how Mr Lehrmann's case was handled.

Mr Lehrmann was accused of raping his then colleague Brittany Higgins in a parliamentary office in 2019, though his trial was abandoned late last year.

He maintains his innocence and there have been no findings against him.

Mr Drumgold made the allegation of political interference in a letter to ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan, which sparked the inquiry.

Yesterday, Mr Drumgold repeated his suspicion that ACT detectives investigating the alleged rape were under pressure from a federal government minister to "make the matter go away".

He later singled out Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, whom Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann worked for at the time of the alleged assault.

Mr Drumgold said Senator Reynolds's engagement with the case and the "passion" he said police showed for Mr Lehrmann to be acquitted led him to consider the prospect of outside influence.

However, he told the inquiry today that the concerns he had with the police's conduct were "most likely a skills deficit", after he reviewed the officers' statements to the inquiry.

"Your suspicions about the existence of political interference to prevent the case properly going ahead were mistaken?" inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff asked.

"I do accept that," Mr Drumgold replied.

The prosecutor said it was the "cumulative effect" of various issues and the "unknown behind [all] that" that led to his view.

"The statements I have read have given me the known [reasons] behind that," he said.

Mr Drumgold's counsel, Mark Tedeschi, asked Mr Drumgold if his suspicions had been allayed, to which he replied: "Yes, they have been."

In Parliament today, Senator Reynolds responded to Mr Drumgold's suggestion she might had interfered with the police investigation.

"This baseless suggestion was without any, any foundation," she said.

"It should never, ever have come to this.

"It is baffling and it is disturbing that this view was offered under oath yesterday."

Police had 'outdated' approach to sexual offences: Drumgold

Mr Drumgold also discussed the police's decision to serve their brief of evidence directly to defence lawyers, rather than going through the DPP's office.

He said that, at the time, he felt it was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the prosecution, but his view had changed.

"My current view is that it was probably just a mess-up."

But Mr Drumgold remained firm in his view that some police officers had an outdated approach to prosecuting sexual offences; they believed complainants behaved in a "standard way".

"Their analysis of evidence in documents like the Moller report displayed stereotype analysis of a way that a complainant will behave," he said.

"For example, [they believed] a genuine complainant would never go to the media, a genuine complainant would run off and report it, or would tell everybody immediately."

The cross-examination of Mr Drumgold continues.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-11/act-prosecutor-mistaken-political-interference-bruce-lehrmann/102326364

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18829386 (111014ZMAY23) Notable: Shane Drumgold’s bizarre CCTV claim claim causes rift with police investigating Brittany Higgins rape allegation - A bizarre allegation of “disappeared” CCTV footage showing Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House on the night of her alleged rape caused a serious rift between the chief prosecutor and police investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation. The Australian understands police were furious that ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold seemed to be suggesting they had deliberately destroyed or deleted video that could have been used in Mr Lehrmann’s rape trial.

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>>42767

Shane Drumgold’s bizarre CCTV claim claim causes rift with police investigating Brittany Higgins rape allegation

JANET ALBRECHTSEN and STEPHEN RICE - MAY 11, 2023

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A bizarre allegation of “disappeared” CCTV footage showing Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House on the night of her alleged rape caused a serious rift between the chief prosecutor and police investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation.

The Australian understands police were furious that ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold seemed to be suggesting they had deliberately destroyed or deleted video that could have been used in Mr Lehrmann’s rape trial.

Mr Drumgold’s co-counsel, Skye Jerome, told investigators she hoped “nothing unlawful” had happened to the footage.

The police were certain the footage never existed, but Mr Drumgold was insistent that he had personally watched it on a USB drive provided by police but then returned to them.

In a submission to the Sofronoff Inquiry, Mr Drumgold says that in the footage he recalls “Ms Higgins could be seen swaying behind his right shoulder. She moved her right hand to a wall as if to stabilise herself.”

In a separate submission to the Inquiry, Ms Jerome also says she “was sure” she saw the footage, although they watched it on separate occasions.

Ms Jerome says she recalled a woman and a man standing at a gate with a buzzer and walked through the gate.

Her account of what she saw has been partially redacted by the Inquiry.

“I recall that the omitted CCTV footage depicted Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann [redacted] at APH (Australian Parliament House). I recall that Mr Lehrmann stood in front of Ms Higgins who was a little unsteady/shifted her body weight. I recall that I briefly saw the pair [redacted].

If it existed, the footage would have countered the view of police that Ms Higgins’ was not as heavily intoxicated – “10/10 drunk” – as she had claimed.

Ms Jerome says in her statement that police had shown her other CCTV footage and “focused their observations of a sober woman entering Parliament House”.

A clearly annoyed Mr Drumgold complained that the missing footage, although not crucial to the case, would have formed part of the trial brief because it was material to a fact in issue.

Mr Drumgold told the Inquiry on Thursday that he did not think the footage was deliberately deleted.

But that was not the impression of police at the time and the insinuation caused a further breakdown in the already fraught relationship between the investigation team and the DPP.

Police regarded the claim as baseless.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18829468 (111105ZMAY23) Notable: Sofronoff inquiry: Lisa Wilkinson refutes DPP claims over Logies speech - TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson has sensationally refuted claims by ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold that he warned her that her Logies speech could result in a delay in Bruce Lehrmann’s upcoming rape trial. Mr Drumgold claimed he told The Project host in a pre-trial conference days before the Logie Awards that the defence team could make a stay application “in the event of publicity”. In a statement to the Sofronoff Inquiry Ms Wilkinson says Mr Drumgold “did not at any time” give her the warning he claimed.

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>>42767

>>42824

Sofronoff inquiry: Lisa Wilkinson refutes DPP claims over Logies speech

STEPHEN RICE and ELLIE DUDLEY - MAY 11, 2023

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TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson has sensationally refuted claims by ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold that he warned her that her Logies speech could result in a delay in Bruce Lehrmann’s upcoming rape trial.

Mr Drumgold claimed he told The Project host in a pre-trial conference days before the Logie Awards that the defence team could make a stay application “in the event of publicity”.

A file note to that effect was noted by Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, during the stay application to halt proceedings sought by Mr Lehrmann’s lawyers after Wilkinson’s Logie speech last June. Chief Justice McCallum ruled that the trial would have to be delayed by several months because of the prejudicial nature of the speech.

However, in a statement to the Sofronoff Inquiry Ms Wilkinson says Mr Drumgold “did not at any time” give her the warning he claimed.

Ms Wilkinson was recorded in the note tendered to court as having said “I am nominated for a Gold Logie for the Brittany Higgins interview” but points out in her statement to the Inquiry that she was never nominated for the Gold Logie and never said she was.

On Monday counsel assisting, Erin Longbottom KC, accused Mr Drumgold of making a false statement to Chief Justice McCallum during the stay application.

“Those statements were false,” Ms Longbottom put to Mr Drumgold. “They were knowingly false.”

Mr Drumgold has told the Inquiry he “misread the situation” in the meeting with Ms Wilkinson discussing her acceptance speech, but denied making “knowingly false” statements to a court during a push by Mr Lehrmann to halt the case.

Mr Drumgold had told the Chief Justice the note drafted by a junior lawyer in the DPP’s office was contemporaneous despite the references to the Logies speech being added by Mr Drumgold after the speech.

The Project show host said she was advised by her then solicitor, Marlia Saunders of Thomson Geer Lawyers, that she had called Mr Drumgold, who had confirmed that he had not given a warning to Ms Wilkinson me not to give the Logies speech and that Chief Justice Lucy McCallum’s statement to that effect was not correct.

Mr Drumgold told Ms Saunders that he would “give some thought as to how he could try and correct the public record, and may say something in open court,” Ms Wilkinson says.

Mr Drumgold told Ms Saunders he would seek to find a way to correct the record on the completion of the trial, but when she tried to contact him in December after the trial was abandoned she received no response to her calls, letters and emails.

Drumgold ‘formed early view on Lehrmann charge’

Mr Drumgold formed a view the Bruce Lehrmann should be charged with the rape of Brittany Higgins before he had been interviewed, the inquiry has head.

According to notes following a meeting between Mr Drumgold and Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, Mr Drumgold said he was “pretty sure… that there should be sufficient evidence to charge the suspect” before Mr Lehrmann was interviewed by police.

In the notes, Mr Drumgold admitted to questioning Ms Higgins’ credibility, however said “I doubt Ms Higgins’ credibility will mean she could not be believed beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“I am pretty sure, and I think my colleagues are too, that there should be sufficient evidence to charge the suspect with one count of sexual intercourse without consent under s 54,” he said.

In response, Mr Boorman said it was “a bit early to form that view.”

“We still have outstanding lines of enquiry and we still have to interview the suspect,” he said.

However Mr Drumgold was adamant those were his “preliminary views.”

“As ever, let’s see what the brief looks like at the end of the investigation,” he said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835239 (121413ZMAY23) Notable: Sofronoff inquiry: ACT DPP Shane Drumgold’s future ‘hangs by a thread’ - ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold’s future is hanging by a thread after a week before the Sofronoff inquiry in which he ­admitted serious professional ­errors and did an about-face on claims of a political conspiracy by former Liberal ministers to stop a police investigation of Brittany Higgins’s rape claims. On Friday, ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury declined an invitation to express confidence in his Director of Public Prosecutions, after a fifth day of evidence in which Mr Drumgold again conceded “unintentionally” misleading the judge presiding over Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.

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>>42767

Sofronoff inquiry: ACT DPP Shane Drumgold’s future ‘hangs by a thread’

STEPHEN RICE and REMY VARGA - MAY 12, 2023

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ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold’s future is hanging by a thread after a week before the Sofronoff inquiry in which he ­admitted serious professional ­errors and did an about-face on claims of a political conspiracy by former Liberal ministers to stop a police investigation of Brittany Higgins’s rape claims.

On Friday, ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury declined an invitation to express confidence in his Director of Public Prosecutions, after a fifth day of evidence in which Mr Drumgold again conceded “unintentionally” misleading the judge presiding over Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.

Senior criminal barristers told The Weekend Australian they believed Mr Drumgold’s position as DPP was untenable and he should already have stepped down from the role.

The major concern of the lawyers was the admission this week by the DPP that he may also have “unintentionally” misled the ACT Supreme Court over an affidavit seeking to prevent the so-called Moller Report being given to Mr Lehrmann’s defence team.

Mr Drumgold said he believed an Australian Federal Police investigative review document – the Moller Report – was subject to a claim of legal professional privilege because it was created for the dominant purpose of receiving legal advice from him but he acknowledged he had claimed the reports were privileged without having seen them and without checking with Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, who wrote them.

The lawyers said it went against the most basic principles of a prosecutor’s duties of disclosure, which requires any relevant evidence, particularly matters adverse to their case, must be revealed to the defence.

On Friday, the inquiry, chaired by Walter Sofronoff KC, heard evidence that Mr Drumgold had told ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum that a note of his discussion with TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson over her upcoming Logies speech was contemporaneous when it was not.

Mr Drumgold conceded at the inquiry that he misled the judge, albeit “not intentionally.”

He had told the Chief Justice the “proofing note” drafted by a junior lawyer in the DPP’s office was contemporaneous despite the references to the Logies speech being added by Mr Drumgold after the speech. The inquiry heard proofing notes were normally contemporaneous but the one given to Chief Justice McCallum had been drafted three hours prior to the hearing and significantly differed from the recollection of a junior lawyer in Mr Drumgold’s office.

On Friday, Mr Drumgold agreed with Mr Sofronoff that his submissions “could have the ­effect of misleading her”.

“It must have had the effect of causing Her Honour to think that the note was a contemporary note of the conference,” Mr Sofro­noff said.

“How could it not have had that effect, having regard to the appearance of the document, and the absence of anything that would suggest that part of it was made five days later?”

“I was dealing with what I thought was a proofing note produced in the organic way the proofing notes generally are,” Mr Drumgold responded.

Barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, for Wilkinson, put it to Mr Drumgold that he knew the judge’s interpretation was not accurate and did nothing to correct her. “I thought I had warned her. I thought what I said to her amounted to a warning,” he said.

Mr Sofronoff added that there was another version of the proofing note, made by Mr Drumgold’s junior counsel whose recollection of the conference was significantly different.

“In hindsight, yes, I should have, I’m conceding I should have,” Mr Drumgold said, acknowledging it led the judge “to a less than accurate position”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835288 (121423ZMAY23) Notable: Lehrmann DPP targets media in grilling by Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer - Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer has accused the ACT’s top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold, SC, of providing irrational responses to her questions during a lengthy exchange in which he claimed every media outlet misreported Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial. Defamation lawyer Sue Chrysanthou, SC, told an inquiry into authorities’ handling of the case that her client, a high-profile journalist, suffered “utter destruction” at the hands of the media for a Logies speech about Lehrmann’s accuser, Brittany Higgins, that caused the trial to be delayed.

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>>42767

Lehrmann DPP targets media in grilling by Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer

Angus Thompson - May 12, 2023

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Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer has accused the ACT’s top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold, SC, of providing irrational responses to her questions during a lengthy exchange in which he claimed every media outlet misreported Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial.

Defamation lawyer Sue Chrysanthou, SC, told an inquiry into authorities’ handling of the case that her client, a high-profile journalist, suffered “utter destruction” at the hands of the media for a Logies speech about Lehrmann’s accuser, Brittany Higgins, that caused the trial to be delayed.

Drumgold said he had thought Wilkinson understood no speech could be made after she and her lawyer had a conversation on mute during a video call with the prosecutor in the lead-up to the trial in June 2022. This prompted Chrysanthou to suggest he could only have drawn that conclusion “somehow telepathically” and it “cannot be true”.

“Your evidence about what my client should have understood from what you said in that meeting is irrational,” Chrysanthou said. Drumgold replied: “Not to my mind, I don’t think it is.”

Drumgold has told the inquiry he in effect warned Wilkinson, then a presenter on Channel Ten’s The Project, during that meeting against giving a speech if she won an award for her televised interview with Higgins, by telling her any further publicity could lead to Lehrmann’s lawyers trying to halt the trial.

Wilkinson said in a statement tendered to and released by the inquiry that no such warning was given.

Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Higgins in the parliamentary office of senator Linda Reynolds, for whom they both worked, after a night out in March 2019. ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum aborted the trial on October 27 last year due to juror misconduct, and Drumgold – the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions – later decided not to pursue a retrial due to concerns for Higgins’ mental health.

The ACT government inquiry is probing the conduct and competence of the agencies involved in the case after a public breakdown in the relationship between the DPP and ACT police.

The inquiry heard that Drumgold and his team made a file note of the earlier Wilkinson meeting on the day a media storm erupted over her speech, which contributed to McCallum’s decision to push back the trial date and preceded media reporting that Wilkinson had been directed not to make the speech.

Drumgold told the inquiry that although he believed he had warned Wilkinson, “there was no direction” given, and agreed he had failed to correct that perception publicly when requested to by Wilkinson’s lawyers, who wrote to him saying the journalist believed the DPP treated her unfairly.

Drumgold also conceded he should have warned Wilkinson more explicitly against giving the speech.

However, he said there had been “nothing but misreporting in this matter”, referring to the case more broadly.

“Every media outlet is misrepresenting the entire trial,” Drumgold said. “I simply couldn’t change the flow of the media.”

Inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff said “this is a trial that has been covered more intensely than anything since the Lindy Chamberlain case”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835436 (121501ZMAY23) Notable: Security stoush erupts as Andrew Wilkie in frame for secretive committee - A rare stoush has erupted in parliament’s high-powered intelligence and security committee over a government push that could see whistleblower turned independent MP Andrew Wilkie return to the secretive body. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Security and Intelligence has only had Labor and Coalition members throughout its history, besides a brief stint when Wilkie served on the committee during the minority Gillard government. The Labor majority on the committee, which receives classified intelligence briefings and oversees agencies such as ASIO and the Office of National Intelligence, is proposing to expand its membership from 11 to 13 MPs, extending membership to politicians outside the two major parties.

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Security stoush erupts as Andrew Wilkie in frame for secretive committee

Paul Sakkal and Matthew Knott - May 12, 2023

A rare stoush has erupted in parliament’s high-powered intelligence and security committee over a government push that could see whistleblower turned independent MP Andrew Wilkie return to the secretive body.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Security and Intelligence has only had Labor and Coalition members throughout its history, besides a brief stint when Wilkie served on the committee during the minority Gillard government.

Wilkie resigned from his position as an intelligence analyst on the Office of National Assessments in the lead-up to the Iraq War, going public with his concerns that the threat of Saddam Hussein using weapons of mass destruction had been overhyped by the United States and its allies.

The Labor majority on the committee, which receives classified intelligence briefings and oversees agencies such as ASIO and the Office of National Intelligence, is proposing to expand its membership from 11 to 13 MPs, extending membership to politicians outside the two major parties.

The Coalition members of the committee said they felt “considerable regret” at writing a dissenting report on the issue, noting it was the first time in 17 years the committee had not reached a bipartisan consensus.

They said extending committee membership would “increase the risk of classified material being leaked, either intentionally or inadvertently”.

“The opposition considers that the only members who should sit on the committee should be from parties of government,” they said.

Labor MPs argued the workload is too high and changing the limitations will allow for more flexibility.

Sources familiar with the government’s thinking said the prime minister, who makes the final decision on who to appoint to the committee, was considering picking Andrew Wilkie to return to the committee.

Wilkie said it made perfect sense for the committee to have a member of the crossbench given there was an unprecedented number of independents in parliament.

“Given my previous membership and intelligence and security background, I would be quick to put my hand up,” he said.

It is also possible the government chooses another MP whom they deem to have the required level of responsibility and acumen. This could include a teal MP like Allegra Spender or Zoe Daniel.

The senior Coalition MPs – including frontbenchers Simon Birmingham, Karen Andrews, Andrew Hastie, James Paterson and committee deputy chair Andrew Wallace – say the changes would diminish the opposition’s influence and allow crossbench or Greens MPs to join.

“Such an outcome would not only significantly weaken the utility of the committee’s oversight responsibilities, but it would almost certainly impact upon the bipartisan nature and good standing of the committee,” they warned.

The committee chair, Labor’s Peter Khalil, accused the opposition of playing politics with national security.

“As chair of the committee in 2021, Liberal Senator James Paterson said the Intelligence Services Act needed reform to manage the increasing scope of the committee and the greatest workload it has ever faced,” Khalil said.

“The Albanese government is focused on delivering responsible and targeted cost of living relief, whilst the opposition are focused on the membership of a parliamentary committee.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/security-stoush-erupts-as-andrew-wilkie-in-frame-for-secretive-committee-20230512-p5d82s.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835457 (121508ZMAY23) Notable: US Marine burned by exploding barbecue in Darwin sues US, Australian governments for millions - An ex-US Marine bomb technician set alight in a barbecue explosion while serving in Darwin is suing the governments of Australia and his home country for millions of dollars in damages. Evan James Williamson was on deployment in Darwin in 2019 as an aircraft ordinance technician at an Australian Army base in the Northern Territory city. The 25-year-old has claimed in court documents seen by the ABC that he received 30 per cent burns to his body after attempting to light a barbecue which officials knew had a gas leak.

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>>42747

US Marine burned by exploding barbecue in Darwin sues US, Australian governments for millions

Matt Garrick - 12 May 2023

An ex-US Marine bomb technician set alight in a barbecue explosion while serving in Darwin is suing the governments of Australia and his home country for millions of dollars in damages.

Evan James Williamson was on deployment in Darwin in 2019 as an aircraft ordinance technician at an Australian Army base in the Northern Territory city.

The 25-year-old has claimed in court documents seen by the ABC that he received 30 per cent burns to his body after attempting to light a barbecue which officials knew had a gas leak.

The documents say that around 11pm on August 1, 2019, Mr Williamson had tried to light the barbecue "to cook some hot dogs and burgers", unaware there was a pre-existing leak.

"Immediately upon attempting to light the barbecue [he] had his entire body from his ankles up to his face consumed by flames, resulting in significant injuries to much of his body," the documents say.

"The incident resulted from gas from the gas leak being ignited when the plaintiff attempted to light the barbecue using his lighter."

His statement of claim says Mr Williamson was left with significant scarring, inhalation injury and burns across his whole body, as well as psychological injury from the explosion, including depression.

Since the incident, Mr Williamson said he had "lost much of his capacity to engage in employment" and was still dealing with high levels of "pain, suffering and loss of the amenities of life".

He had also been forced to receive treatment for his injuries at Royal Darwin Hospital, Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Brooke Army Medical Centre in Texas, USA.

Claims US and Australian officials knew of leak

Mr Williamson alleges senior members of the US Marines and Australian Defence Force were aware of the leak prior to the incident, however, had not made any real efforts to warn soldiers it was unusable.

He is also alleging negligence by companies involved in the upkeep of the base and the barbecue, Ventia Australia and B & L Dowling Pty Ltd.

"The Commonwealth, Broadspectrum [now rebranded as Ventia] and the USA knew or ought reasonably to have known that … the barbecue constituted a significant danger of serious injury or death to any person who may use the barbecue, including the plaintiff," the documents say.

Mr Williamson was discharged from the US Marines in 2021, and the documents show he has since been working as an Uber driver in Las Vegas.

He is suing for loss and damages of around $US5 million [$7.5 million Australian].

US government seeking immunity from prosecution

In a court hearing in Darwin on Friday, lawyers for the US government argued that the USA should be immune from facing prosecution by one of its citizens in the court of a foreign country.

Barrister for the US government, Dr Christopher Ward SC, argued that the US should "retain foreign sovereign immunity" in the case, as it did not involve any harm or incident to an Australian citizen.

He said the US was not arguing over the fact of the explosion.

"Everybody is understandably concerned that the barbecue exploded," Dr Ward said.

NT Supreme Court Justice Vince Luppino will now consider if the US government is indeed immune from prosecution over the man's injuries.

If it is, it is yet to be decided if Mr Williamson will pursue his action against the other parties.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-12/us-marine-burned-by-exploding-barbecue-in-darwin-sues/102338372

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835473 (121515ZMAY23) Notable: US Army Chief backs tanks, armoured vehicles amid Australian cuts - The head of the US Army insists tanks and armoured vehicles remain indispensable for modern-day battlefields, amid criticism of the Albanese government for cutting the number of next-generation troop carriers following a top-level military review. “From an army standpoint, I was asked the same question and my response was ‘You don’t need tanks unless you want to win’,” US Army Chief of Staff James McConville told journalists during a media roundtable in Canberra

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US Army Chief backs tanks, armoured vehicles amid Australian cuts

Andrew Tillett - May 12, 2023

The head of the US Army insists tanks and armoured vehicles remain indispensable for modern-day battlefields, amid criticism of the Albanese government for cutting the number of next-generation troop carriers following a top-level military review.

“From an army standpoint, I was asked the same question and my response was ‘You don’t need tanks unless you want to win’,” US Army Chief of Staff James McConville told journalists during a media roundtable in Canberra on Thursday.

“What do I mean by that? If you are going to conduct offensive combat operations, if you want to seize and hold land, the way to do that is with combined arms.

“And combined arms is tanks, it’s armoured personnel carriers, it’s artillery, it’s attack aviation and you want to integrate them and work well together.”

Amid rising tensions with China, General McConville was visiting Canberra for meetings with senior defence personnel, including the Chief of the Australian Army, Lieutenant-General Simon Stuart.

“The purpose of my visit is to come and talk about issues of mutual concern and how we can work better together and how we can continue to build the strength of our alliance,” General McConville said.

“We believe in peace through strength and that strength comes from strong allies and partners, like our friends here, and we all benefit in this region by having peace, security and stability.”

General McConville’s visit comes almost three weeks after the Albanese government released the Defence Strategic Review, which recommended a major shake-up for the army to focus more on being able to conduct amphibious operations in the Pacific and fast-track the acquisition of long-range strike missiles.

To pay for that, the government slashed the number of infantry fighting vehicles – which can carry up to 10 soldiers into battle – it will order from 450 to 129, and cancelled the second tranche of 30 self-propelled howitzers. The original infantry fighting vehicle project was worth up to $27 billion.

But the decision has been criticised by the Coalition, which accused the government of “cannibalising” parts of defence to pay for the Defence Strategic Review recommendations, as well as by former army officers.

While General McConville remains a supporter of tanks, his counterpart at the head of Marine Corps, David Berger, is getting rid of his branch’s tanks because Marines will not need them for amphibious landings.

Asked whether the decision on the armoured vehicles had any effect on morale, General Stuart said he had told personnel that 2023 represented a year of opportunity.

“We now have very clear direction and I’m very focused and army is very focused on executing that direction and executing it faithfully,” he said.

“I’m really encouraged by the trajectory of army’s modernisation as part of Australia’s integrated force. If you look at the [armoured vehicle] capability we will soon be able to field, it is world-class and is a significantly greater capability than we’ve had in the history of the Australian army.”

General McConville and General Stuart both agreed that as information warfare became increasingly critical it was changing what militaries were looking for in soldiers of the future.

“In the future, warfare will be contested in every single domain. Our old doctrine used to be air and land battle. We anticipated being contested on land and contested on air, and now we see ourselves certainly being contested in the sea and also cyber and space, so we have to operate in all those domains, protect those domains.”

General Stuart said: “Information is powerful and our challenge is making sure we get data to the right part of the force at the right time.”

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/us-army-chief-backs-tanks-armoured-vehicles-amid-australian-cuts-20230511-p5d7kc

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-12/defence-needs-tanks-to-win-us-army-general/102334840

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18840513 (131455ZMAY23) Notable: Two arrested as neo-Nazi group clashes with police at Victorian Parliament - Two people were arrested after neo-Nazis returned to the steps of Victorian Parliament and clashed with police and counter-protesters, almost two months after fascists gatecrashed an anti-trans rights rally on Spring Street. Victoria Police, which deployed more than 200 officers across the city on Saturday, denounced the group of about 25 neo-Nazis who arrived an hour early for a midday “anti-immigration protest”.

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>>42685 (pb)

>>42689 (pb)

Two arrested as neo-Nazi group clashes with police at Victorian Parliament

Lachlan Abbott and Ashleigh McMillan - May 13, 2023

Two people were arrested after neo-Nazis returned to the steps of Victorian Parliament and clashed with police and counter-protesters, almost two months after fascists gatecrashed an anti-trans rights rally on Spring Street.

Victoria Police – which deployed more than 200 officers across the city on Saturday – denounced the group of about 25 neo-Nazis who arrived an hour early for a midday “anti-immigration protest”.

A 30-year-old Doreen man was arrested for allegedly stealing a body-worn camera and assaulting police. A 20-year-old Werribee man was also arrested for allegedly discharging a missile and assaulting police.

“Like the community, police were appalled at the acts displayed in Melbourne today,” the police statement said.

“Everyone has the right to feel safe in our community regardless of who they are. We understand incidents of antisemitism can leave communities feeling targeted, threatened and vulnerable. Hate and prejudice has no place in our society.”

A Victorian government spokesperson also condemned the “disgraceful and cowardly” behaviour.

“Victorians have zero tolerance for this behaviour and so do we,” the spokesperson said. “That’s why we’ll expand our nation-leading legislation banning the Nazi Hakenkreuz to include the Nazi salute – because everyone deserves to feel safe, welcome and included in Victoria.”

“While we wish making these laws wasn’t necessary, and it will take some work, we want to be clear – we will always challenge antisemitism, hatred and racism from taking root in Victoria.”

Opposition Leader John Pesutto and Deputy Leader David Southwick released a statement condemning “neo-Nazi thugs and their toxic bigotry and hate”.

“Australia has a proud history of an orderly immigration program where people from all backgrounds come together in shared liberal-democratic values,” the statement said.

“This sort of behaviour is completely unacceptable and against the values of an inclusive, tolerant and multicultural community.”

The Victorian Liberal Party has been in turmoil since upper house MP Moira Deeming attended the anti-trans rally in March, which neo-Nazis also attended. Deeming was ultimately expelled from the parliamentary party on Friday after she threatened to sue Pesutto over her earlier suspension for attending the anti-trans rally where neo-Nazis were present.

Pesutto and Southwick said they would work with the Victorian government to ban the Nazi salute, as Labor has already pledged, and thanked police for dealing with “a deplorable situation of inexcusable behaviour”.

Spring Street had been closed to traffic on Saturday as word spread on social media this week of both the anti-immigration protest and a counter-protest.

Police and neo-Nazis spilled onto the road after clashing on the steps.

Counter-protesters arriving at Spring Street saw the neo-Nazi group being moved onto Fitzroy Gardens, doing the Nazi salute and chanting “no Jewish power”.

About 30 anti-fascist protesters arrived at Fitzroy Gardens at 12.25pm to counter-protest the neo-Nazi presence in the gardens. The counter-protest group swelled to about 50 people as the day wore on.

Police officers moved the counter-protest to the opposite side of Lansdowne Street, while the group chanted “f-ck off Nazis” and “you’ll always lose in Melbourne”.

Police repeatedly moved counter-protesters across the road and moved the mounted branch into the park at 12.35pm.

“Today’s protest involved many different opposing groups and our core focus was to ensure safety, prevent clashes, and de-escalate any violent behaviour,” a police statement said.

One officer was treated at the scene for pepper-spray exposure.

Victoria Police declared the CBD and the parliament gardens a designated area between 7am and 7pm on Saturday, giving officers the power to search any people, their possessions and cars in the area for weapons.

Police said this designation helped defuse the situation.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/two-arrested-as-neo-nazi-group-clashes-with-police-at-victorian-parliament-20230513-p5d84b.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18840746 (131600ZMAY23) Notable: The biggest takeaways from the Disability Royal Commission after four years of hearings - "Sexual assaults in the home and by carers. Children being removed from their mothers immediately after birth. Forced sterilisation. Getting paid $2.50 an hour for manual work. These are just some of the many disturbing accounts heard by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability over the last four and a half years. For many in the disability community, these stories did not come as a surprise - they're well aware of the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation they face. But with the four-year inquiry wrapping up its final public hearing this week, they want the wider Australian community to know about it, too. And they want everyone to know these situations are not confined to history - they are still happening today." - Nas Campanella and Evan Young - abc.net.au

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The biggest takeaways from the Disability Royal Commission after four years of hearings

Nas Campanella and Evan Young - 13 May 2023

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WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find distressing, including references to sexual assault.

Sexual assaults in the home and by carers.

Children being removed from their mothers immediately after birth.

Forced sterilisation.

Getting paid $2.50 an hour for manual work.

These are just some of the many disturbing accounts heard by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability over the last four and a half years.

For many in the disability community, these stories did not come as a surprise - they're well aware of the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation they face.

But with the four-year inquiry wrapping up its final public hearing this week, they want the wider Australian community to know about it, too.

And they want everyone to know these situations are not confined to history - they are still happening today.

Carers are meant to help you - not sexually assault you

Allegations of physical and sexual assaults of people with disability came up numerous times during the royal commission.

But perhaps the most shocking was heard in March 2022, when a Queensland woman who lives with cerebral palsy told the royal commission she was raped, beaten and "treated like a dog" by a paid personal assistant.

Chloe (not her real name) told the hearing into violence against women and girls with disabilities she was repeatedly raped by the man, fell pregnant and then lost the baby in one of the attacks in 2016.

She also said he burned cigarettes around her vagina, and used her phone and bank card.

The royal commission heard after an investigation the personal assistant was charged with multiple counts of rape, grievous bodily harm, torture and assault, but found not guilty.

"[The jury] saw me as disabled and a liar. They believed him because he's not disabled," Chloe said.

Ninety per cent of women with intellectual disability have experienced sexual abuse, the royal commission heard in 2021.

Home should be a safe space - but that isn't the case for many with disability

Group homes are residences that aim to provide disadvantaged people with structured, supervised care and accommodation.

Some 17,000 people in Australia live in group homes, and most of those people live with intellectual disability, according to documents provided to the royal commission.

But often residents are not able to choose where they live, who they live with, what they eat or what they do.

And it's not always safe for them.

Over the years, the royal commission has heard of residents in group homes being physically and sexually assaulted, found with unexplained bruising and kept in "large caged areas".

In 2021, it heard a female resident living with cerebral palsy and intellectual disability had allegedly been indecently and sexually assaulted by a support worker at a northern NSW home.

A police investigation in 2015 led to charges of aggravated indecent assault of a person with physical disability and sexual intercourse with a person with cognitive impairment, but the worker was found not guilty.

Babies have been removed at birth from mothers with disability

Thelma Schwartz, of the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service, told the royal commission in 2020 she'd witnessed the removal of babies from mothers with disability in the birthing suite.

"I would call it a heinous practice," she told a hearing into First Nations people with disabilities and their interactions with the child protection system.

The Torres Strait Islander woman said the child protection system was stacked against First Nations women with disabilities and she'd dealt with removal in multiple generations of individual families.

Commissioner Ronald Sackville remarked that material from that week's hearing had the "resonance of the Stolen Generations".

The forcible sterilisation of women and girls with disability and their reproductive rights were also raised during public hearings.

While a hearing in 2021 was told about a lack of data on forcible sterilisation, Women with Disabilities Australia's Carolyn Frohmader shared some alarming anecdotes.

"We have some members who were told they were having their appendix taken out and didn't even know [they'd been sterilised] until they wanted to have children," she said.

"We've got members who were sterilised at the age of seven because they had a mild vision impairment."

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18849860 (151114ZMAY23) Notable: AFP detective inspector ‘traumatised’ at prospect of Bruce Lehrmann rape conviction - One of the lead investigators in the case against Bruce Lehrmann was distressed and morally traumatised by the prospect of the former ministerial staffer being convicted over the rape of Brittany Higgins. Steven Whybrow SC, who represented Mr Lehrmann in the since-aborted trial, said Australian Federal Police Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman told him he believed the former ministerial staffer was innocent, and that if Mr Lehrmann was found guilty he would resign after the jury had retired to deliberate.

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>>42767

AFP detective inspector ‘traumatised’ at prospect of Bruce Lehrmann rape conviction

REMY VARGA and KRISTIN SHORTEN - MAY 15, 2023

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One of the lead investigators in the case against Bruce Lehrmann was distressed and morally traumatised by the prospect of the former ministerial staffer being convicted over the rape of Brittany Higgins.

Steven Whybrow SC, who represented Mr Lehrmann in the since-aborted trial, said Australian Federal Police Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman told him he believed the former ministerial staffer was innocent, and that if Mr Lehrmann was found guilty he would resign after the jury had retired to deliberate.

“He was somewhat distressed, my impression was a sort of moral trauma,” he said.

Mr Whybrow is giving evidence at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system.

He said he got no impression during the course of the trial that any of the police officers sought a particular outcome or were conducting themselves unprofessionally.

Mr Whybrow said he didn’t see any strengths in the case against Mr Lehrmann as it came down to “Ms Higgins’ word”.

Lehrmann ‘was convicted before trial started’

Earlier, Mr Whybrow said his client was convicted in the media before his trial on charges of raping former ministerial staffer Brittany Higgins had even started.

Mr Whybrow said the perception of Ms Higgins as a victim was enhanced by ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates walking into the ACT Supreme Court with the former ministerial staffer during the trial last year.

“I don’t have a problem or a concern with that office, that statutory office holder [Ms Yates], providing that sort of support but it only served in this case, in my personal perspective, to already make a very difficult situation for Mr Lehrmann who was convicted in the media before the trial started,” he said.

“With the press club statements and any other number of public statements out there … the Logies … to then be walked in court every day by somebody whose job is to support victims, it only served in my perspective, to elevate her position as a complainant in this criminal justice sphere to one who is actually a victim of crime and we’re just going through the process here.”

Mr Whybrow said the Lehrmann trial was unusual because normally victims of sexual assault do not have to be identified or give public statements and Ms Higgins had made numerous public statements about the allegations.

Mr Whybrow said he had a problem with a complainant being referred to as a victim before a jury during a trial when allegations were being tested.

Mr Whybrow said Mr Lehrmann was demonised and Mr Drumgold was meant to act an “objective minister for justice” instead of a solicitor for Ms Higgins.

Mr Whybrow said Mr Drumgold’s statement abandoning a second trial against Mr Lehrmann that spoke of the constant attacks against Ms Higgins could have also included concern for his client who had been charged not convicted of rape.

“The DPP is not the solicitor for the complainant he’s meant to be the objective minister for justice,” he said,

“He could have said something as well about it no doubt being very difficult for Mr Lehrmann who has had his life turned upside down for the last two years.”

Drumgold’s speech ‘conveyed view Lehrmann was guilty’

Mr Whybrow said Mr Drumgold refused to tell him what he planned to say during the announcement that he was dropping the rape charge against his client before delivering a prepared speech that conveyed his client was “really guilty in his view”.

Mr Whybrow said he asked Mr Drumgold twice during a meeting on December 1 to reveal, in advance, what he planned say at his press conference about the discontinuation, being held the next morning, but the DPP would not tell him.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18849877 (151124ZMAY23) Notable: The Project ignores the Sofronoff inquiry into the handling of Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial - Channel 10’s flagship prime time news and a current affairs program, The Project, has completely ignored the Sofronoff inquiry into the handling of the rape case against Bruce Lehrmann, despite the network being the first media outlet to air an interview with the complainant Brittany Higgins. The weeknight show, predominantly hosted by Sarah Harris and Waleed Aly, last week did not make a single mention of the high-profile inquiry which has dominated newspaper front pages and TV and radio bulletins headlines all over the country since it began last Monday.

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>>42767

The Project ignores the Sofronoff inquiry into the handling of Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial

SOPHIE ELSWORTH and JAMES MADDEN - MAY 15, 2023

Channel 10’s flagship prime time news and a current affairs program, The Project, has completely ignored the Sofronoff inquiry into the handling of the rape case against Bruce Lehrmann, despite the network being the first media outlet to air an interview with the complainant Brittany Higgins.

The weeknight show, predominantly hosted by Sarah Harris and Waleed Aly, last week did not make a single mention of the high-profile inquiry which has dominated newspaper front pages and TV and radio bulletins headlines all over the country since it began last Monday.

Former co-host of The Project, Lisa Wilkinson, had the first exclusive television interview with Higgins on February 15, 2021, following an online story published earlier that day by news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden.

During the TV interview, for which Wilkinson won a Logie award, Higgins alleged she was raped by a male colleague – later identified as Bruce Lehrmann – in the parliamentary office of the then defence minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019. Mr Lehrmann has vehemently denied the allegations and charges were dropped against him in 2022 after his rape trial was aborted.

Prosecutor Shane Drumgold decided against a retrial because of concerns that the courtroom strain on Ms Higgins presented a “significant and unacceptable” risk to her life.

The Project’s failure last week to report critical developments in a story of significant public interest raises questions about the independence of its news coverage.

The Sofronoff inquiry has highlighted legal failings that may have prevented Mr Lehrmann from receiving a fair trial – a development that sits uneasily with the show’s support for Higgins.

University of Melbourne senior research fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism, Denis Muller, said the inquiry has “illicited some highly newsworthy material” but some media might be cautious to cover it.

The Project is headed up by executive producer Christopher Bendall.

He did not respond to questions from The Australian, nor did Ten’s spokesperson, despite multiple requests for comment. The Australian also sought comment from Wilkinson about The Project’s lack of coverage of the ongoing story for which she won her Logie, but did not hear back.

Wilkinson, one of the nation’s highest profile TV stars, announced in an emotional on-air monologue in November she would be departing The Project but would remain at the network. She has been absent from TV screens since then.

Despite The Project ignoring the high-profile Sofronoff inquiry last week, the show did however cover other high-profile criminal cases including the jailing of former NRL star Jarryd Hayne for four years and nine months for sexual assault.

It reported on this case multiple times during the week.

“Yes, in principle media organisations should report all things impartially,” Dr Muller said.

The Project’s decision to shun such a big story is not the only example of major media outlets ignoring matters of significant public interest in recent weeks.

The Australian’s month-long rolling coverage of the biggest art scandal in recent years – the extent of white involvement in the making of black art in the studios of the APY Arts Centre Collective – has been given scant coverage in other media outlets, most notably the ABC and the Nine-owned Sydney Morning Herald.

The SMH’s coverage – or lack thereof – of the scandal was sensationally called out by the masthead’s own art expert John McDonald last month, who said on his blog: “My own paper, the SMH, has fallen into the trap of feeling it has to be ‘supportive’ of institutions such as the NGA, running a week-long ‘campaign’ to argue the case for more government funding.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/the-project-ignores-the-sofronoff-inquiry-into-the-handling-of-bruce-lehrmanns-rape-trial/news-story/760132e442d0a6c86b64ebec0deed2b8

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18855229 (161016ZMAY23) Notable: Video: US special counsel slams FBI probe of Trump-Russia collusion sparked by Alexander Downer - The FBI has been blasted for launching a bombshell investigation of Donald Trump’s Russia links based on Australian intelligence which its lead agent admitted had “nothing to this”. Former Australian foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer inadvertently sparked the extraordinary saga during the 2016 presidential election when he wrote a diplomatic cable about a conversation he had with a junior official in Mr Trump’s campaign. New details of his role have been laid bare in a report by Trump-appointed special counsel John Durham, who spent four years investigating the FBI’s handling of the collusion probe and concluded it was “seriously flawed”.

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US special counsel slams FBI probe of Trump-Russia collusion sparked by Alexander Downer

The FBI investigation into Trump-Russia ties triggered by Australia’s Alexander Downer has been labelled “seriously flawed”.

Tom Minear - May 16, 2023

The FBI has been blasted for launching a bombshell investigation of Donald Trump’s Russia links based on Australian intelligence which its lead agent admitted had “nothing to this”.

Former Australian foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer inadvertently sparked the extraordinary saga during the 2016 presidential election when he wrote a diplomatic cable about a conversation he had with a junior official in Mr Trump’s campaign.

New details of his role have been laid bare in a report by Trump-appointed special counsel John Durham, who spent four years investigating the FBI’s handling of the collusion probe and concluded it was “seriously flawed”.

Mr Durham detailed Mr Downer’s interview with FBI agents about his meeting with George Papadopoulos, who had suggested to him over drinks in London that Russia had damaging information for the Trump campaign on rival candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mr Downer, who was Australia’s high commissioner to the UK at the time, told the FBI he did not believe the junior official was “a fraud”, although he had an “inflated sense of self” and was “trying to impress” him.

He said he “did not get the sense Papadopoulos was the middleman to co-ordinate with the Russians”.

Within days of Australia reporting Mr Downer’s information to the US government, FBI deputy assistant counterintelligence director Peter Strzok opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation that spiralled into a years-long political drama.

But prior to interviewing Mr Downer, in a taxi on the way to the Australian High Commission in London, Mr Strzok told an FBI legal attache: “There’s nothing to this, but we have to run it to ground.”

The attache later asked another agent if there was “more to this”, and when the agent said that was “all we have”, the attache said: “Damn that’s thin.”

“I know … it sucks,” the agent replied in an encrypted text message.

The legal attache also said that British intelligence officials “could not believe the Papadopoulos bar conversation was all there was”.

When the FBI asked its British counterparts for further assistance in the probe, the attache reported that they were told “there was no [expletive] way in hell they were going to do it”.

Mr Downer told Mr Durham’s inquiry that Mr Papadopoulos simply stated that “the Russians have information”, and that he had not mentioned “Clinton emails, dirt or any specific approach by the Russian government to the Trump campaign team with an offer or suggestion of providing assistance”.

Mr Durham wrote that while FBI officials believed the investigation was justified because Australia was a reliable and trusted partner, he said the Australian government “could not and did not make any representation about the credibility of the information”.

He lashed the FBI for launching the probe without testing the intelligence, especially as it “clearly had the ability to affect an approaching presidential election”.

However, Mr Durham’s inquiry mostly repeated prior criticisms of the FBI, and it fell short of proving what Mr Trump claimed was a concerted effort to take him down which he described as “the crime of the century”.

In a statement, the FBI admitted it had made “missteps” but said it had already “implemented dozens of corrective actions”.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/us-special-counsel-slams-fbi-probe-of-trumprussia-collusion-sparked-by-alexander-downer/news-story/6dc511ec62023f34561964306eca4d32

https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1658212156817416204

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18855298 (161058ZMAY23) Notable: ‘Outrageous’: prosecutor’s texts over Higgins leak - A heated text message exchange between Bruce Lehrmann’s defence barrister Steven Whybrow and prosecutor Skye Jerome about revelations published in The Weekend Australian last year have been made public at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system. Mr Whybrow’s communications show that on December 3 last year Ms Jerome contacted him just after 7am demanding to know whether he had leaked the AFP’s investigative review document, now known as the Moller Report, to The Weekend Australian after an article detailing its contents was published that Saturday morning.

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>>42767

‘Outrageous’: prosecutor’s texts over Higgins leak

A heated text exchange between Bruce Lehrmann’s defence barrister and prosecutor Skye Jerome about revelations published in The Australian have been made public.

KRISTIN SHORTEN - May 16, 2023

A heated text message exchange between Bruce Lehrmann’s defence barrister Steven Whybrow and prosecutor Skye Jerome about revelations published in The Weekend Australian last year have been made public at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system.

Mr Whybrow’s communications – published by the Board overnight – show that on December 3 last year Ms Jerome contacted him just after 7am demanding to know whether he had leaked the AFP’s investigative review document, now known as the Moller Report, to The Weekend Australian after an article detailing its contents was published that Saturday morning.

At 7.13am Ms Jerome texted Mr Whybrow asking: “Who leaked the documents to the Australian?”

Mr Whybrow texted straight back: “What’s happened now”.

Ms Jerome then sent him a link to The Weekend Australian’s article.

“Quoting all the police advices,” she wrote. “Outrageous.”

Mr Whybrow responded: “Firewalled. None of us. 100%.”

Ms Jerome then sent him the link to another related story published by The Weekend Australian that morning.

“Hope you make the same accusation to the cops,” Mr Whybrow fired back.

Ms Jerome sent him a question mark, followed by a frosty: “I asked you a question”.

Mr Whybrow responded that he had “no idea where that comes from”.

“Still can’t read it,” he said.

Ms Jerome then screenshotted and texted the article to Mr Whybrow.

“Wow. Thanks for sending. F*ck!,” he replied.

The pair spoke on the phone before Ms Jerome texted Mr Whybrow again at 10.15am.

“Thanks for talking this morning,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

The police document being referred to, authored by Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, included discrepancies in Brittany Higgins’ evidence and suggested police did not think there was enough evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann.

The ‘Moller Report’ revealed police had concerns about Ms Higgins’ credibility but could not stop the DPP from proceeding with the charge because there was “too much political interference”.

Its contents was published in the Weekend Australian on December 3, 2022 following DPP Shane Drumgold’s announcement a day earlier that he had decided to discontinue proceedings against Mr Lehrmann due to fears for Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Mr Whybrow began giving evidence at the Board of Inquiry on Monday and is continuing his evidence this morning.

The messages were obtained after the ACT Board of Inquiry issued a subpoena to obtain Mr Whybrow‘s communications with prosecutors and police over matters related to Mr Lehrmann’s trial.

The communications also reveal that The Australian’s columnist Janet Albrechtsen had called Mr Whybrow on October 19, 2022 – the day the jury began deliberating – and asked him to confirm the Moller Report’s existence.

“I received a call from Janet Albrechtsen (journalist) asking me about a document she referred to as the ‘Moller Report’,” Mr Whybrow said in his statement to the inquiry.

“From what she was telling me, I understood this to mean the Investigative Review Document or some parts of it.

“Ms Albrechtsen requested I confirm the document existed. I informed her I was not prepared to comment on the matter at all.

“I suggested she may wish to enquire with AFP media, the Police involved in the investigation, or lodge a Freedom of Information request for the document she was describing.”

The day after the call from Ms Albrechtsen, Mr Whybrow contacted Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman and asked him how the media could access the documents.

“Mate can you give me a call or better can we have a chat,” Mr Whybrow texted him on October 20.

They spoke on the phone before exchanging further text messages.

Detective Boorman told him that the journalist would need to try to obtain it through a Freedom of Information application.

“Appreciate our discussion. Just spoke to Scott. The lady will need to go through the FOI processes,” he texted.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/sofronoff-inquiry-reveals-heated-texts-between-lawyers-over-lehrmannhiggins-file-leak/news-story/83632a6769b1b6aa7712007bdc862945

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18855326 (161115ZMAY23) Notable: Secret court transcript reveals rogue juror ‘deeply sorry’ after causing Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial to be aborted - The confession of the juror who caused Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial to be sensationally aborted late last year can now be revealed, after the Sofronoff Inquiry released the transcript of a secret Supreme Court hearing. During the closed-court hearing on October 27 the juror, who cannot be identified, told Chief Justice McCallum they were “deeply sorry” for taking prohibited material into the jury room.

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>>42767

Secret court transcript reveals rogue juror ‘deeply sorry’ after causing Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial to be aborted

KRISTIN SHORTEN - MAY 16, 2023

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The confession of the juror who caused Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial to be sensationally aborted late last year can now be revealed, after the Sofronoff Inquiry released the transcript of a secret Supreme Court hearing.

The court transcript, published in a bundle of exhibits overnight, revealed what happened behind the scenes after a court sheriff discovered that a rogue juror had taken prohibited material – in the form of a research paper about sexual offending – into the jury room on October 26 last year during deliberations.

The next morning ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum discharged the jury before bringing the juror and Sheriff’s Officers who found the prohibited material into the courtroom to ask them what had happened in the presence of the prosecution and Mr Lehrmann’s legal team.

“While tidying up the room, I had accidentally knocked a folder off a chair,” the sheriff’s officer told the Chief Justice.

“I had noticed there was a document inside one of the clear folders that we give to the jurors at the beginning of the trial.

“A document, and at the top, I noticed that it wasn’t part of the exhibits.

“I then informed the other two sheriff’s officers who were with me and they agreed that it wasn’t part of the exhibits.”

The sheriff’s officer then radioed their boss to tell them what they had discovered. The Acting Sheriff then informed the Chief Justice.

During the closed-court hearing on October 27 the juror, who cannot be identified, told Chief Justice McCallum they were “deeply sorry” for taking the prohibited material into the jury room.

The juror admitted taking the document into the jury room but said they had just wanted to “clarify a point for myself”.

“I brought it in to show where the clarification came from and we agreed that it shouldn’t be, because it was research, that it shouldn’t be discussed … and we have not discussed it,” the juror said.

Chief Justice McCallum said she would have to “discharge the whole of the jury at this point”.

“Can I say I give you my sincere apologies,” the juror told her.

“I wasn’t aware that doing this was in any sense a wrongdoing. I was just purely doing, finding out what it meant, certain words, and in case I mentioned it to the jury, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t inventing anything.

“Because we’re not allowed to, I didn’t want to throw anything in the bin, I kept everything in the folder.

“No one has read it, no one knows anything about it. I just thought I would mention that.”

Chief Justice McCallum thanked the juror for their explanation and apology but said it was a “risk that I’m unable to take”.

“I am deeply sorry for this,” the juror reiterated.

“I’m willing to take responsibility for that, Your Honour, if you feel that that’s appropriate.”

Chief Justice McCallum said “that’s a matter for you”.

“But I do remind you that it’s an offence to disclose your deliberations,” she said.

“So I would prefer that you preserve your anonymity.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18855354 (161133ZMAY23) Notable: Video: Ukraine enlists Eurovision stars to lobby Australia for Hawkei fighting vehicles - Ukraine's Eurovision stars Tvorchi have called on Australia for more help to fortify the country's "heart of steel", renewing calls for Australian-made Hawkei fighting vehicles. In a slick new social-media campaign from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the two artists used their profile to make a personal plea to Australia for the additional support.

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>>42746

>>42770

Ukraine enlists Eurovision stars to lobby Australia for Hawkei fighting vehicles

Tom Lowrey - 16 May 2023

Ukraine's Eurovision stars Tvorchi have called on Australia for more help to fortify the country's "heart of steel", renewing calls for Australian-made Hawkei fighting vehicles.

In a slick new social-media campaign from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the two artists used their profile to make a personal plea to Australia for the additional support.

"We want to say thank you for supporting Ukraine in the fight to defend our country," the artists say in the clip.

"Your Bushmasters have been helping our defenders on the front line, and we know that you have something else to help our cause - Hawkeis.

"We would love a little more help."

The pop duo made their plea after placing seventh with their song Heart of Steel in the Eurovision finals in Liverpool last weekend, as Russians attacked their Ukrainian home town.

Ukraine has been lobbying Australia to provide Hawkei tactical vehicles for months, hoping to build on the success its military has found using Australian Bushmaster vehicles.

The Hawkeis are smaller tactical vehicles, with removable armour and optional mounts for weapons.

Ukrainian officials have made clear their ambition is to mount surface-to-air missiles on the Hawkeis and capitalise on the mobility the vehicles provide.

"The most useful application of Hawkei is its ability to provide a highly mobile launch platform for [surface to air missiles]," Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said in a social media post linking to the Tvorchi video.

"This state of the art air defence system is already in use in Ukraine and proves to be a game changer in defending Ukrainian cities and civilians from aerial attacks."

Ukraine's campaign to "free the Hawkeis" has included public rallies around the country in recent weeks aimed to build public pressure.

It follows a similar successful campaign to "free the Leopards", which pushed European countries to provide their Leopard tanks to the war effort.

The Australian government has so far resisted calls to provide Hawkeis, and there is hesitation within army ranks about providing the vehicles.

There have been problems with the Hawkei's braking system, which have delayed the rollout of the vehicles within the ADF.

Ukrainian officials have previously indicated they are unconcerned by the braking problems.

Asked about the provision of more military aid in recent weeks, Defence Minister Richard Marles indicated more would be forthcoming.

But he was noncommittal when pressed specifically on Hawkeis.

"I'm not about to speculate on specific platforms, but … we are one of the largest non-NATO contributors," he said.

"We intend to continue to be that and we're working really closely with the Ukrainian government about how we can best make a contribution, knowing that this is going to be a protracted conflict and we need to be there with Ukraine for the duration.

"And so, we will continue to do that and we will work with them about how that contribution can be best provided."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-16/ukraine-eurovision-due-joins-campaign-for-australian-hawkeis/102351344

https://twitter.com/AmbVasyl/status/1658265712379695107

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1658257813955829760

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860427 (171013ZMAY23) Notable: Joe Biden cancels Australia trip, Quad meeting in doubt - US President Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming visits to Australia and Papua New Guinea in a blow to Anthony Albanese and to America’s standing in PNG as China looks to expand its influence in the country. Mr Biden was due to arrive in Sydney next week for the Quad leaders summit, which is now in doubt with the offices of both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida confirming they were reconsidering their own travel plans. The cancellation comes amid intractable negotiations between Democrats and congressional Republicans over a looming US debt ceiling deadline.

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Joe Biden cancels Australia trip, Quad meeting in doubt

BEN PACKHAM and NOAH YIM - MAY 17, 2023

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US President Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming visits to Australia and Papua New Guinea in a blow to Anthony Albanese and to America’s standing in PNG as China looks to expand its influence in the country.

Mr Biden was due to arrive in Sydney next week for the Quad leaders summit, which is now in doubt with the offices of both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida confirming they were reconsidering their own travel plans.

The cancellation comes amid intractable negotiations between Democrats and congressional Republicans over a looming US debt ceiling deadline.

“The President spoke to Prime Minister Albanese earlier today to inform him that he will be postponing his trip to Australia,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “He also invited the Prime Minister for an official state visit at a time to be agreed by the teams.

“The President’s team engaged with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea’s team to inform them as well.”

Mr Biden will attend the G7 meeting in Japan from Friday to Sunday as planned, but will skip the PNG and Australian legs of his trip.

The developments came as Mr Biden and top Republican Kevin McCarthy were locked in talks on raising the ceiling for federal borrowing to avoid a market-shaking default.

Mr Albanese said he and Mr Biden would work to reschedule his visit to Australia at the earliest opportunity.

“President Biden called me this morning to discuss his upcoming visit to Australia. The President apologised that he would now have to postpone this visit because of the unfolding difficulties he is facing in his negotiations with the US Congress over the US Government debt ceiling,’’ Mr Albanese said.

“These negotiations are scheduled to enter their critical and concluding phase during the last week of May. Regrettably, this conflicts with the President’s visits to Sydney and Canberra – including the Quad Summit scheduled for 24 May.

“The President and I agreed that we would work to reschedule his visit to Australia at the earliest opportunity.

“I also look forward to visiting Washington later this year for a state visit to the United States.

“The Government is now in discussion with our friends in both Tokyo and Delhi on Prime Minister Kishida’s and Prime Minister Modi’s travel. Once those discussions are concluded, we will make a further announcement on their travel.

“In the meantime, I look forward to meeting with both Prime Ministers and the President at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima on 20-21 May.”

Mr Biden’s cancellation is being felt heavily in PNG, where the impoverished Marape government had spent millions preparing for the presidential visit, and was preparing to sign a wide-ranging security agreement with the US President.

The planned defence co-operation pact would give US warships and aircraft unimpeded access to PNG waters and airspace. Leaked draft text of the agreement will infuriate China in its scope, and feed Beijing’s arguments of growing US militarisation of the region.

Prominent PNG blogger Martyn Namorong tweeted: “We even declared a National Public Holiday for Biden‘s historic visit only to be thrown under the bus by the US.”

The cancelled presidential trip will also force Pacific Island Forum leaders, who were due to converge on PNG for a meeting with Mr Biden, to change their travel plans.

It was only on Tuesday night that Mr Biden has accepted an invitation to address the Australian parliament next week.

Preparations for Mr Biden’s visit had been in full swing, with a US C-17 Globemaster arriving at Sydney Airport to deliver the President’s helicopter, Marine One.

The President was due to use the helicopter to travel between Sydney, where the President and his 1000-plus entourage were to stay, and Canberra, where he was due to address both houses of parliament.

The now-cancelled parliamentary address would have been the fifth by a US president.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860707 (171215ZMAY23) Notable: Did Shane Drumgold succumb to #MeToo zealotry in the Bruce Lehrmann case? - The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions has made some wild claims about political conspiracies between the Morrison government and the Australian Federal Police, between senior ministers and Bruce Lehrmann’s defence team, and between the AFP and defence lawyers. What on earth explains the long list of rash and ill-conceived decisions by the DPP? Was it #MeToo zealotry? Did political pressures ensnare him? Incompetence? Any mix of these possible factors is a dangerous concoction in the hands of a DPP who exercises the power and authority of the state against individual citizens.

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>>42767

Did Shane Drumgold succumb to #MeToo zealotry in the Bruce Lehrmann case?

JANET ALBRECHTSEN - MAY 17, 2023

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The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions has made some wild claims about political conspiracies between the Morrison government and the Australian Federal Police, between senior ministers and Bruce Lehrmann’s defence team, and between the AFP and defence lawyers.

If valid, these very serious claims would destroy our trust in the proper administration of justice. Therefore, claims of this gravity must be supported by evidence.

Yet Shane Drumgold’s claims were not supported by evidence. They were so manifestly unmeritorious that Drumgold admitted last week he was mistaken about political interference in the investigation of Lehrmann.

The lack of evidence to support Drumgold’s allegations of political interference by the then government must, invariably, lead us to ask why on earth the DPP made these claims.

Was he so determined to secure a successful conviction that he was willing to put these serious claims about political conspiracies to the jury without any evidence apart from Brittany Higgins’s claims? If so, why was the DPP so determined? What motivated him?

During the first week of the Sofronoff board of inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system, Drumgold admitted to many errors and misjudgments during his handling of the prosecution and trial of Lehrmann, as well as events after the mistrial.

He admitted to potentially misleading the court, and for paying insufficient attention to the presumption of innocence.

Political interference claim

It’s high time we turned the question of political interference in the prosecution of Lehrmann on its head and asked whether the DPP’s judgment was affected by the political whirlwinds that engulfed this national scandal.

These forces were amplified by the politics of the #MeToo movement, where advocates have given, and continue to give, short shrift to principles of due process, the presumption of innocence and a fair trial. That background is beyond question.

In opposition, Labor pursued the rape complaint for political purposes. It did so ruthlessly, day in and day out, especially targeting Linda Reynolds, Scott Morrison and even its own senator, Kimberley Kitching. The Australian understands that text messages between Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, record their contact with Labor senator Katy Gallagher about the politics of using this rape allegation against the Coalition government.

Sharaz was also caught – during a recording for Higgins’s interview on The Project – mentioning the political timing and his good friend, understood to be Gallagher. The Australian understands that other messages between Higgins and Sharaz mention Higgins’s contact with Labor MP Tanya Plibersek. This was before Lehrmann being charged, raising the question of how far these potent political forces extended.

The pressures were so pervasive that Morrison apologised to Higgins in parliament, joining the media and political forces that daily undermined the principles that underpin our criminal justice system, including the presumption of innocence.

The question on many people’s minds is: Why did Drumgold make so many profound errors of judgment? Was Drumgold ill-suited to exercise the power and duties that attach to a DPP, a position where a person is entrusted with the solemn, careful task of administering justice?

Others may ask whether the roiling political forces, fuelled by federal Labor and the media, to weaponise a rape allegation also ensnared Drumgold in some way, affecting his judgment, from time to time, as minister of justice.

For example, did these political whirlwinds affect Drumgold’s judgment about prosecuting Lehrmann given grave concerns among senior AFP officers that there was not enough evidence to charge Lehrmann?

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860803 (171248ZMAY23) Notable: Donald Trump Jr to bring ‘voice of Trumpism’ to Australia - Look out Australia - Donald Trump Jr is coming to town. The son of the 45th president of the United States, who has been described as “the voice of undiluted Trumpism”, said he will be making a three city speaking tour of Australia this July to talk about the “disease of woke identity politics and cancel culture … that has clearly taken hold (in Australia).” Organisers said they expected that the tour, which will run from July 9-11 and hit Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, would draw “significant” attention due to Mr Trump’s “polarising” reputation and “divisive, anti-politically correct stances”.

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>>42757

Donald Trump Jr to bring ‘voice of Trumpism’ to Australia

The eldest son of the former US president is planning a whirlwind tour of Australia in July - and first on his list is taking aim at “woke identity politics”. See where he’ll be, and when.

James Morrow - May 17, 2023

Look out Australia - Donald Trump Jr is coming to town.

The son of the 45th president of the United States, who has been described as “the voice of undiluted Trumpism”, said he will be making a three city speaking tour of Australia this July to talk about the “disease of woke identity politics and cancel culture … that has clearly taken hold (in Australia).”

Organisers said they expected that the tour, which will run from July 9-11 and hit Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, would draw “significant” attention due to Mr Trump’s “polarising” reputation and “divisive, anti-politically correct stances”.

Mr Trump said that he looked forward to returning to Australia, which he visited in his youth.

“I actually spent a month backpacking around Australia in my (third) year of university and absolutely loved it,” Mr Trump said.

“It’s a great country full of great people which is why it is so sad to see what is happening there.”

“I have a huge fanbase in Australia and after speaking with some of them it’s clear the same disease of wok identity politics and cancel culture that’s crippled the US has clearly taken hold there.”

“It’s not good. It is the biggest existential threat we face in the West and is literally the decay of Western society,” he said.

Along with being an author, businessman, and TV personality, Mr Trump also has a strong social media presence with 6.4 million followers on Instagram where he is known as the “Meme Wars General”.

He has been one of his father’s staunchest defenders on social media, amplifying official Trump campaign messaging and condemning the recent indictment of the former president by New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg.

“This is political weaponisation of our government against its citizens and against political opposition and resistance like we’ve never seen before,” he said on Instagram around the time of the indictment.

“This is the kind of stuff that would make Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, and other sociopaths blush.”

Mr Trump’s tour is sponsored by Turning Point, the same company that brought out UK Brexit leader Nigel Farage last year.

A spokesman for the organiser said, “We are thrilled to welcome Donald Trump Jr to Australia for his first speaking tour.”

“As a controversial, outspoken figure, we believe he will offer an exciting and unique perspective on a range of issues that are important to everyday Australians.”

Tickets to the tour are available at trumplive.com.au

https://www.trumplive.com.au/

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/donald-trump-jr-to-bring-voice-of-trumpism-to-australia/news-story/b9218f4b102dcc462e504a6cf2677ed5

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18865851 (181155ZMAY23) Notable: DPP Shane Drumgold ‘on leave’ after Lehrmann inquiry evidence - The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold has taken sudden leave from his position after five days of bruising evidence about his handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation at the Sofronoff inquiry last week. Mr Drumgold has been replaced as DPP while the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system is underway.

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>>42767

DPP Shane Drumgold ‘on leave’ after Lehrmann inquiry evidence

KRISTIN SHORTEN and REMY VARGA - MAY 18, 2023

The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold has taken sudden leave from his position after five days of bruising evidence about his handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation at the Sofronoff inquiry last week.

Mr Drumgold, whose leave started on Tuesday, has been replaced as DPP while the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system is underway.

On Tuesday, the ACT government executive appointed Anthony Williamson SC – the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions – to act in the position until June 13.

An ACT government spokesperson this morning told The Australian that Mr Drumgold is “on leave at his request”.

The spokesperson said it was not anticipated that Mr Drumgold’s leave would impact his planned return to the witness box next week.

Mr Drumgold declined to comment this morning.

On Friday, ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury declined an invitation to express confidence in the DPP, saying only that the Sofronoff inquiry “should be allowed to continue its work”.

Ms Higgins, a former liberal staffer, alleged Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Senator Linda Reynolds’ ministerial office in the early hours of March 23, 2019 after a night out drinking with colleagues in Canberra.

Mr Lehrmann was later charged with sexual intercourse without consent and pleaded not guilty.

The 29-year-old’s trial was sensationally aborted in October due to juror misconduct and immediately listed for a retrial in February, before Mr Drumgold discontinued proceedings in December over concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Mr Lehrmann maintains his innocence.

In November Mr Drumgold sent a letter to the ACT’s chief police officer Neil Gaughan alleging police misconduct before and during the prosecution and calling for a public inquiry into how the case was handled.

That letter sparked the inquiry which is being conducted by former Queensland Solicitor-General and eminent retired judge of the Queensland Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Mr Walter Sofronoff KC.

The first week of public hearings this month focused on the ACT’s chief prosecutor’s conduct before, during and after Mr Lehrmann’s aborted trial in October.

During his evidence last week Mr Drumgold came under fire over multiple issues including his attempt to withhold police investigative review documents from the defence, making misleading statements to Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, reading Ms Higgins’ confidential counselling notes, delivering a speech implying Mr Lehrmann was “really guilty in his view” when he discontinued proceedings and how he handled Lisa Wilkinson’s request for advice about her “hypothetical” Logies acceptance speech.

Mr Drumgold also told the inquiry last week that he believed it was “possible if not ­probable” that there was a ­political conspiracy to stop Mr Lehrmann’s case from proceeding, before backflipping a day later.

Mr Drumgold maintained throughout his evidence last week that he could have obtained a conviction against Mr Lehrmann, even suggesting a single rogue juror was “holding out” for an acquittal while the rest were inclined to convict.

Mr Drumgold has been the DPP since January 2019 and worked at the ODPP since 2002.

Public hearings will resume on Monday when senior police involved in the sexual assault investigation – including Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, Senior Constable Emma Frizzell and Commander Michael Chew – will be called to give evidence.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dpp-shane-drumgold-on-leave-after-lehrmann-inquiry-evidence/news-story/f561d9c00c6d548a17962e88b6677d78

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18865869 (181203ZMAY23) Notable: Thanks for the break Shane Drumgold, now please don’t come back - "Shane Drumgold KC has done the right thing. He deserves credit for taking four weeks’ leave as Director of Public Prosecutions of the ACT. He would deserve more credit if he never returned. If he remains the territory’s top prosecutor, there is a risk that criminal justice will suffer. The evidence before Walter Sofronoff’s inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial shows Drumgold sits at the centre of a network of dysfunctional professional relationships." - Chris Merritt, vice-president of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia - theaustralian.com.au

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>>42767

>>42853

Thanks for the break Shane Drumgold, now please don’t come back

CHRIS MERRITT - MAY 18, 2023

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Shane Drumgold KC has done the right thing. He deserves credit for taking four weeks’ leave as Director of Public Prosecutions of the ACT. He would deserve more credit if he never returned.

If he remains the territory’s top prosecutor, there is a risk that criminal justice will suffer.

The evidence before Walter Sofronoff’s inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial shows Drumgold sits at the centre of a network of dysfunctional professional relationships.

The DPP’s relationships with the courts and the police are essential if the justice system is to work. But consider what has come to light at this inquiry.

On the AFP, Drumgold has backflipped on his assertion – made without evidence – that it was “possible if not probable” that political pressure had been brought to bear on AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw to prevent Lehrmann being charged with raping Brittany Higgins.

His own counsel, Mark Tedeschi, KC, has told Sofronoff that the AFP had a “bizarre” approach to whether Lehrmann should be charged; and the attitude of police towards Drumgold was one of “resentment”.

On the courts, Drumgold has admitted he misled Chief Justice Lucy McCallum. The question of whether this was intentional is irrelevant.

Even if he apologises to the court – and that needs to happen – how much weight could the Supreme Court place on future submissions from this DPP?

Consider what happened: Drumgold presented the court with a note of a conversation with journalist Lisa Wilkinson that he said was contemporaneous. It was not. An addendum had been inserted on his instructions.

McCallum relied on that note and issued a judgment criticising Wilkinson for giving a speech praising Higgins that led to a stay of Lehrmann’s trial.

Contemporaneous notes are more reliable than reconstructions. So thanks to Drumgold’s actions, the factual basis for McCallum’s criticism of Wilkinson must now be in doubt.

McCallum’s judgment says Drumgold issued a “clear and appropriate warning” to Wilkinson. Yet did he?

It is beyond dispute that Wilkinson made a speech praising Higgins that led to a stay.

But what is now in doubt, because of Drumgold’s actions, is what the DPP actually told Wilkinson before she delivered that speech.

Sofronoff has before him a letter to Drumgold from Beverley McGarvey, chief content office and executive vice-president of Paramount, Wilkinson’s ultimate employer.

That letter was written on the day of McCallum’s judgment. It says: “Neither Ms Wilkinson nor the Network Ten senior legal counsel present at the conference with the DPP on 15 June, 2022 understood that they had been cautioned that Ms Wilkinson giving an acceptance speech at the Logie awards could result in an application being made to the court to vacate the trial date. Had they understood that a specific warning had been given, Ms Wilkinson would not have given the speech.”

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18871739 (191612ZMAY23) Notable: Former AFLW player El Chaston opens up on life-changing breast removal surgery to find their true self - "El Chaston is at peace. With life. With their gender identity. And after years of internal struggle, their body. It’s taken 21 years to get here. But just weeks before their 21st birthday, Chaston became their truest self, undergoing a removal of their breast tissue – essentially a double mastectomy, or “top surgery” – to reflect their non-binary identity. After years of pain, physical and mental, it “all just washed away”." - Lauren Wood, AFL and AFL Women's reporter for the Herald Sun and CODE Sports - theaustralian.com.au

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Former AFLW player El Chaston opens up on life-changing breast removal surgery to find their true self

LAUREN WOOD - MAY 19, 2023

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El Chaston doesn’t want to shock you. They want to educate you. About why they identify as non-binary and what for them was an easy decision to have a double mastectomy to fully embrace who they are. They share their incredible story with Lauren Wood.

—

El Chaston is at peace. With life. With their gender identity. And after years of internal struggle, their body.

It’s taken 21 years to get here. But just weeks before their 21st birthday, Chaston became their truest self, undergoing a removal of their breast tissue – essentially a double mastectomy, or “top surgery” – to reflect their non-binary identity.

After years of pain – physical and mental – it “all just washed away”.

“Growing up, I never felt comfortable with my chest,” Chaston said. “I always felt like it was something I wasn’t super associated with.

“Growing up, it was very much that you were a girl or a boy. But for me, I did not align with my assigned gender (of female).

“I just had to live with it, even though I was super uncomfortable.

“I really hated getting changed in front of the mirror and stuff. I just didn’t feel comfortable looking at my chest or associating with my chest. At all.

“I was uncomfortable in the clothes I was wearing and every day it was a battle to try and find comfort in my own body.”

The Melbourne local always battled to find their place – where they “fit”.

“I couldn’t put a name to what I felt that I was,” they said.

It wasn’t until the likes of former Gold Coast AFL Women’s player Tori Groves-Little – more on them later – and Carlton goalkicker Darcy Vescio revealed they identified as non-binary that Chaston felt the light bulb start to flicker.

Earlier this month Hawthorn captain Tilly Lucas-Rodd also revealed they now identified as non-binary.

THE AFLW EFFECT

A non-binary person is someone who does not identify exclusively as male or female, or determines their gender identity cannot be defined within such margins. They might feel as if they are a mix of the genders – or maybe neither.

Pronouns such as they/them can be adopted over those such as she/her or he/him, which Chaston – then a Collingwood AFLW player – elected to do last August after much soul-searching and support from their team-mates.

“It goes to the importance of representation of diversity in sport,” they said.

“It was actually TGL (Tori Groves-Little) putting themselves out there and giving more representation, that educated and exposed me to gender identity and diversity.

“At that time, I still wasn’t sure if that’s how I completely aligned. Then there was Darcy Vescio and this conversation was starting.

“I hadn’t talked to anyone at that stage but in my head I was like, ‘I actually think this fits me. I fit, all of a sudden.’

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18875053 (200438ZMAY23) Notable: ABC to rely on ‘public interest’ defence in Bruce Lehrmann defamation case - The ABC will rely on a new public interest defence in its defamation battle against Bruce Lehrmann, arguing the broadcast of Brittany Higgins’ National Press Club address was of importance to Australians because it concerned the “safety of persons in Parliament House”. The public broadcaster’s defence also argued Mr Lehrmann had no grounds for defamation as he was not named during the broadcast.

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>>42801

ABC to rely on ‘public interest’ defence in Bruce Lehrmann defamation case

ELLIE DUDLEY - MAY 19, 2023

The ABC will rely on a new public interest defence in its defamation battle against Bruce Lehrmann, arguing the broadcast of Brittany Higgins’ National Press Club address was of importance to Australians because it concerned the “safety of persons in Parliament House”.

The public broadcaster’s defence, released on Friday, also argued Mr Lehrmann had no grounds for defamation as he was not named during the broadcast.

Mr Lehrmann is suing the ABC after it televised the National Press Club event on February 9, 2022, and uploaded a YouTube video of it which received a joint 276,000 views.

His trial into the rape allegation by his former colleague and Liberal Party staffer Ms Higgins was abandoned in October. He has always maintained his innocence.

In his original statement of claim Mr Lehrmann argued the ABC broadcasts were defamatory because the imputation was that he “raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House”.

However, the ABC claimed Mr Lehrmann was “not named in the matters complained of” and therefore his reputation could not have been damaged.

Further, the ABC argued if, as declared in Mr Lehrmann’s statement of claim, it was “notorious” he was the person accused and charged with Ms Higgins’ assault then “the matters complained of would not have caused, and were not likely to cause, serious harm to Lehrmann’s reputation.”

The ABC also outlined reasons for the broadcast being in the public’s interest, including that it concerned former prime minister Scott Morrison’s response to an allegation of rape in Parliament House.

The broadcaster also argued it concerned the forthcoming federal election and the “work of Ms Higgins as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault and her treatment by members of the public, the media and others.”

Further, it said the matter was in the public interest as it related to “the circumstances of child sexual abuse and the trauma caused by such abuse; the relationship between perpetrators of child sexual abuse and survivors of such abuse; and the Government’s response to the issue of abuse, the adequacy of funding for preventive education and the need for legislative change in respect of the perpetrators of abuse.”

The defence also referenced a text exchange between Ms Higgins and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, after Mr Morrison learnt of the alleged sexual assault. In the messages, Mr Joyce described Mr Morrison as “a hypocrite and a liar”.

The defence comes as Mr Lehrmann gears up for a separate defamation case against Channel Ten and NewsLife Media, the publisher of News.com.au and owned by News Corp Australia.

The case concerns interviews with Ms Higgins published and broadcast in mid-February. While Mr Lehrmann was not named in the interviews, conducted by journalists Lisa Wilkinson and Samantha Maiden, his legal team argued he was identified indirectly.

Ten and NewsLife Media reject the accusation they identified Mr Lehrmann, but will seek to rely in part on a defence of truth.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/safety-of-persons-in-parliament-house-new-abc-defence-over-brittany-higgins-speech-broadcast/news-story/5500d374d36a3398c623afc9291210de

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18875089 (200447ZMAY23) Notable: Punching up: Will Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecutor survive his latest fight? - Shane Drumgold, SC, has been throwing punches all his life. Those he’s landed have won him gold medals for boxing at the national Masters Games, and the distinction of being the first Indigenous person to become a director of public prosecutions. Last week he threw some haymakers, against politicians, the media, and the police. But now the ACT’s top prosecutor is on the ropes for his part in the abandoned Parliament House rape trial of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, which has been described in the inquiry as the most talked about case since Lindy Chamberlain.

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>>42767

Punching up: Will Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecutor survive his latest fight?

The wiry Shane Drumgold, SC, has been throwing punches all his life. But now the ACT’s top prosecutor is on the ropes.

Angus Thompson and James Massola - MAY 19, 2023

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Shane Drumgold, SC, has been throwing punches all his life.

Those he’s landed have won him gold medals for boxing at the national Masters Games, and the distinction of being the first Indigenous person to become a director of public prosecutions. Last week he threw some haymakers, against politicians, the media, and the police.

But now the ACT’s top prosecutor is on the ropes for his part in the abandoned Parliament House rape trial of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, which has been described in the inquiry as the most talked about case since Lindy Chamberlain.

“The natural thing is to move away,” Drumgold’s former boxing coach and long-time friend Garry Hamilton says about being punched. But boxers don’t back down. “I move into you when you punch.”

A tough childhood

Hamilton – a former union official and Olympic trainer – is describing the counter-intuitive mindset necessary for boxing. But he is also talking about Drumgold, a man who has always kept swinging.

Born in 1965, he began life on a public housing estate in the western Sydney suburb of Mount Druitt in a home where his father struggled with mental health issues and alcohol, while his mother endured years of domestic violence.

When he was 12, the family relocated to the NSW north-coast town of Taree, but tragedy followed: soon after the move, one of his younger twin brothers, aged three, died after contracting encephalitis from a swimming pool. Some years later, Drumgold’s father killed himself.

Drumgold would drop out of high school at 15, but ultimately studied law as a mature-aged student at the University of Canberra in 2000, before tutoring at the Australian National University, where his application to study was initially rejected.

Trial aborted

“We have similar sort of ideals in wanting to help people out, you know, do the right thing and, I mean, to be honest, if it’s right, we don’t care about what happens to us personally over it,” Hamilton says.

Drumgold has proudly wielded his backstory, but his future remains unclear, tied up a gripping post-mortem of the Lehrmann case.

Brittany Higgins accused Lehrmann of raping her in the parliamentary office of their then-boss, former Coalition minister Linda Reynolds, after a night drinking with workmates in May 2019.

The trial, held in 2022 after several delays, was aborted in October, several days into jury deliberations after one juror brought their own research into the jury room. Drumgold announced he would forgo a retrial in December due to Higgins’ mental health. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations and insisted on his innocence, launching two separate defamation cases in the wake of the mistrial.

By the end of the year, the ACT government had begun its own inquiry into the case amid a public fallout between Drumgold and police.

Prosecutor as witness

Drumgold was ready for a fight from the witness box of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, alleging that, from the get-go, he faced a tide of opposition from investigators, who he said harboured “biased, stereotype opinion” over how an alleged victim should behave.

Following a week of forensic questioning – a job usually reserved for him – the prosecutor appeared out of puff after volleys of accusations and admissions about his and others’ conduct, including a stunning walk back over suspicions of political meddling.

Hamilton, who also studied law with Drumgold, says the man he’s known for 20 years was never the kind of person to look the other way. “If he feels as though something needs to be done, it has to be done … simple as that,” he says.

Drumgold rocked the Board of Inquiry last week when he said a series of “strange events” led him to believe there was federal interference in the politically charged case, so he wrote to ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan of his suspicions on November 1.

“One of the questions I’m raising is: is there a connection between federal interference with ACT policing? That’s the primary concern that I have,” Drumgold responded to a question from inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff, KC.

This prompted vehement public denials and rebukes from Reynolds and her Liberal colleague Michaelia Cash, both witnesses in the trial.

“This suggestion is baseless and without any foundation,” Reynolds said last week.

A day later, back on the stand, Drumgold recanted, saying he actually thought police resistance to charging Lehrmann was due to “most likely a skills deficit on the part of investigators”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18875192 (200525ZMAY23) Notable: Kevin Rudd defends Joe Biden over cancelled trip to Australia - US ambassador Kevin Rudd has rejected suggestions Joe Biden’s decision to cancel his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea is a blow to America’s standing in the region, saying the diplomatic snub is a “very small thing”. “I think we need to take a step back to pull out our smelling salts and say, look, the postponement of a presidential visit in the scheme of all this is quite small,” Dr Rudd told National Public Radio in the US.

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>>42850

>>>/qresearch/18875151

Kevin Rudd defends Joe Biden over cancelled trip to Australia

Tom Minear - May 19, 2023

US ambassador Kevin Rudd has rejected suggestions Joe Biden’s decision to cancel his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea is a blow to America’s standing in the region, saying the diplomatic snub is a “very small thing”.

While the former prime minister acknowledged it was “disappointing”, he defended the US President’s call to fly home from the G7 summit in Japan this weekend so he could negotiate a deal to prevent the US government defaulting on its debts.

“I think we need to take a step back to pull out our smelling salts and say, look, the postponement of a presidential visit in the scheme of all this is quite small,” Dr Rudd told National Public Radio in the US.

“This is just one of those things that happens, and we get the intensity of the debate on the future of the debt ceiling in the Congress.”

But Daniel Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute – which was led by Dr Rudd before he became the ambassador in March – said there was “no question” Mr Biden’s call would be poorly received in the Indo-Pacific.

“It will be seen in the region as a self-inflicted wound caused by political polarisation in Washington that does not reflect well on America’s reliability as a partner,” he said.

American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Zack Cooper agreed the cancellation would do “real damage to the US argument that we are a reliable partner”.

And Ashley Townsend, a senior fellow for Indo-Pacific security at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the “optics couldn’t be worse”.

Mr Biden’s decision forced Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to scrap plans to hold the Quad summit at the Sydney Opera House next week, with the leaders to instead meet in Japan on the sidelines of the G7.

Dr Rudd said the Quad agenda would still be rolled out as planned, as he praised the overall strength of America’s relationships with its allies in the region including Australia.

“We’ve been around for a very long time with America. This alliance of ours has been through some 15 Australian prime ministers and 14 American presidents,” he told NPR.

“I think the relationship between the two of us is as robust and as intense as I’ve ever seen it across that span of history.”

He also shot down claims that Mr Biden’s cancellation was a diplomatic win for China.

“It’s not just a single visit that sums up the totality of the engagement of US and allied diplomacy over the last two and a half years,” Dr Rudd said.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/kevin-rudd-defends-joe-biden-over-cancelled-trip-to-australia/news-story/a61cc69ca0c1d295ff8a88b1af94efd6

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176806747/biden-cancels-australia-trip-quad-meeting

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18875639 (200734ZMAY23) Notable: Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post - Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, 27th U.S. Ambassador to Australia, visits Marine Rotational Force – Darwin, in the midst of Exercise Crocodile Response at Darwin, Australia, May 17, 2023. During her visit, Ambassador Kennedy experienced a ride in the MV-22B Osprey over the city of Darwin, met with key leaders of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, Defence Australia, and Indonesian National Armed Forces, and received an exercise overview briefing. Exercise Crocodile Response seeks to extend shared interoperability with partners throughout the Indo-Pacific region, increasing efficiencies in responding to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief. #USEmbassy #FreeandOpenIndoPacific #AlliesandPartners

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>>42747

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

18 May 2023

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, 27th U.S. Ambassador to Australia, visits Marine Rotational Force – Darwin, in the midst of Exercise Crocodile Response at Darwin, Australia, May 17, 2023.

During her visit, Ambassador Kennedy experienced a ride in the MV-22B Osprey over the city of Darwin, met with key leaders of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, Defence Australia, and Indonesian National Armed Forces, and received an exercise overview briefing.

Exercise Crocodile Response seeks to extend shared interoperability with partners throughout the Indo-Pacific region, increasing efficiencies in responding to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief. #USEmbassy #FreeandOpenIndoPacific #AlliesandPartners

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by LCpl Brayden Daniel and Sgt. Ryan Hageali)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/615238730638614

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18875704 (200801ZMAY23) Notable: Video: Obama Praises Australia For Confiscating Citizens’ Guns - Former President Barack Obama praised Australia’s gun confiscation following a mass shooting during an interview that aired Tuesday morning. “We are unique among advanced, developed nations in tolerating, on a routine basis, gun violence in the form of shootings, mass shootings, suicides,” Obama told “CBS This Morning” co-host Nate Burleson. “In Australia, you had one mass shooting 50 years ago and they said, ‘No, we’re not doing that anymore.’ That is normally how you would expect a society to respond when your children are at risk.”

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>>42707 (pb)

Obama Praises Australia For Confiscating Citizens’ Guns

HAROLD HUTCHISON - May 16, 2023

Former President Barack Obama praised Australia’s gun confiscation following a mass shooting during an interview that aired Tuesday morning.

“We are unique among advanced, developed nations in tolerating, on a routine basis, gun violence in the form of shootings, mass shootings, suicides,” Obama told “CBS This Morning” co-host Nate Burleson. “In Australia, you had one mass shooting 50 years ago and they said, ‘No, we’re not doing that anymore.’ That is normally how you would expect a society to respond when your children are at risk.”

Australia carried out a mandatory “buy back” of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns after a 1996 mass shooting in Port Arthur. Obama previously praised Australia for its gun control laws while President, including in 2014.

“I think somehow — and there are a lot of historical reasons for this — gun ownership in this country became an ideological issue and a partisan issue in ways that it shouldn’t be,” Obama told Burleson. “It has become sort of a proxy for arguments about our culture wars. Instead of thinking about it in a very pragmatic way, we end up really arguing about identity and emotion and all kinds of stuff that does not have to do with keeping our children safe.”

President Joe Biden, Congressional Democrats, media figures and celebrities demanded a ban on so-called “assault weapons” in the wake of mass shootings in a Nashville school, a bank in Louisville and an outlet mall in Allen, Texas.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/16/obama-praises-australia-for-confiscating-citizens-guns/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18876460 (201430ZMAY23) Notable: Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies speech about Brittany Higgins ‘kept Bruce Lehrmann out of jail’, says lawyer Steven Whybrow - Many people were aghast at Wilkinson’s speech in mid-June 2022. Her public praise of Brittany Higgins, who she had interviewed on The Project, and the implied celebration of the truth of her rape complaint against Lehrmann, within days of the commencement of the trial, would up-end the court process. “If Ms Wilkinson had not said the things she said at the Logies, and the trial judge had not adjourned the trial for three months, I genuinely believe Bruce would have been convicted,” Whybrow says.

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>>42767

>>42863

Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies speech about Brittany Higgins ‘kept Bruce Lehrmann out of jail’, says lawyer Steven Whybrow

JANET ALBRECHTSEN - MAY 20, 2023

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“Frankly, if it wasn’t for Lisa Wilkinson’s speech at the Logies, Bruce would probably be in jail. Thank God for that speech.”

It’s Wednesday afternoon. There is a three-day pause in the public hearings at the Board of Inquiry into the handling by the police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and others of the investigation, prosecution and trial of Bruce Lehrmann.

Revelations from the previous seven days of public hearings have been explosive. Legal eagles, in particular, have struggled to turn off the live-stream proceedings.

Steven Whybrow SC, Lehrmann’s defence barrister, is talking to The Weekend Australian in his first lengthy interview about the case and the inquiry so far.

Just as we catch our breath, Whybrow adds this staggering comment about the Logies.

Many people were aghast at Wilkinson’s speech in mid-June 2022. Her public praise of Brittany Higgins, who she had interviewed on The Project, and the implied celebration of the truth of her rape complaint against Lehrmann, within days of the commencement of the trial, would up-end the court process.

Taking a break after two days in the witness box this week, Whybrow explains that he saw the Logies speech differently.

“If Ms Wilkinson had not said the things she said at the Logies, and the trial judge had not ­adjourned the trial for three months, I genuinely believe Bruce would have been convicted,” Whybrow says.

The barrister had agreed to lead Lehrmann’s legal team in early June 2022, with the trial due to start barely three weeks later in the ACT Supreme Court.

“What happened at the Logies, and what was said, is the matter of some contention and discussion at the inquiry. So I won’t say anything about what was said, but it’s a matter of public record that as a result of what was said … we made an application for a temporary stay that it wasn’t fair, on top of everything else, for Bruce to have to face a jury a week after.”

Whybrow points to the public statements during and after the Logies, “again, basically saying Ms Higgins is a true victim of a true crime and the trial is just a formality”. “We needed a stay in order to put some distance from that speech in the minds of any potential jurors.”

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum agreed, as she said through “gritted teeth”, and delayed the trial for three months.

Whybrow explains the delay was critical to the defence: “If it wasn’t for Ms Wilkinson’s speech, we would have gone into that trial without so much material that we subsequently came into possession of, either through chasing up disclosure or chasing up subpoenas … integral to properly understanding and challenging the complainant’s allegations.

“Most of the stuff we got, including the Moller Report, and the transcripts of six hours of Brittany Higgins being interviewed on The Project, all of that stuff we got in September. The trial was supposed to be over by the end of July, right. We would have gone into this (trial) with about 20 per cent of the stuff we needed.”

One of the documents the defence team needed was the Moller Report, formally labelled the Investigative Review document.

Leading up to the new trial on October 4, the DPP continued to withhold the Moller Report, claiming it was subject to legal professional privilege. The DPP, Shane Drumgold, told the board of inquiry last week he didn’t want the police report in the hands of the defence because it would be “crushing” to Higgins.

The 64-page document was finally handed over to Lehrmann’s team – Whybrow, co-counsel Katrina Musgrove, Ben Jullienne and solicitor Rachel Fisher from Kamy Saeedi Law – under subpoena from the police, who agreed the defence should have it.

It included pages of discrepancies police discovered during their investigation, including inconsistencies in Higgins’ statements to police. Whybrow says it was crucial to the defence his team was building. The newly appointed silk says it was a “big call” for solicitor Kamy Saeedi to approach him to represent Lehrmann.

“I wasn’t a senior counsel. And you know, even a middling SC or even a terrible SC is going to be perceived by the public and the jury as more important and more competent than the world’s best non-senior counsel.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18876521 (201445ZMAY23) Notable: At G7 Summit, Biden apologises to Albanese for scrapping Sydney Quad meeting - US President Joe Biden will ask Congress to empower Australian manufacturers as a domestic source for arms manufacturing, binding the two countries’ defence production together as they confront the growing military might of China. Biden was due to travel to Australia for a Quad meeting in Sydney after the G7, but the summit was cancelled due to the US debt crisis. Biden apologised to Albanese for cancelling his trip to Australia and said negotiations with Republicans were “in their closing stages”. “I’m sorry I’m not taking a plane to Australia,” said Biden as the pair signed a climate and critical minerals’ pact. “All politics is local, but friendship is permanent.”

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>>42850

At G7 Summit, Biden apologises to Albanese for scrapping Sydney Quad meeting

Eryk Bagshaw - May 20, 2023

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Hiroshima: US President Joe Biden will ask Congress to empower Australian manufacturers as a domestic source for arms manufacturing, binding the two countries’ defence production together as they confront the growing military might of China.

After meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 in Hiroshima on Saturday, Biden said he would ask Congress to list Australia under Title III of the Defence Production Act, clearing the way for Australian companies to be given the same treatment as their US counterparts as part of the $368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

“Doing so would streamline technological and industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation,” the president said.

Albanese said he had pushed for the critical designation since the two leaders met in San Diego in March and the president’s support would mean Australia would become a domestic source under the Defence Production Act.

Biden said he would also deploy new United States Coast Guard vessels in the Pacific in early 2024 as China ramps up its patrols and territorial claims in the region.

The G7 leaders said they remained “seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas” and for the first time described peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait “as indispensable to the security and prosperity in the international community”.

The declaration escalated the G7’s leaders’ criticism of China at the same time as its members - the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Canada and Japan, claimed their “policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart China’s economic progress and development”.

The joint leaders’ statement, issued as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Hiroshima on Sunday, heaped pressure on Beijing to use its diplomatic weight to end the war in Ukraine.

“We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine,” the G7 said.

China’s Foreign Ministry defended Beijing’s relationship with Moscow.

“China always opposes unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law or mandate from the Security Council,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday.

“China has always carried out normal economic and trade cooperation with Russia and other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18876675 (201525ZMAY23) Notable: Donald Trump Jr. Tweet: Video: Donald Trump Jr. Live In Australia July 2023 with Turning Point Australia - https://trumplive.com.au

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>>42757

>>42852

Donald Trump Jr. Tweet

Donald Trump Jr. Live In Australia July 2023 with Turning Point Australia

https://trumplive.com.au

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1659556152013647875

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18885147 (221000ZMAY23) Notable: Brittany Higgins ‘had to do media as face of #MeToo movement’: Victims advocate told cop - A senior police officer says when he asked that Brittany Higgins stop doing media that could prejudice Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial, Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates told him: “She can’t, Scott - she is the face of the movement now.” In a submission to the Sofronoff inquiry, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller says Ms Yates was “more interested in Ms Higgins pushing the ‘#metoo’ movement than being committed to the upcoming trial”.

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>>42767

Brittany Higgins ‘had to do media as face of #MeToo movement’: Victims advocate told cop

JANET ALBRECHTSEN and STEPHEN RICE - MAY 22, 2023

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A senior police officer says when he asked that Brittany Higgins stop doing media that could prejudice Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial, Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates told him: “She can’t, Scott – she is the face of the movement now.”

In a submission to the Sofronoff inquiry, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller says Ms Yates was “more interested in Ms Higgins pushing the ‘#metoo’ movement than being committed to the upcoming trial”.

“This upset me and I remember being mad that the Victims of Crime Commissioner was using the investigation as a voice for reform before the trial had even been conducted,” he says.

Superintendent Moller compiled the investigative review document, informally called the Moller report, that has become a key focus of the Sofronoff inquiry, which is probing the conduct of chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold in withholding it from Mr Lehrmann’s defence team.

In his 50-page statement to the inquiry, Superintendent Moller says that when he created the Moller report, it was an internal decision-making document; it was “never my intention” for the document to go to the DPP for legal advice, as the DPP has claimed, he says.

Superintendent Moller, who has been a police officer for more than 30 years, is expected to give evidence to the inquiry on Monday. Led by Walter Sofronoff KC, the inquiry is also examining the conduct of police and Ms Yates, who became a highly visible presence during the trial, often seen accompanying Ms Higgins to court. Earlier in the case, Ms Higgins had asked for any contact by police to be made through Ms Yates, a move that Superintendent Moller says caused serious problems for investigators.

“I personally found her involvement frustrating and cumbersome, and she made it difficult for ACT Police to contact the victim,” he says.

Superintendent Moller says Ms Yates’ participation in the investigation was inappropriate and added additional stress and anxiety to the investigation team.

He felt Ms Yates was attempting to place a barrier between investigators and Ms Higgins.

Superintendent Moller says he could not understand why the head of the organisation was acting as “support person” to an alleged victim of a sexual assault.

“The VCC acting personally in a support/conduit role complicated the investigation and was always highly inappropriate,” he says.

“I felt one of the more upsetting aspects of her involvement was her lack of involvement in other sexual assault matters that were progressing through the courts at the same time.”

Superintendent Moller says there was “significant external and internal pressure” to erode the threshold for charging a person with a sexual offence, and to erode investigators’ “independent and objective search for the truth”.

“It appears to me this is in response to public discourse about the treatment of survivors in the criminal justice system,” he says.

As an example, he cites a recent ACT government report by the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Steering Committee that records one of its aims as “to ensure victims survivors know that when they disclose sexual violence they will be believed”.

“This is fundamentally at odds with the investigative function of police and the purpose of the criminal justice system (judiciary and juries),” Superintendent Moller says in his submission.

“We as police are the first ‘filter’ to ensuring the integrity of the criminal justice system. The judiciary and the community require and expect police to critically assess all available information and evidence in determining if the threshold to charge has been met.”

Superintendent Moller says he received reports that when DPP prosecutor Skye Jerome held training sessions for AFP officers, Ms Jerome “was dismissive and condescending of the investigators and that many of the investigators were offended by the way she had presented”.

“Additionally, I was informed she has stated that in sexual assault investigations, ‘an evidence-in-chief-interview and statement of complaint is sufficient to go ahead … because police are not the finder of facts’. These comments astounded me.”

Superintendent Moller says he was briefed on a meeting between police and DPP members at which Ms Jerome had advised, during an open discussion about the evidence, that prosecutions would not be progressed when victims did not hand over their mobile telephone.

“The investigators advised that Ms Higgins had not handed her phone over,” he says. “On hearing this information, I was briefed that Skye Jerome dropped her head into her hands in what appeared to be frustration and alarm.

“After these meetings I was concerned for the independence and integrity of the investigation.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18885169 (221008ZMAY23) Notable: DPP Shane Drumgold’s CCTV evidence tampering claim ‘vexatious’ - The senior police officer who led the investigation of Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations has slammed Shane Drumgold for suggesting that police deliberately destroyed or deleted CCTV footage of Ms Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann, claiming the chief prosecutor had embarrassingly confused a Four Corners re-enactment with the real thing. Detective Superintendent Scott Moller has in a statement told the Sofronoff inquiry that the inference of corrupt or dishonest behaviour was “vexatious, without any merits and offensive to an extremely committed, hardworking and competent investigation team”.

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>>42767

>>42867

DPP Shane Drumgold’s CCTV evidence tampering claim ‘vexatious’

JANET ALBRECHTSEN and STEPHEN RICE - MAY 22, 2023

The senior police officer who led the investigation of Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations has slammed Shane Drumgold for suggesting that police deliberately destroyed or deleted CCTV footage of Ms Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann, claiming the chief prosecutor had embarrassingly confused a Four Corners re-enactment with the real thing.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller has in a statement told the Sofronoff inquiry that the inference of corrupt or dishonest behaviour was “vexatious, without any merits and offensive to an extremely committed, hardworking and competent investigation team”.

Mr Drumgold claimed CCTV footage showed Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann arriving at Parliament House on the night of her alleged rape. The police were certain the video never existed, but Mr Drumgold was insistent he had personally watched it on a USB drive provided by police but then returned to them.

The Australian has previously revealed that the suggestion of evidence-tampering caused a serious rift between police and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In a submission to the inquiry, Mr Drumgold said in the footage he recalled “Ms Higgins could be seen swaying behind his (Mr Lehrmann’s) right shoulder. She moved her right hand to a wall as if to stabilise herself.”

Superintendent Moller, however, said it appeared that Mr Drumgold “had confused footage from a Four Corners release where they developed a recreation of the event with the investigators recovered CCTV footage”.

The Four Corners program featured various re-enactments and night-time exterior shots of Parliament House, although none showing the precise scene as described by Mr Drumgold.

Superintendent Moller said the investigating team diverted its efforts and worked for weeks to ­attempt to identify the footage and if such footage ever existed, they had never located it.

“This caused a significant divide between the investigation team and the DPP,” he said.

“These undertones in relation to the investigators’ corrupt or dishonest behaviour continued throughout the prosecution and were entirely without foundation and offensive to our investigation team.”

Mr Drumgold told the inquiry that he did not think the footage had been deliberately deleted but that was not the impression of police at the time, and the insinuation caused a further breakdown in an already fraught relationship between the investigation team and the DPP.

“I believe Mr Drumgold’s own actions at this early time alienated the investigators and ACTP management from the DPP,” Superintendent Moller says in his statement.

Mr Drumgold’s co-counsel Skye Jerome said she “was sure” she saw the footage, although they watched it on separate occasions, and told investigators she hoped “nothing unlawful” had happened to the footage.

Ms Jerome said she recalled a woman and a man standing at a gate with a buzzer and walking through the gate.

Her account of what she saw has been partially redacted by the inquiry.

“I recall that the omitted CCTV footage depicted Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann [redacted] at APH (Australian Parliament House). I recall that Mr Lehrmann stood in front of Ms Higgins who was a ­little unsteady/shifted her body weight. I recall that I briefly saw the pair [redacted].”

If it existed, the footage would have countered the view of police that Ms Higgins was not as heavily intoxicated – “10/10 drunk” – as she had claimed.

Ms Jerome says in her statement that police had shown her other CCTV footage and “focused their observations of a sober woman entering Parliament House”.

A clearly annoyed Mr Drumgold complained that the missing footage, although not crucial to the case, would have formed part of the trial brief because it was mat­erial to a fact in issue.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dpp-shane-drumgolds-cctv-evidence-tampering-claim-vexatious/news-story/48f7410c08f2f9862e8a95b438960c3b

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18885211 (221028ZMAY23) Notable: Video: Pressure to ‘progress’ Bruce Lehrmann rape allegation forced police into medical leave, inquiry told - The senior police officer who oversaw the investigation of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation against Bruce Lehrmann said that detectives were under so much pressure to progress the matter against their professional beliefs that many went on medical leave. Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, who is giving evidence at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system on Monday, told chair Walter Sofronoff KC that on August 5, 2021 Commander Michael Chew told him to have a summons served on Mr Lehrmann due to the “significant pressure” on police to charge the 29-year-old.

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>>42767

>>42867

Pressure to ‘progress’ Bruce Lehrmann rape allegation forced police into medical leave, inquiry told

KRISTIN SHORTEN and REMY VARGA - MAY 22, 2023

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The senior police officer who oversaw the investigation of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation against Bruce Lehrmann said that detectives were under so much pressure to progress the matter against their professional beliefs that many went on medical leave.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, who is giving evidence at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system on Monday, told chair Walter Sofronoff KC that on August 5, 2021 Commander Michael Chew told him to have a summons served on Mr Lehrmann due to the “significant pressure” on police to charge the 29-year-old.

Supt Moller said he then passed the direction on to Detective Sergeant Robert Rose.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Joshua Jones, asked Supt Moller why he asked Sgt Rose to perform that task.

“The stress of the investigation affected a lot of police,” he said. “A number of police that worked for me, have been unable to return to work as a result of the stresses in this investigation and at the time.

“Detective Sergeant Rose was one person who hadn’t been involved in it before and because of a number of members going off sick, I brought him in to manage that process for us at that stage because we didn’t have anyone else because they’d gone off, they’d been sick.”

The inquiry heard that Covid lockdowns had made it hard to serve the summons on Mr Lehrmann, who was in Toowoomba, so arrangements were made for it to be served on his lawyer John Korn who was in Sydney and that the brief of evidence would also be served on him at this time.

The inquiry heard that on August 6, 2021 ACT police investigators put the summons and brief of evidence in the boot of their vehicle and drove to the outskirts of Sydney, where it was provided to AFP officers from their Sydney office.

However the receiving officers mistakenly left the brief in the boot and it was later provided to Mr Korn on a USB stick.

“Now, you’ve given evidence earlier that it would be unusual to serve a brief directly on defence counsel outside your procedures. Why was it done in this case?,” Mr Jones asked.

Supt Moller said they had circumvented their ordinary processes “because there was a need to get it all done” as per Mr Chew’s direction.

“He absolutely didn’t need to give me an extra explanation,” he said.

“I was aware, I was living the pressures at the time. I knew the exceptional amount of pressure on us to get this done and I knew the pressure that was on him as well so he didn’t have to explain it to me.

“If you were involved in environment at that time, you would appreciate how difficult it was.”

After the brief was served on Mr Korn, (Shane) Drumgold emailed police on September 17 asking them to explain why they had provided the brief directly to the defence.

Mr Drumgold raised that the Crown’s copy of the brief contained unlocked redactions, copies of Ms Higgins audio visual interviews and her counselling records.

Supt Moller conceded those items should not have been included in the brief provided to Mr Korn so called the defence lawyer and asked him not to access, open or view the files.

“And he gave me an undertaking that he would do that,” he said.

Mr Drumgold sought an assurance in writing, which Mr Korn provided.

The AFP’s digital forensic team later examined the USB stick and confirmed its contents had not been accessed or copied.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18885225 (221038ZMAY23) Notable: Vacuous Quad joint statement sets off warning bells - "What has made the Australia/US alliance so successful has been a record of practical defence and intelligence co-operation, decisions that put boots on the ground and bullets in the armouries of our defence forces. There was very little of that on display in Albanese’s engagement with Biden. A joint statement of the Quad leaders was released following a short meeting shoe-horned between the end of the G7 and a formal dinner. It’s a disappointing piece of work with a lot of bureaucratic verbiage and distressingly little substance." - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au

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>>42850

>>42865

Vacuous Quad joint statement sets off warning bells

PETER JENNINGS - MAY 21, 2023

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The best that can be said of the statements, declarations, compacts and media transcripts from Anthony Albanese’s meetings in Hiroshima is that they make a thin gruel.

We now have a Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact with the US, which President Joe Biden was gracious enough to ­declare “the third pillar of the Australia-US alliance”.

The Joint Statement says: “Australia and the United States support a global energy transformation, including in the Indo-Pacific, that realises the economic opportunity in climate action through good, well-paying jobs while protecting the environment, accelerating the transition to net zero, and delivering affordable energy to businesses and households.”

Who knows what this really means? If the other two pillars of the alliance are the 1951 ANZUS Treaty and the 2021 AUKUS agreement, it’s clear that the Climate Compact has a long way to go to deliver on substance.

What has made the Australia/US alliance so successful has been a record of practical defence and intelligence co-operation, decisions that put boots on the ground and bullets in the armouries of our defence forces.

There was very little of that on display in Albanese’s engagement with Biden. The President saw the G7 meeting as serious enough to justify the travel. What is equally obvious is that a gossamer-thin Climate Compact didn’t merit an extra 24 hours overseas. No substance means no visit.

Perhaps the most useful thing in the exchange was that Biden has agreed “to ask the United States Congress to add Australia as a domestic source” in American defence production. This will “streamline technological and ­industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation”. Albanese said he raised it personally with Biden last March in San Diego.

All credit to Albanese if he has secured Biden’s support in dealing with Congress. Then again, one could be forgiven for thinking that smoothing out these road bumps was what was supposed to have happened in the 18-month AUKUS planning phase that ended last March.

Close connections between the country’s political leadership remains vital to delivering AUKUS. That’s why getting Biden to visit Australia was an ­important objective.

A joint statement of the Quad leaders was released following a short meeting shoe-horned ­between the end of the G7 and a formal dinner. It’s a disappointing piece of work with a lot of bureaucratic verbiage and distressingly little substance.

Believe it or not the Quad statement doesn’t mention Russia. The statement expresses “our deep concern over the war raging in Ukraine and mourn its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences”, but the invader and perpetrator of these terrible human rights abuses is not named.

The Quad statement raises concerns about “challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including those in the East and South China Seas”, but Beijing is not mentioned as the source of “destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion”.

Warning bells rang for me about the essential vacuousness of the Quad joint statement when paragraph 5 began with: “Today we reaffirm our consistent and unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity.” Any statement that incorporates the ­pretence of fealty to ASEAN centrality has spent too long on the hands of diplomatic drafters. Quad leaders should be warned to keep meeting agendas away from officials, otherwise the lack of substance will end the enterprise.

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18885235 (221043ZMAY23) Notable: PM goes soft on Russia, China as other leaders step up to the mark in support of Ukraine - "Australia’s attendance at the G7 and Quad leaders meetings in Japan helps Anthony Albanese back home. It portrays him as a respected, influential international leader. But the price of sitting at these tables isn’t smiling and participating in photo opportunities, it’s action - and that’s where the problems can often start. On Ukraine, Australia has moved from an active, front-foot supporter of President Volodymyr Zelensky and his military to a country desperate not to be asked what it has done lately. And on China, the clear Australian government objective is to not create a ripple in the monster’s pond. Its approach is that nothing can be allowed to disturb the glacial lifting of Beijing’s coercive trade restrictions. Even more importantly, nothing must get in the way of the headline: “Albanese meets Xi”." - Michael Shoebridge, director of Strategic Analysis Australia - theaustralian.com.au

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>>42865

>>42870

PM goes soft on Russia, China as other leaders step up to the mark in support of Ukraine

MICHAEL SHOEBRIDGE - MAY 22, 2023

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Australia’s attendance at the G7 and Quad leaders meetings in Japan helps Anthony Albanese back home. It portrays him as a respected, influential international leader. But the price of sitting at these tables isn’t smiling and participating in photo opportunities, it’s action – and that’s where the problems can often start.

The G7 did serious work on supply chain security, managing the economic risks from international inflation and climate change, and Australian contributions were straightforward. But both the G7 and Quad also focused on managing a more aggressive China and supporting Ukraine in the face of Vladimir Putin’s brutal war. Both are fraught territory for the government.

On Ukraine, Australia has moved from an active, front-foot supporter of President Volodymyr Zelensky and his military to a country desperate not to be asked what it has done lately. And on China, the clear Australian government objective is to not create a ripple in the monster’s pond. Its approach is that nothing can be allowed to disturb the glacial lifting of Beijing’s coercive trade restrictions. Even more importantly, nothing must get in the way of the headline: “Albanese meets Xi”.

But keeping very still and hoping other leaders make the running is a path to Australia having less influence and presence at future G7 meetings. More practically, in becoming part of the slow-moving crowd that provides grudging support to Ukraine, Australia can help create what Putin is banking on and the Ukrainian people fear: waning Western support as they fight a grinding war against Russia.

The contrast between Australia and Japan here is sobering. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida used his position as host of the G7 to put Ukraine at the middle of the agenda, including through Zelensky’s surprise trip to Hiroshima. His government is bringing seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers to Japan for treatment.

Kishida also ensured Beijing’s economic coercion would feature strongly in the G7 work plan, and stepped up to hold a Quad leaders meeting when the Sydney meeting fell over. Albanese provided old news. On Ukraine it was stale reminders of now dated support to Ukraine. On China, it was all about letting others say anything remotely critical of Beijing’s authoritarian directions and their adverse consequences for security and prosperity. While in Hiroshima, he told us Putin’s war and the troubled global economy were reminders “that none of us, even those island continents like Australia are islands when it comes to dissociating ourselves from the global economy and from global events”.

Stirring stuff, but engagement is more than meetings and rhetoric, it’s about substance. So it would be a good use of his flight home for our PM to push his bureaucracy, and the bigger one over at Russell Hill, to put together a new, substantial package of military support for Ukraine, and do so with urgency. A new support package could include: 100 more Bushmasters; 100 Hawkei smaller off-road vehicles, useful as missile launch platforms, and; drones and counter-drone systems from small Australian companies such as EOS, Defendtex and C2 Robotics. He could also offer our recently retired F/A-18 fighter jets, now the constraints on providing US fighter aircraft are lifting.

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18890066 (231042ZMAY23) Notable: Sofronoff inquiry: Police ‘acted hour after boyfriend’s call’ - The police officer in charge of the investigation into Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations has revealed the immense pressure investigators were under to charge Bruce Lehrmann, culminating in a direct phone call from her boyfriend, David Sharaz, to a senior detective threatening to publicly condemn the time being taken. Detective Superintendent Scott Moller gave evidence to the Sofronoff inquiry on Monday that within an hour of Mr Sharaz calling Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, he was given ­instruct­ions to serve a summons on Mr Lehrmann for one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

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>>42767

>>42867

Sofronoff inquiry: Police ‘acted hour after boyfriend’s call’

STEPHEN RICE, KRISTIN SHORTEN and REMY VARGA - MAY 23, 2023

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The police officer in charge of the investigation into Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations has revealed the immense pressure investigators were under to charge Bruce Lehrmann, culminating in a direct phone call from her boyfriend, David Sharaz, to a senior detective threatening to publicly condemn the time being taken.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller gave evidence to the Sofronoff inquiry on Monday that within an hour of Mr Sharaz calling Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, he was given ­instruct­ions to serve a summons on Mr Lehrmann for one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

Superintendent Moller agreed that at the time the decision was made by his boss, Commander Michael Chew, investigators were faced with “the potential threat of Ms Higgins going public about the delay”.

Detectives were under so much pressure to progress the case against their professional beliefs that many went on stress leave, Superintendent Moller said.

He confirmed that as The Australian reported last year, police did not believe there was enough evidence to charge Mr Lehrmann but agreed to do so after receiving advice from ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold.

Superintendent Moller said his investigators did not believe they had met the evidentiary threshold to charge Mr Lehrmann so he signed the summons himself.

“I swore the summons because I did not want to put any of my staff in the position where they had to do something they didn’t want to do, didn’t believe in, so I did it,” he said.

“I didn’t think there was enough evidence and then I received the director’s advice and certainly from his advice, I decided to go ahead.”

Superintendent Moller also revealed Ms Higgins was allowed to watch CCTV footage of herself and Mr Lehrmann at Parliament House because she was “so keen to see it” - even though it could have corrupted her evidence - as police felt obliged under their ­“victim-centric” approach to show it to her.

Superintendent Moller said Ms Higgins “continually asked” to see the footage, which showed the pair exiting and entering Parliament House on the night Ms Higgins claims Mr Lehrmann raped her on a sofa in senator Linda Reynolds’s office.

“In a normal investigation, we would never show somebody evidence like that because it might influence their evidence later in court,” he said.

Superintendent Moller agreed to a suggestion by counsel assisting, Joshua Jones, that Ms Higgins had expressed to police that “her memory had been corrupted” by speaking with journalists.

“Wearing our investigators’ hats, we go: ‘No, we should not show that evidence because it might taint it later on down the track’. But under a victim-centric model, we go ‘Well, this is really important for her to see this, we’re trying to support her’.”

Mr Jones: “Ms Higgins had expressed on a number of occasions that she’d had a lot to drink and had blacked out and by showing her that video footage, you risked corrupting her evidence about that section of the night?”

Superintendent Moller: “Yes, and that was the dilemma that we had, to be honest. That was the issue that we had but it was so important for supporting the victim, she was so keen to see that and to help her healing process that it was important to show her.”

On June 28, 2021, the DPP provided advice to ACT Policing that there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr Lehrmann but before making their final decision, police sought to have their investigation reviewed by officers who were not involved in the matter.

Before the review could occur, an article was published on news.com.au on July 29, 2021, in which Mr Drumgold denied his office was delaying the case after AFP Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw wrongly indicated during a National Press Club address the matter was still with the DPP.

Mr Drumgold told the website he had provided his advice on whether charges should be laid a month earlier and any decision on whether to arrest and charge Mr Lehrmann lay with the police.

The day that the article was published, Mr Sharaz emailed Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates to ask “What’s going on? We’re reading this news about it. Is a decision going to be made as was forecast in the July 12 ­meeting?”

Police had previously told Ms Higgins that they expected a decision would be made by the end of July.

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18890091 (231056ZMAY23) Notable: Shane Drumgold lost objectivity in Bruce Lehrmann rape case, Sofronoff inquiry told - The senior police investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation got the impression that Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold was determined to prosecute the case, “no matter what” and was “dismissive” of investigators’ views, an inquiry has heard. During his second day of evidence at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said that Mr Drumgold had been verbally expressing his view that there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr Lehrmann “for months” before he had read the brief of evidence.

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>>42767

>>42867

Shane Drumgold lost objectivity in Bruce Lehrmann rape case, Sofronoff inquiry told

KRISTIN SHORTEN and REMY VARGA - MAY 23, 2023

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The senior police investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation got the impression that Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold was determined to prosecute the case, “no matter what” and was “dismissive” of investigators’ views, an inquiry has heard.

During his second day of evidence at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said that Mr Drumgold had been verbally expressing his view that there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr Lehrmann “for months” before he had read the brief of evidence.

Mark Tedeschi KC, who is representing Mr Drumgold, asked Supt Moller about his knowledge of a meeting between Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman and Mr Drumgold to discuss Bruce Lehrmann’s case on March 31, 2021.

“The team were of the view that Mr Drumgold, and this is what they’ve expressed to me, that Mr Drumgold had a position where he was going to prosecute this matter no matter what, basically,” he said.

“The briefings I had was that Mr Drumgold was committed to prosecute this matter.

“It was something that had been discussed numerous times in the office.”

As a result, Supt Moller and Insp Boorman sought permission to obtain independent legal advice about Mr Lehrmann’s prosecution.

“I wouldn’t say it was because of that but I would agree that we wanted to seek independent legal advice,” he said.

“It was because I felt, and certainly from the briefings I’d had, that Mr Drumgold had lost objectivity in this matter.

“I thought it was best practice to get supplementary advice at that stage.

“Independent legal advice was something that I believed was a good strategy to make sure that we were presenting the best possible matter before the court should we go there.

“So my view is independent legal advice is a good process, and it’s something that the AFP undertakes with very high profile matters.”

Supt Moller said Mr Drumgold had not provided written advice at that stage but had been verbally expressing his view “for months”.

On May 27, 2021, Supt Moller met with Commander Michael Chew and sought his authorisation to get independent legal advice, but his request was declined.

“The chief police officer and the deputy chief police officer had basically turned you down?” Mr Tedeschi said.

Supt Moller confirmed that “they didn’t agree with my submission”.

“Which is something that regularly happens,” he added.

June 1, 2021 meeting with DPP

The inquiry heard that Insp Boorman and Supt Moller met with DPP director Mr Drumgold and prosecutor Skye Jerome on June 1, 2021.

“And during that meeting … you tried to convince the DPP that there was insufficient evidence to proceed against Mr Lehrmann by detailing to the DPP all of, what you thought were the deficiencies and discrepancies in the evidence of Ms Higgins,” Mr Tedeschi said. “Is this what happened?”

Supt Moller said Insp Boorman ran through all of the evidence that police had collected with the prosecutors.

“I’d certainly agree that I highlighted weaknesses, absolutely would agree with that,” he said.

“I spoke about the potential issues that I thought were in the brief of evidence.”

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18890161 (231136ZMAY23) Notable: Indian PM Narendra Modi wants ‘next level’ friendship with Australia - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared he wants to take the relationship with Australia to the “next level”, including closer defence and security ties to help ensure an “open and free” Indo-Pacific. Mr Modi said the growing strategic challenges in the region made India’s partnership with Australia more critical than ever.

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>>42870

Indian PM Narendra Modi wants ‘next level’ friendship with Australia

CAMERON STEWART - MAY 23, 2023

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared he wants to take the relationship with Australia to the “next level”, including closer defence and security ties to help ensure an “open and free” Indo-Pacific.

Mr Modi, who arrived in Sydney for his first bilateral visit in ­almost 10 years on Monday night, said the growing strategic challenges in the region made India’s partnership with Australia more critical than ever.

“I am not a person who gets satisfied easily,” Mr Modi told The Australian in an exclusive interview before his arrival.

“I have seen that Prime Minister Albanese is the same. I am confident that when we are together again in Sydney, we will get the opportunity to explore how we can take our relations to the next level. Identify new areas of complementariness and can expand our co-operation.”

Mr Modi, who last visited Australia in 2014, called Mr Albanese, who visited India in March, a “dear friend”.

He said the bilateral relationship was being nourished by the fast-growing Indian diaspora, which served as a “living bridge” between the two nations, bound in part by a shared passion for cricket.

He said that since his last visit the bilateral relationship has been “fundamentally transformed” by annual summits, an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, and the elevation of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic partnership.

“We have progressed significantly in the areas of defence, security, investment, education, water, climate change and renewable energy, sports, science, health, culture, among others” Mr Modi said.

“Our people-to-people contacts remain a strong pillar of our partnership. The Indian diaspora in Australia has increased over the past years. They are a living bridge. Even the game of cricket binds us, on and off the field.”

Mr Modi, alongside Mr Albanese, will address an expected crowd of 20,000 at Sydney Olympic Park on Tuesday night with many Indian Australians catching “Modi Express” buses from around the country to attend.

But Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist, is also expected to attract protests from some members of the Indian Australian community opposed to his policies at home.

Mr Modi, who met Mr Albanese on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima at the weekend, chose to continue with his bilateral visit to Australia despite the collapse of this week’s Quad Leader’s Summit in Sydney after US President Joe Biden pulled out.

Mr Modi instead joined a makeshift mini-Quad summit in Hiroshima with Mr Albanese, Mr Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The Indian leader flew into Sydney on Monday from a summit in Papua New Guinea, where Prime Minister James Marape hailed Mr Modi as “the leader of the Global South” and a “big third voice for the small island nations” as China and the US compete for influence in the region.

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18890184 (231148ZMAY23) Notable: Controversy dogs Donald Trump Jr’s upcoming tour - Australians are calling for Donald Trump Jr to be banned from the country before his planned speaking tour. Donald Trump’s eldest son will embark on a tour in July with dates in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, presented by Turning Point Australia. However, not all of the “amazing people” in Australia want Mr Trump Jr to enter the country. A petition that calls for him to be banned is gaining traction. At 9.30pm on Monday, an online petition calling for his ban has more than 3400 signatures.

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>>42852

>>42866

Controversy dogs Donald Trump Jr’s upcoming tour

Ash Cant - May 22, 2023

Australians are calling for Donald Trump Jr to be banned from the country before his planned speaking tour.

Donald Trump’s eldest son will embark on a tour in July with dates in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, presented by Turning Point Australia.

In a video he shared to social media to announce the tour, Mr Trump Jr said he had been to Australia while he was in college.

“I absolutely loved it. Incredible country, amazing people, beautiful scenery,” he said.

However, not all of the “amazing people” in Australia want Mr Trump Jr to enter the country.

A petition that calls for him to be banned is gaining traction.

At 9.30pm on Monday, an online petition calling for his ban has more than 3400 signatures.

“I do not want this racist American here yelling his divisive politics at us,” wrote one person, adding that America is a “mess” and the “fascist laws” over in the US should not be accepted in Australia.

“I don’t want the hatred and the lies that the Trump family and MAGA spread in Australia,” another person wrote.

No stranger to controversy

Mr Trump Jr has promoted conspiracy theories widely, including ones relating to Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Soros and Joe Biden.

He was instrumental in his father’s bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election and promoted several conspiracy theories about the election.

“The best thing for America’s future is for @realDonaldTrump to go to total war over this election to expose all of the fraud, cheating, dead/no longer in state voters, that has been going on for far too long. It’s time to clean up this mess & stop looking like a banana republic!” he once tweeted.

He also once shared a meme associated with white supremacists and throughout COVID-19 promoted misinformation.

Following his father’s indictment earlier this year, he went on a rant on his podcast, called Triggered with Donald Trump Jr, and claimed the US government was “communist”.

“It’s so flagrant. It’s so crazed when even like the radical leftists of The Washington Post are out there saying it’s not really based on facts,” he said.

“If you don’t think that the weaponisation of the entire federal government against their political enemies, against the voters – half of the country approximately – as we’ve seen, if you don’t think that’s a problem, you don’t even belong in any position in government, let alone president.”

In a TV rant that was widely labelled as homophobic, he referred to Pete Buttigieg as “that gay guy” and insinuated he was only made Secretary of Transportation under Joe Biden to “check off a box”.

‘Keep him’

However, Mr Trump Jr appears confident that his fans will support him while he is on his tour.

“I have a huge fanbase in Australia and after speaking with some of them it’s clear the same disease of woke identity politics and cancel culture that’s crippled the US has clearly taken hold there,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“It’s not good. It is the biggest existential threat we face in the West and is literally the decay of Western society,” he said.

In the replies to his video on Twitter announcing his trip to Australia some Americans were begging Australia to “keep him”.

“Just send him somewhere in the middle of your country,” someone suggested on Twitter, saying the world would be indebted to Australia for doing so.

However, a few people on the platform expressed excitement about the son of the 45th president of the United States coming to Australia, and said they had already booked tickets.

Tour topics

Mr Trump Jr will speak about “woke identity politics” and cancel culture, touching on how, in his opinion, Western societies are in decay.

Australia has a “great MAGA fanbase”, he said in his announcement video.

“I think they [Australians] saw their rights being infringed, the insanity that went on there around COVID, and they understand the existential threat to the West that’s taken root,” he said.

“The disease of woke identity politics and cancel culture that’s crippled so much of the US has just taken root there and we need to stop it.”

Tickets will start at $89 ($59 for students); however, if people wish to they can pay more for a VIP meet-and-greet package ($295), or a backstage pass ($495), which allows people to enjoy a champagne with Mr Trump Jr after the show.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2023/05/22/donald-trump-jr-australia-tour/

https://www.change.org/p/stop-donald-trump-jr-getting-an-australian-visa

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18895060 (241109ZMAY23) Notable: Brittany Higgins’ ‘drive to be in media’ made work difficult: top cop - The senior police officer who oversaw the investigation into Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation says the complainant’s “drive to be in the media” made their work “difficult”, and that the case impacted their relationship with the Victims of Crime Commissioner, Heidi Yates. During cross examination of Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, Heidi Yates’s lawyer, Peggy Dwyer, asserted that the Victims of Crime Commissioner was “well within her rights” to become Ms Higgins’ support person and act as a conduit between the complainant and police who were investigating her rape claim against Bruce Lehrmann.

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>>42767

>>42867

Brittany Higgins’ ‘drive to be in media’ made work difficult: top cop

KRISTIN SHORTEN and REMY VARGA - MAY 24, 2023

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The senior police officer who oversaw the investigation into Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation says the complainant’s “drive to be in the media” made their work “difficult”, and that the case impacted their relationship with the Victims of Crime Commissioner.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller is giving his third day of evidence at the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system, chaired by Walter Sofronoff KC.

During cross examination of Supt Moller, Heidi Yates’s lawyer asserted that the Victims of Crime Commissioner was “well within her rights” to become Ms Higgins’ support person and act as a conduit between the complainant and police who were investigating her rape claim against Bruce Lehrmann.

Peggy Dwyer said that under the Victims of Crime Commission Act the Ms Yates “is entitled to be present at the hearing of a proceeding” and act as a complainant’s support person if she chooses or is asked to do so.

Supt Moller admitted that the relationship between police and Ms Higgins, before Ms Yates was involved, was already “difficult”.

“You’ve pointed out it was frustrating for police, wasn’t it, trying to work with Ms Higgins to help develop the case?” she asked.

Supt Moller confirmed that Ms Higgins’ strategy in prioritising media engagement over the police investigation “made it difficult for investigators”.

“It was difficult because of the perceived interest that Ms Higgins had in the media, the drive that Ms Higgins showed to be in the media,” he said.

The inquiry heard that on April 8, 2021 Supt Moller received a briefing document from Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, authored by Detective Sergeant Garreth Saunders, saying that Ms Higgins had asked for the investigation into her rape allegation to be re-opened but that she had refused to provide a police statement at that time.

“Yes, she had had an engagement with the media at that time,” Supt Moller said.

“The significance for me at that time was that Ms Higgins had already done media interviews and it appeared to me, from what I was told, that Ms Higgins wanted the matter reported and wanted it to be a ‘live’ investigation, is the word she used.

“And my opinion was that she wanted it ‘live’ to give credibility to the story that was being aired between February and May.”

Supt Moller said investigators’ frustrations deepened when Ms Higgins would not produce her mobile phone for examination.

Supt Moller, who has been an investigator since 1994, said he had enjoyed a “productive and respectful” working relationship with Ms Yates prior to investigating the rape allegation against Mr Lehrmann.

Dr Dwyer told the inquiry that in early May 2021 Ms Higgins had called Ms Yates and said ‘can you help me?’

“And the commissioner had the right to appear as a support or to adopt her as a support,” she said.

“And (Ms Higgins) explained to her how she was struggling. I don’t want to go into those details. But she needed her. She needed help.”

Ms Yates then called Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman and informed him that Ms Higgins had asked for all communication to “come through her”.

“That was entirely within her rights and appropriate in the circumstances, wasn’t it?” Dr Dwyer asked.

Supt Moller agreed that it was “under the Act”.

On May 5, 2021 Ms Yates emailed Inspector Boorman.

“As discussed, I’m writing to confirm that Ms Brittany Higgins has requested that for the time being contact with police in relation to the investigation of her matter come by myself rather than via direct contact with her,” she wrote.

Soon after Inspector Boorman informed Ms Yates that police needed to conduct a second interview with Ms Higgins. “to clarify some of the issues” with her evidence.

Ms Yates facilitated the second police interview for May 26, 2021 and organised Ms Higgins flights and accommodation.

Dr Dwyer said Ms Yates asked police if it suitable for her to attend as Ms Higgins’ support person and no one from ACT Police indicated that she should not.

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18895074 (241119ZMAY23) Notable: Police officer who led investigation into Brittany Higgins's rape allegation reveals he is sexual assault survivor - The head investigator into Brittany Higgins's allegation that she had been raped has revealed he is a survivor of sexual assault. Detective Superintendent Scott Moller disclosed the information on his third day of giving evidence to an ACT board of inquiry, which is examining the conduct of criminal justice agencies in the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann. Wrapping up his time providing evidence, Superintendent Moller's lawyer, Matt Black, asked him what life experience he brought to his role with ACT police. Superintendent Moller told the inquiry that 45 years ago he was sexually assaulted. "I'm a survivor," he said. "That has driven my desire to make sure [other victims are supported]."

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>>42767

>>42867

Police officer who led investigation into Brittany Higgins's rape allegation reveals he is sexual assault survivor

Patrick Bell - 24 May 2023

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The head investigator into Brittany Higgins's allegation that she had been raped has revealed he is a survivor of sexual assault.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller disclosed the information on his third day of giving evidence to an ACT board of inquiry, which is examining the conduct of criminal justice agencies in the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann maintains his innocence, and there have been no findings against him after his trial was abandoned.

Throughout his testimony, Superintendent Moller was grilled about several investigators' reluctance to charge Mr Lehrmann, including a report in which he raised concerns with Ms Higgins's credibility and the strength of the prosecution case.

Wrapping up his time providing evidence, Superintendent Moller's lawyer, Matt Black, asked him what life experience he brought to his role with ACT police.

Superintendent Moller told the inquiry that 45 years ago he was sexually assaulted.

"I'm a survivor," he said.

"That has driven my desire to make sure [other victims are supported]."

Superintendent Moller also denied that police who believed the case should not progress had lost their objectivity about the case.

"They had deeply seeded views in relation to not having sufficient evidence [to charge Mr Lehrmann] and even though they had those views, they pushed forward against their own beliefs," he said.

"I think we've seen evidence where members of the investigation team felt sick when they found out we were going to move forward to charge.

"They still did it, and they were committed to the process because that's what we do as police."

Superintendent Moller said he ultimately took the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shane Drumgold, to charge Mr Lehrmann.

Denial of undercharging sexual assault cases

Superintendent Moller also denied that police were under-charging alleged sexual offenders at the time Ms Higgins made her complaint.

Today, Superintendent Moller was shown a report from the Sexual Assault Prevention and Review (SAPR) steering committee, which showed the proportion of alleged sexual offences proceeding to charge in the ACT was seven per cent in 2021, compared to 44 per cent in 2015.

The barrister for Mr Drumgold, Mark Tedeschi, argued that represented "a deterioration in the level of charging".

But Superintendent Moller said that was "absolutely not" his view.

"The team that work on sexual assault investigations are a dedicated, professional group of investigators," he said.

"From my perspective, the data is not accurate."

The inquiry heard that a number of sexual assault cases that did not initially proceed to charge had been referred to police for re-examination and some of those had since resulted in charges being laid.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18895116 (241151ZMAY23) Notable: ASIO warns neo-nazi groups are seeking to recruit more members - Right-wing terror threats make up roughly 30 per cent of ASIO's current counter-terror caseload, as the head of the agency warns they are growing in prominence to try and recruit more members. ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess was questioned during a Senate Estimates hearing whether recent public demonstrations signalled a growing threat from Neo-Nazi groups. Mr Burgess suggested while the demonstrations are becoming more brazen, they are primarily aimed at driving recruitment, and do not necessarily indicate a growing terror threat from Neo-Nazi groups.

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>>42842

>>>/qresearch/18890139

ASIO warns neo-nazi groups are seeking to recruit more members

Tom Lowrey and Nabil Al Nashar - 24 May 2023

Right-wing terror threats make up roughly 30 per cent of ASIO's current counter-terror caseload, as the head of the agency warns they are growing in prominence to try and recruit more members.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess was questioned during a Senate Estimates hearing whether recent public demonstrations signalled a growing threat from Neo-Nazi groups.

Mr Burgess suggested while the demonstrations are becoming more brazen, they are primarily aimed at driving recruitment, and do not necessarily indicate a growing terror threat from Neo-Nazi groups.

He argued the greatest threat of a terror attack comes from an individual acting alone, likely with little or no warning, and possibly frustrated with a lack of action from any group they may be a part of.

"In the case of the Neo-Nazi groups, what we worry about the most is people who join a group, or get drawn into that ideology, and are not satisfied there is no action and go off and do it themselves," he said.

Neo-Nazis have publicly gathered on a number of occasions in recent months, including a violent demonstration involving about 20 people in Melbourne earlier this month.

In March, Neo-Nazis gathered to support a prominent anti-transgender activist at a Melbourne rally, performing Nazi salutes.

How right-wing groups are avoiding being listed by ASIO

Mr Burgess was questioned on whether the public demonstrations indicated a greater threat.

"It's a sign that those groups are more emboldened to come out publicly, to push what they believe in and recruit to their cause," he said.

"Does that mean there's been an increase in the numbers of them? I don't see that correlation, I think they're just more emboldened.

"We have seen a rise in people drawn to this ideology, for reasons we don't fully understand."

Mr Burgess said it could be that the recent Neo-Nazi activity has been aimed at building influence, and trying to legitimately influence politics and public discourse.

He was asked if there was any evidence Neo-Nazis had sought to infiltrate political parties.

"I would not talk about specific things we're looking at directly, I can assure you if we saw that it would an interesting thing we would have to consider investigating," he said.

"Threats to security are well-defined, it's not unlawful for people to have a Neo-Nazi ideology in this country."

In evidence given to the estimates hearing, Mr Burgess said while ideologically-motivated extremism (mostly far-right groups) make up roughly 30 per cent ASIO's current caseload, religiously-motivated extremism takes up the other 70 per cent.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge questioned the ASIO director on why only three of the 29 'listed' terror organisations are right-wing groups, given the 70-30 split.

When a terror organisation becomes 'listed', it becomes illegal to be a member of such a group, or provide funding or resources to it.

The first right-wing group to be listed was the 'Sonnenkrieg Division', a UK-based group, which was listed in 2019.

Mr Burgess said the right-wing groups are often "smarter" and avoid publicly advocating terrorism, which would see them listed.

"To be listed, that group has to actually promote and advocate acts of terrorism. So it's a high penalty with a high threshold, if you don't cross that threshold you don't get penalised and listed," he said.

"And the reason we are where we are is those (listed) groups have actually pushed and advocated for acts of terrorism, where other groups are sadly smarter and don't do that publicly.

"Because that's what the law, as it currently stands, requires them to do."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-23/asio-boss-warns-neo-nazi-groups-becoming-more-emboldened/102383558

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18900712 (251126ZMAY23) Notable: Brittany Higgins ‘naked and asleep’ on sofa not enough to charge Bruce Lehrmann with rape, Sofronoff inquiry told - A police officer investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations has told the Sofronoff inquiry that investigators had not established all three legal requirements necessary to charge Bruce Lehrmann with sexual assault. In evidence to the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system on Thursday, Senior Constable Emma Frizzell rejected a suggestion by Mark Tedeschi KC, who is representing the Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, that the first requirement was satisfied, namely, that there was “corroboration” that sexual intercourse took place.

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>>42767

Brittany Higgins ‘naked and asleep’ on sofa not enough to charge Bruce Lehrmann with rape, Sofronoff inquiry told

STEPHEN RICE and KRISTIN SHORTEN - MAY 25, 2023

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A police officer investigating Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations has told the Sofronoff inquiry that investigators had not established all three legal requirements necessary to charge Bruce Lehrmann with sexual assault.

In evidence to the Board of Inquiry into the ACT’s criminal justice system on Thursday, Senior Constable Emma Frizzell rejected a suggestion by Mark Tedeschi KC, who is representing the Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, that the first requirement was satisfied, namely, that there was “corroboration” that sexual intercourse took place.

Snr Const Frizzell agreed, however, that Ms Higgins was found naked and asleep in Senator Linda Reynolds’ office in Parliament House and that this was “some evidentiary support” of the fact that sexual intercourse took place.

Mark Tedeschi KC, who is representing the Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, asked Sen Constable Frizzell: “Ms Higgins was seen in the complete nude in the minister’s office, asleep and then a Parliament House officer comes into the office at about 2.30 in the morning and sees her in the complete nude asleep.

“Ms Higgins wakes up very briefly and then basically rolls over and goes back to sleep. Do you agree that that is some evidentiary support of the fact that sexual intercourse took place?

Sen Constable Frizzell: “Yes.”

Sen Constable Frizzell also agreed that evidence that Ms Higgins was heavily intoxicated when she arrived at Parliament House supported a second element needed to charge Mr Lehrmann, being a lack of capacity to consent.

However, Constable Frizzell said she did not believe that Mr Lehrmann’s different explanations of why he had gone to Parliament House gave rise to the third element necessary, namely a reasonable suspicion that he knew she had not consented to sexual intercourse.

Mr Tedeschi said Mr Lehrmann had provided four different reasons for why he had gone to Parliament House with Ms Higgins on the morning of March 23, 2019.

“Do you agree that that’s some supportive evidence of either a knowledge of lack of consent or knowledge of recklessness?” he asked the witness.

Sen Constable Frizzell responded: “No”.

Sen Constable Frizzell said she held personal concerns about Ms Higgins’ evidence and that her views remained unchanged after receiving the DPP’s advice that Mr Lehrmann should be charged.

“Regardless, I keep my role as a corroborating case member and I keep investigating it. Whatever my thoughts were irrelevant. The decision to charge was not my role. My role was to corroborate and investigating member of this matter.

“The matter proceeds to court and I just continue with that. I keep investigating the matter and that doesn’t change.”

Senior Constable Frizzell said she continued to assist the DPP during the course of the trial and was not reluctant to do so.

“No, not at all. I had a good working relationship with the likes of (Mitchell) Greig.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18906031 (261426ZMAY23) Notable: Case against Bruce Lehrmann ‘very weak’: AFP Commander Michael Chew at Sofronoff inquiry - A high-ranking federal police officer says he believed the case against Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins was “very weak”, but he directed officers to push ahead because he was concerned that the media was compromising the former staffer’s right to a fair trial. AFP Commander Michael Chew, deputy chief of ACT Police between August 2018 and 2021, said he had had almost daily conversations with detective Superintendent Scott Moller about the strength and weakness of the evidence against Mr Lehrmann.

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>>42767

Case against Bruce Lehrmann ‘very weak’: AFP Commander Michael Chew at Sofronoff inquiry

REMY VARGA - MAY 26, 2023

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A high-ranking federal police officer says he believed the case against Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins was “very weak”, but he directed officers to push ahead because he was concerned that the media was compromising the former staffer’s right to a fair trial.

The 12th day of the Sofronoff inquiry, probing the prosecution of Mr Lehrmann, also heard that ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC told The Project co-host Lisa Wilkinson that he “was not a speechwriter” ahead of the 2022 Logies ceremony.

AFP Commander Michael Chew, deputy chief of ACT Police between August 2018 and 2021, said he had had almost daily conversations with detective Superintendent Scott Moller about the strength and weakness of the evidence against Mr Lehrmann.

Commander Chew said he couldn’t recall telling Mr Moller that if it were his choice he would not proceed to prosecute Mr Lehrmann, but he accepted he may have said “there was too much political interference” in the case. “I can’t recall the exact words, but I accept that’s what Superintendent Scott Moller recorded,” he said.

Commander Chew said he did not have a file note of the meeting and said it was possible he had said those words to Mr Moller after being briefed extensively throughout the investigation and forming the view that the case against Mr Lehrmann was “very weak”.

“My personal opinion was there may be insufficient evidence or a very weak case to go forward with the prosecution,” he said.

Commander Chew said the brief of evidence did meet the threshold required by the Magistrates Act because the case had an alleged victim, an alleged offender and limited corroboration.

“The potential for a successful prosecution was there,” he said. “Did I think it was a strong case? Probably not.”

Commander Chew said the political interference he referred to was the intense media interest in the case; the fact the alleged rape was said to have taken place in Parliament House; the involvement of senators Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash as witnesses; and the MeToo movement.

“I had no direct or indirect ­interference from any external or internal sources,” he said.

When Mark Tedeschi KC, who is representing Mr Drumgold SC, asked Commander Chew whether his choice to use the words “political interference” was unfortunate, he replied: “On reflection, yes they were.”

“They [words] could be misconstrued, but as well political interference doesn’t always necessarily refer to politics,” he said.

“The same as political correctness doesn’t specifically refer to politics, so it was an expression of the environment for myself.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18906057 (261434ZMAY23) Notable: Media pressure behind timing of Lehrmann charge: police commander - An ACT deputy chief police officer who oversaw the Lehrmann rape investigation said the intense media pressure hanging over the police motivated him to direct the former Coalition staffer be charged in late 2021. Commander Michael Chew told his subordinate Detective Superintendent Scott Moller in early August “let’s just get it served and move on” against the backdrop of increasing public scrutiny and perceived delays in the investigation.

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>>42767

>>42882

Media pressure behind timing of Lehrmann charge: police commander

Angus Thompson - May 26, 2023

An ACT deputy chief police officer who oversaw the Lehrmann rape investigation said the intense media pressure hanging over the police motivated him to direct the former Coalition staffer be charged in late 2021.

Commander Michael Chew told his subordinate Detective Superintendent Scott Moller in early August “let’s just get it served and move on” against the backdrop of increasing public scrutiny and perceived delays in the investigation.

“The matter was dragging on and the commentary surrounding the matter was increasing,” Chew told an inquiry into authorities’ handling of the high-profile case.

Asked by Erin Longbottom KC, counsel assisting the inquiry, whether those factors had motivated him to direct the court summons be served on Bruce Lehrmann, Chew replied that they had, before acknowledging “in hindsight” he should not have responded that way.

Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to raping Higgins in the parliamentary office of their then-boss, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, on March 23, 2019, and has always maintained his innocence. The trial was aborted on October 27 due to juror misconduct and there have been no findings against Lehrmann.

The inquiry heard Higgins’ boyfriend David Sharaz had phoned Moller regarding a public conflict between Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC about the progress of the case.

Asked whether he was concerned police would be subject to further criticism due to delays, Chew replied: “Yes”.

Senior Constable Emma Frizzell, who investigated the case, said in a written statement to the public inquiry that Higgins and Sharaz used the media as a tool, and Higgins wanted to see how the story of her claim “played out” before providing a statement to investigators.

Frizzell said that during a rest break in Higgins’ first recorded interview in March 2021, Sharaz “entered the room and without concern for Ms Higgins’ welfare, commenced showing and discussing media coverage to Ms Higgins”.

“I believe the level of media involvement did affect the conduct of the investigation of Ms Higgins’ complaint,” Frizzell said.

“I believe it was a tool driven by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz, which is evident by the first engagement I had with them, whereby Ms Higgins advised she wished to see how the media played out prior to providing a statement.”

Under questioning from Lehrmann’s barrister, Steven Whybrow, during the trial, Higgins said she was speaking to both police and the media to highlight what she believed was a systemic cultural problem.

“I wanted to reform this issue,” Higgins said at the time. “I stand by my choice and I’m not ashamed of that.”

Frizzell said Higgins told her that news.com.au journalist Samantha Maiden was relaying to her what she had uncovered before reporting on it in the media.

“Ms Higgins added at times Ms Maiden’s comments influenced her memories and questioned if her memory is a result of being told information,” the officer’s statement says.

Frizzell said the media interest affected the evidence witnesses provided, with one witness unwilling to offer some evidence in a recorded statement, while another person refused to give evidence because it could affect his future.

After ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, SC, announced he was discontinuing the case against Lehrmann on December 2, the ACT government launched a review into the handling of the case, which was partly spurred by a public breakdown in the relationship between the police and the DPP.

Australian Federal Police acting assistant commissioner Joanne Cameron, who was deputy chief police officer in the territory at the time of the trial, told the inquiry on Thursday she feared investigators speaking with Lehrmann’s lawyers during the trial would fuel rumours of police conspiring with defence.

“I held the concern that, at the very least, whenever these sorts of interactions were occurring, if they became known to others, there would be judgments made, not even knowing what the conversations were about … others would make a judgment unfairly against my officers,” Cameron said.

In her written statement, Cameron said the constant media attention generated a “trust no one mentality”.

She said that in April 2022, after Drumgold warned the police that the ABC would publish a story about the wrongful service of Higgins’ counselling notes on Lehrmann’s original defence team, her subordinate, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, told her it was “clear” that Drumgold had told the journalist.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/higgins-sharaz-used-media-as-tool-investigator-20230525-p5dbey.html