Questions are being asked about the competence of the judge heading the commission of inquiry into allegations of political interference in sexual assault and harassment incidents in Parliament House in Canberra.
The inquiry led by senior News Court Australia judge, Justice Janet Albrechtsen, (main picture) has been targeting several women Labor Party senators as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a bid to prove their alleged prior knowledge of matters related to claims of rape made by a former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins against then fellow staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
“Justice Albrechtsen had been doing a sterling job in targeting senators Katy Gallagher, Penny Wong, and others in the Labor Party,” a source within the News Court said.
“Her tactic has been to use her commission of inquiry to drip-feed information that was designed to build a case strong enough to see Senator Gallagher and hopefully Senator Wong out of their ministries or even out of the Senate entirely.
“But now her entire work has been derailed and the only person that looks remotely like losing their job is Senator David Van, a little-known Victorian Liberal Party senator who had tried to lend his support to Justice Albrechtsen’s efforts.
“To make matters worse, Senator’s Van’s efforts led to his future being put under a cloud by the controversial ex-Greens and now independent Senator Lidia Thorpe who has previously been a target of many stinging judgements handed down by Justice Albrechtsen.
“So it’s no wonder questions are now being asked about Justice Albrechtsen’s competence.
“I mean, talk about an own goal,” the News Court source said.
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Australia’s plantation timber industry has been put on alert by newsprint manufacturers following a decision by News Court Australia judge, Justice Paul Kelly, to assign himself the task of writing judgements on the current multiple cases of alleged sexual assault and harassment in the Canberra political scene.
CEO of the Newsprint Suppliers Association, Tim Burr, said the association’s members had been alarmed by the appearance of Justice Kelly’s first judgement in today’s edition of The Weekend Australian. (below)
“As usual Justice Kelly’s initial judgement begins on one page which ends with his trademark ‘continued on…’ and ends up covering several more pages,” Mr Burr said.
“We know there’ll be more to come so all of our members have immediately upped production to supply the thousands of extra hectares of newsprint that Justice Kelly will need to deliver his future judgements.
“We just hope there is sufficient timber reserves across the nation to feed the demand.”
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Friends and colleagues of retiring Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Susan Kiefel, say they are not surprised by her early departure from the nation’s top judicial job.
Chief Justice Kiefel was expected to retire in January 2024 when she reached the statutory retirement of age for federal judges of 70, but yesterday announced she would be departing the court in early November this year.
High Court sources told The Bug the news was not a shock to those who knew her well and those who worked with the Chief Justice.
“Everyone in the [High Court] building knows that the Chief Justice has been itching to shed her judicial robes and spend more time doing what she loves to do – enter full-time the lucrative Julia Gillard lookalike contest circuit,” one court insider said.
“It’s a real passion for her and she’s done very well in the past. She’s got lots of trophies on her bookshelves.”
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