Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Labor calls for Bleijie's sacking

  • From: AAP
  • March 25, 2014 10:14AM
QUEENSLAND'S opposition is demanding Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie be sacked for revealing details of a private conversation with a senior judge.
The call comes after outgoing solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff slammed Mr Bleijie for telling News Corp Australia about a confidential chat with Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo about an appointment to a court vacancy.
Justice McMurdo last week claimed the government wasn't appointing enough women, prompting Mr Bleijie to counterclaim she had pushed for two men to be promoted to the appeal court.
Mr Sofronoff, who announced his resignation last week after designing Queensland's controversial anti-bikie laws, said Mr Bleijie had acted like a "nasty schoolboy" in betraying the confidence of a judge.
"It is not just startling, but it is also a matter for public alarm the Attorney-General believes that it is permissible to reveal what he claims to be part of his confidential consultation with the President of the Court of Appeal," Mr Sofronoff said in a letter to The Courier-Mail published on Tuesday.
"That he would have done so under any circumstances at all, short of legal compulsion, is shocking."
Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queensland Premier Campbell Newman must sack Mr Bleijie.
"These are extraordinary comments," she told ABC radio.
"Today, the Attorney-General must resign or Campbell Newman must step in and sack him."
The Attorney-General later defended his conduct on ABC radio.

"It's important to get on the record that the appointment process is transparent," he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment