Jarrod Bleijie under pressure for betraying judge's confidence

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/25/jarrod-bleijie-under-pressure-for-betraying-judges-confidence

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There are growing calls for the Queensland attorney general, Jarrod Bleijie, to be sacked, with the state's former solicitor general saying he should resign for betraying the trust of a senior judge.

Walter Sofronoff, who quit his post last week, said Bleijie had acted unethically by revealing details of a private conversation he had with the Queensland court of appeal president, Margaret McMurdo, about an appointment to a court vacancy.

"I think he should resign," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday. "Certainly he's not able to perform one of the duties of his office or at least he's highly prejudiced in performing it.

"What judge in his or her right mind will give him advice about the merits of various candidates knowing that if it suits him politically, he will issue a press release detailing the conversation?"

Last week McMurdo suggested the government had an "unconscious bias" against appointing women to the judiciary, prompting Bleijie to counterclaim she had pushed for two men – one of which he said was her husband – to be promoted to the court.

McMurdo hit out at Bleijie in Monday's Courier-Mail for implying she had sought a promotion for her husband but declined to detail her version of events.

Sofronoff said the attorney general's behaviour was unethical. "He's betrayed a confidence. That's unethical," he said.

Earlier, Bleijie criticised Sofronoff for writing a scathing opinion piece in the Courier-Mail. "The former solicitor general's comments, I think, are unfortunate and disappointing," he told ABC Radio. "I've got a lot of time for Mr Sofronoff. I'm one of his biggest fans."

Bleijie said he wanted to place consultations on the public record.

The Labor opposition leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said Bleijie "must resign or Campbell Newman must step in and sack him".

But the premier, Campbell Newman, said Bleijie had been a great success, adding "everyone really should cool down". He said Bleijie had every right to defend the government from McMurdo's criticism.

"If you want to go into the political arena, the public arena, then you have to be prepared that people will respond and defend their position," he told ABC Radio. "So any suggestion this has been an attack from the attorney general is nonsense, is rubbish."