Australia news live: outside judge to hear Drumgold’s challenge to findings of inquiry into Lehrmann trial; PM outlines Covid-19 inquiry

Josh Taylor

Asic to take crypto exchange company Bit Trade to the federal court

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) has taken crypto exchange Kraken’s company Bit Trade to the federal court, alleging that the company failed to comply with the design and distribution obligations in the margin trading product it offers Australian customers on the Kraken exchange.

Cryptocurrency regulation is currently limited in Australia, but many of the crypto operators also offer other financial products alongside their cryptocurrency.

Asic alleged Bit Trade’s margin trading product is a credit facility as it offers customers credit for use in the sale and purchase of certain crypto assets on the Kraken exchange.

Asic’s deputy chair, Sarah Court, said:

These proceedings should send a message to the crypto industry that products will continue to be scrutinised by Asic to ensure they comply with regulatory obligations in order to protect consumers.

Asic’s action should be a reminder of the importance to comply with the design and distribution obligations so that financial products are distributed to consumers appropriately.

Asic alleges that the product has been available since January 2020, and approximately 1,160 Australian customers have used the margin trading product since the obligations came into effect in October 2021, incurring a total loss of $12.95m.

Asic has taken a number of actions against cryptocurrency operators in the past year, while the federal government is still consulting with industry about potential regulation.

Judge from outside the ACT will be appointed to hear Shane Drumgold’s challenge

Christopher Knaus

An outside judge will be brought to the Australian Capital Territory to hear Shane Drumgold’s challenge to the findings of the Sofronoff inquiry.

The ACT supreme court heard on Thursday that an outside judge needed to be appointed. Canberra has a small legal community and chief justice Lucy McCallum emailed parties earlier this month to say it would not be appropriate for any of the current judges of the court to hear the case.

But she said that the process of appointing an acting judge from another jurisdiction was complicated because she herself had presided over the Bruce Lehrmann trial and attorney general Shane Rattenbury was, at that stage at least, a defendant in Drumgold’s challenge.

To ensure an acting judge was appointed transparently and without conflict, McCallum asked the chief justice of Victoria, Anne Ferguson, to nominate a suitable judge.

Ferguson has nominated Stephen Kaye and McCallum has accepted that nomination. The process of appointing Kaye as an acting judge is now underway.

Drumgold is asking for a judicial review of critical findings made by Sofronoff about his handling of the prosecution of Lehrmann. Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to raping Brittany Higgins and has maintained his innocence. His first trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and a second was called off due to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.

More details of the federal government’s Covid-19 inquiry have been released, including that it will look at the following:

• Governance including the role of the Commonwealth government, responsibilities of state and territory governments, national governance mechanisms (such as national cabinet, the National Coordination Mechanism and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee) and advisory bodies supporting responses to Covid-19.

• Key health response measures (for example across Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments, key medical supplies such as personal protective equipment, quarantine facilities, and public health messaging).

• Broader health supports for people impacted by Covid-19 and/or lockdowns (for example mental health and suicide prevention supports, and access to screening and other preventive health measures).

• International policies to support Australians at home and abroad (including with regard to international border closures, and securing vaccine supply deals with international partners for domestic use in Australia).

• Support for industry and businesses (for example responding to supply chain and transport issues, addressing labour shortages, and support for specific industries).

• Financial support for individuals (including income support payments).

• Community supports (across early childhood education and care, higher education, housing and homelessness measures, family and domestic violence measures in areas of Commonwealth government responsibility).

• Mechanisms to better target future responses to the needs of particular populations (including across genders, age groups, socio-economic status, geographic location, people with disability, First Nations peoples and communities and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities).

But the following areas are not in scope for the inquiry:

Frydenberg expected to rule out return at next election

Katharine Murphy

The former treasurer Josh Frydenberg is expected to confirm this afternoon he will not attempt to return to politics at the next federal election.

Goldman Sachs (which is where the former deputy Liberal leader ended up after losing the blue ribbon seat of Kooyong to teal independent Monique Ryan) has announced this morning Frydenberg is about to become chairman of the investment bank in Australia and New Zealand.

Frydenberg ruling out a return to political life in the short term isn’t a massive surprise. He has been signalling this direction over the past few weeks in conversations with his political friends, which has filtered through into recent reporting. I hear he’s also told Peter Dutton. I don’t know what he will say when he makes his own statement, but I suspect it won’t be a “never ever” on a return to the political arena.

Frydenberg has long harboured an ambition to be PM. But he’s been telling friends he’s very much enjoying being at home with his still young family – and making a contribution outside the bearpit in Canberra.

The former treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has been appointed the chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Australian business, the Australian Financial Review reports ($).

After Frydenberg lost his seat of Kooyong at the last federal election, he joined the bank as a senior regional adviser for Asia Pacific.

But in an internal memo obtained by the AFR, the bank said that Frydenberg had been promoted, and would now “focus on further deepening and strengthening client coverage across the A/NZ region”.

Benita Kolovos

‘Why would you boo the oldest continuous culture known to human history?’: Victorian premier

Daniel Andrews is asked about former footballer and media personality Sam Newman’s comments, encouraging Australians to boo or “slow hand clap” during welcome to country ceremonies during the AFL finals over the next two weeks. Andrews said:

Why would you boo the oldest continuous culture known to human history? Why would you do that? Why would you say no to all the wisdom, all the richness that comes from that? I don’t think that would be the right thing to do. That’s not something I do … When it comes to the views of former footballers, I’d be more inclined to listen to Uncle Michael Long on these sorts of issues than Sam Newman. Like every day and twice on Sundays, I’d listen to Michael Long before I’d listen to Sammy.