Ceremonial Sitting of the Full Court
To welcome the Honourable Justice Hespe
Transcript of proceedings
THE HONOURABLE JAMES ALLSOP AO, Chief Justice
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE KENNY AM
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE COLLIER
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MIDDLETON AM
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE BROMBERG
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE KATZMANN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE BEACH
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MOSHINSKY
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE O’CALLAGHAN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE THAWLEY
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE WHEELAHAN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE SNADEN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE ANDERSON
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE ROFE
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE McELWAINE
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE HESPE
MELBOURNE
9.30 AM, FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2022
THIS PROCEEDING WAS CONDUCTED BY VIDEO CONFERENCE
ALLSOP CJ: May I welcome everyone to this ceremonial sitting of the Court to publicly welcome Justice Hespe to the Court. Sitting on the bench with the Judges of the Victorian District Registry and myself are Justice Collier, a Senior Judge from Queensland, Justice Katzmann and Justice Thawley from New South Wales and Justice McElwaine from Tasmania. Unfortunately, Justice Mortimer, Justice O’Bryan and Justice McEvoy cannot be here today. May I first acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we gather, the peoples of the Kulin nation and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Justice Hespe, may I first welcome your family here today, in particular, your husband Craig, your sister Kerrie Sles and your niece Zoe Sles and your cousin Debra Prince and your wider family and friends.
May I acknowledge the presence here today of the Honourable Justice Michelle Gordon AC and the Honourable Justice Simon Steward of the High Court of Australia, the Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC QC, former Justice of the High Court, the Honourable Justices Wilson, Hartnett and Strum of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the Honourable Neil Young QC, former Judge of this Court, Mr Frank O’Loughlin, Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Mr Michael Kingston, the Australian Government Solicitor. There are many apologies, all of which I cannot read, the chief among them is the Honourable Susan Kiefel, the Chief Justice of the High Court, the Attorney-General, the Honourable Mark Dreyfus who is very sorry he cannot be here today and speak, Chief Justice Alstergren, Chief Justice Ferguson and President Emerton of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge Kidd of the County Court and Chief Magistrate Judge Hannan and, in particular, the Honourable Justice Jennifer Davies, who asked me to pass on her personal best wishes.
Justice Hespe, may I, on behalf of all the Judges of the Court, welcome you to the Court formally. You have already acclimatised to the atmosphere and the work. Indeed, you’ve thrown yourself into it. May I personally wish you the very best for what will be a long and, I am sure, and I have no doubt, a very distinguished judicial career. But, most importantly, may you enjoy the life on the Court as I am sure you will.
Ms Robyn Curnow, Senior Lawyer of the Australian Government Solicitor representing the Attorney-General for the Commonwealth.
MS R. CURNOW: May it please the Court. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land, the peoples of the Kulin nation. I also pay my respects to their elders past and present. I would like to extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples present today. It is a great privilege to be here today to congratulate your Honour on your appointment as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. The Attorney-General, the Honourable Mark Dreyfus QC MP, regrets that he cannot be here to share this occasion with you today. He has, however, asked that I convey the Government’s sincere appreciation for your Honour’s willingness to serve as a Judge of this Court and the Government extends its best wishes for your career on the bench.
Your Honour’s appointment to this Court is another success in a diverse and eminent career. That so many of your colleagues in the legal profession are here today is testament to the high regard in which your colleagues hold your Honour. May I particularly acknowledge the Honourable Justice Michelle Gordon AC of the High Court of Australia, the Honourable Justice Simon Steward of the High Court of Australia, the Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the Honourable Justice Joshua Wilson, Judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the Honourable Justice Norah Hartnett, Judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the Honourable Justice Andrew Strum, Judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, other current and former members of the judiciary and members of the legal profession. May I also acknowledge the presence of your Honour’s husband, Craig, who is here today with your sister Kerrie and your niece Zoe.
We are also joined by other members of your Honour’s family and many friends. Time does not permit a full exposition of your Honour’s achievements and the contributions you have made to the law, therefore, today I will focus on some key achievements that mark your distinguished career. Your Honour graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Economics in 1991 and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours in 1994. Your Honour went on to complete a Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne in 2002. Your Honour commenced your career at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, now King & Wood Mallesons, as a summer clerk.
Your Honour’s talents were quickly recognised by your host solicitor, now Justice Steward of the High Court, who told the head of the tax practice group, Michael Clough, that whatever he did, he needed to make sure that your Honour came back to the firm. Mr Clough agreed and your Honour practiced at King & Wood Mallesons until your admission to the Bar in 2009. I am told that during your Honour’s time at King & Wood Mallesons you impressed clients with the quality of your advice, advising on some of the most difficult tax law questions. When your Honour joined the Bar, you quickly became the preferred junior for a number of leading silks at the time.
In addition to your legal skills, your Honour had the unique ability to understand the commercial world, which, I am told, your colleagues found immensely valuable. Your Honour appeared in many significant cases alongside a number of leading silks. Of particular note, your Honour was extensively involved in Commissioner of Taxation v BHP Billiton Limited, instructing on the matter in the Federal Court and the Full Court of the Federal Court before joining the counsel team when the matter was litigated in the High Court. All Judges that heard the matter found in favour of BHP, which, I’m told, is largely due to your Honour’s work on the matter.
Your Honour has also been a lecturer in the Masters Course Tax Litigation at the University of Melbourne since 2012. Your Honour was appointed as a part‑time Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 2017 in the general division, taxation and commercial division and small business taxation division. In 2021 your Honour was appointed Senior Counsel. I am told your Honour’s appointment was immediate upon application. It is with great pleasure that I speak to a few of the qualities that have contributed to success in your legal career culminating in your appointment to this Court. During your Honour’s time at King & Wood Mallesons your Honour was highly influenced by the late Brian Shaw QC.
I am told your Honour observed his modesty, courtesy, economy with language and complete dedication to logic which influenced the kind of lawyer your Honour sought to be. Your Honour’s colleagues confirm that your Honour, indeed, possesses these qualities. I am told that your Honour’s frank approach to legal practice, particularly your Honour’s integrity, ability to go straight to the core of complex issues and your impeccable judgment has earned immense respect among your colleagues. Many of your Honour’s colleagues celebrated the news of your taking silk, your appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and now appointment to this Court, acknowledging that such appointments are very well deserved.
Your Honour is very much missed by your colleagues at Level 22 Aickin Chambers. Your Honour’s long time colleague, Justice Steward, observed that your Honour is a very admired person, a rare person who has no enemies but many fans. I am told that your Honour’s quiet and gentle demeanour could be misleading and that you were quite a formidable advocate in the robust environment of significant tax litigation. For someone so ostensibly reserved, I am told that your Honour has real iron in your spine. Your Honour’s formidable demeanour in the courtroom has also been witnessed in some of your other interests and hobbies.
Your Honour has been known to confront coyotes in a Vancouver park and stride fearlessly across the Athabasca Glacier in the Canadian Rockies. I am also told that your Honour’s fearlessness extends to a love of rollercoasters and that you have enjoyed taking on some of the more terrifying rollercoasters at Disneyland in Los Angeles and, much to the dismay of some of your colleagues, on the Gold Coast Senior Associates Conference with Mallesons. Your ability to negotiate a complex situation has also translated into very practical life skills. I am told that there was a time when your Honour’s husband, Craig, passed out at the wheel of a car travelling 80 kilometres an hour on a six-lane road.
Your Honour managed to steer the car with one hand across several lanes of traffic, a traffic island and between two trees before demolishing a brick fence and coming to rest. I am told even the attending police felt you had done a remarkable job negotiating a complex situation. Thanks, in large part, I’m sure, to the negotiation skills your Honour has developed over the course of your career. We’re very pleased Craig is well and here with us today. Your Honour is very close with your sister Kerrie and niece Zoe. I am told that, together with your husband Craig, you are as close as a family can be. I am also told that your Honour also shares your love of taxation law with Craig, who works in the area as well.
I am sure your Honour’s family are all very proud of you and happy they are here today to share this very special occasion. Your Honour’s appointment to this Court acknowledges your dedication to the law and accomplishments in the legal profession. Your Honour takes on this judicial office with the best wishes of the Australian legal profession and it is trusted that you will approach this role with the exceptional dedication to the law that you have shown throughout your career. On behalf of the Australian Government and the Australian people I extend to you my sincere congratulations and welcome you to the Federal Court of Australia. May it please the Court.
ALLSOP CJ: Thank you, Ms Curnow. Ms Annesley QC, President of the Victorian Bar Association and also representing the Australian Bar Association.
MS R.N. ANNESLEY: May it please the Court. I appear on behalf of the Victorian Bar and the Australian Bar Association to congratulate your Honour on your appointment as a Judge of this Court. Dr Collins AM QC regrets that he is unable to attend this morning and sends his best wishes to you on your appointment. Your Honour attended Leibler Yavneh College and graduated Dux of your year in 1988. When your appointment to this Court was announced, Yavneh Principal, Shula Lazar, said of you:
Part of our school mission is to nurture lifelong independent learners who pursue excellence and strive to achieve their potential. It is no doubt that Lisa epitomises this notion and we are so very proud.
As we have heard upon completion of your schooling you attended Monash University, obtaining a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws with honours. You later obtained your Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. In the later years of university you trod the familiar path of many law students, spending your summers doing clerkships. In 1992, while at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, you were fortunate to meet your friend and mentor, the now Honourable Justice Simon Steward of the High Court of Australia. Even at this early stage of your legal career it was evident that you were an exceptional lawyer with fine judgment, a detailed grasp of law and a reputation for hard work and persistence.
It was, therefore, no surprise that Mallesons wanted you back. Your Honour undertook articles at the firm in 1994 and settled in the tax group following your admission to the profession in 1995. One of your early cases was, as we’ve heard, the BHP bad debt case. Literally, the biggest tax case in the country. Your Honour was instructing solicitor in the case at first instance before Justice Michelle Gordon, then of the Federal Court, and then before the Full Court. You were victorious on both occasions, including three-love in the Full Court. When the matter went before the High Court in 2010, your Honour appeared as Junior Counsel in the case.
It was a hard fought matter relating to a deduction of almost $2 billion. What won the case for your client was, to no small degree, your capacity to find the evidence needed and then find the witnesses to give that evidence, all of whom were former directors of the company who did not want to give evidence. Your Honour spent days in warehouses uncovering bits and pieces of documentary evidence to build the winning case. Your Honour then, through a combination of charm and gentleness, I’m told, persuaded each of those reluctant directors to harden up and get in the witness box. Your contribution to the taxpayer’s ultimate victory was enormous.
Your Honour was called to the Bar in 2009 and read with Justice Steward. You were an immediate success at the Bar, tax silks constantly jockeyed for your services as a junior. Least anyone think that it was all beer and skittles, there was also an early low point in your Honour’s career at the Bar. In your first year your Honour appeared as Junior Counsel to Justice Steward and then Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler in the High Court. The three of you were pitted against a self-represented taxpayer. Not to put too fine a point on it, you failed. That case is the only recorded instance of the Solicitor-General being beaten by a self-represented litigant in the Full High Court.
For those who are interested in the citation, it’s Commissioner of Taxation v Anstis [2010] 241 CLR 443. Your Honour maintained a thriving practice at the Bar acting for both taxpayers and tax authorities. You earned your reputation as one of the finest taxation lawyers in the country. Indeed, a Sydney silk described you as:
The best tax lawyer I’ve ever worked with.
Part of what made your Honour stand out is your immense skill and judgment as a commercial lawyer. Your Honour has an in-depth understanding how companies work and how the economies of companies work. Your Honour is also renowned for having an unparalleled ability to predict how decision makers will determine a matter. Your Honour was also a master at managing large scale tax disputes or mega cases, a challenge that will no doubt be called upon during your career on the bench. Your Honour’s client list was both deep and impressive and a tribute to the outstanding quality of your work. The list included BHP, Orica, National Mutual, AMP, BP, Macquarie Bank, Coca-Cola Amatil, Illinois Tool Works and, of course, the Commissioner of Taxation.
Your Honour worked closely with Justice Steward, both as a solicitor and as a barrister. On one occasion, when you were a solicitor and his Honour was a junior barrister, you were dispatched to Chicago to interview witnesses and review documents. Any notion of taking up residence in a swish downtown hotel and dining in top restaurants was quickly dispelled when your driver pointed the car due north rather than downtown. As it transpired, the company had its offices in an outer suburb called Glenview, which was light on both glens and views but heavy on down at heel hotels adjacent to freeways. Your Honours spent days at the company offices in a tiny conference room where each day a stack of 25 iced donuts was provided to sustain you.
In 2017 your Honour was appointed part-time as a Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. This reflected your general desire to make a contribution to public life. I understand that your Honour’s decisions on the Tribunal have never been appealed. A rare feat in the world of tax. Your Honour only had a short period during which you were eligible to take readers. In the short time available, your Honour took on Charles Pym as a reader in the March 2020 intake. Your Honour’s expertise, skill and leadership were rightly recognised in both your appointment to silk in November 2021 and your subsequent elevation to this Court earlier this year. Your Honour has an unusual combination of character traits in that you are incredibly intelligent and tough but also modest and reserved. This combination was described by one member of the profession as:
Rare for a barrister and a judge because intelligence and toughness is generally paired with substantial ego.
However, your Honour has been described as being quite without ego and “someone who does not blow her own trumpet”. Happily, such has been the level of success of your legal career that there are many others who are prepared to blow it for you, as my earlier comments attest. Your Honour is also known as a somewhat shy and reserved person, but you do have a wicked sense, and such a sense of humour, which reveal to those who know you well. If your Honour does have a fault, it is that your Honour has an expressive face, which translates to an inability to keep a straight face in court. There was more than one occasion when your Honour appeared as junior counsel and a direction had to be passed down the bar table from a silk to “tell Lisa to stop pulling faces” in response to a witness’ evidence. I am also reliably informed by a barrister who appeared before your Honour recently that being on the bench has not improved your poker face.
Your Honour’s Jewish faith is a central part of your life and your husband Craig’s life. On the occasion of your appointment, you said when interviewed for the Australian Jewish News: “
I am humbled and honoured by this opportunity to serve this wonderful country in this way. As members of a minority community, we have a deep appreciation for the protection given by the rule of law.
Your Honour, as we have heard, has a very close relationship with your sister Kerrie and your niece Zoe. Your Honour has been described as incredibly intelligent, organised, immensely fair, a wonderful listener, and someone with a tremendous work ethic, who only thinks of others. There is no doubt that your Honour will make an outstanding contribution to the life and work of this Court. On behalf of the Victorian Bar, and the Bars of Australia, I wish your Honour a long, satisfying and distinguished service as a Judge of this Court. May it please the Court.
ALLSOP CJ: Thank you, Ms Annesley. Ms Elizabeth Shearer, Executive Member of the Law Council of Australia, and also representing the Law Institute of Victoria. Ms Shearer.
MS E. SHEARER: May it please the Court. I first acknowledge the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation as the traditional owners of the land where Melbourne city is situated today, and the Turrbal and Jagera peoples of Meanjin here in South East Queensland, from where I join the ceremony. I pay deep respect for our First Nations elders past, present and emerging. It’s an honour to be with you today, and I would like to convey the regrets of Mr Liveris, the president of the Law Council of Australia, and Ms Wolff, the Law Institute of Victoria president, that they are unable to join us.
I acknowledge the many distinguished and eminent people present from our profession, and equally importantly, those with a personal connection to Justice Hespe, friends and family, especially your Honour’s husband, sister and niece who are here today, and most of all, your Honour. Your Honour’s career since graduating from Monash University with a Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Laws with Honours has been extensive and distinguished.
You were admitted as a solicitor and barrister in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1995 and established yourself quickly as a specialist in income tax disputes and an advisor on mergers and acquisitions. In 2002, you added to your qualifications, obtaining a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. Your Honour has conducted litigation in both the Federal and High Court and assisted in all aspects of the conduct of disputes, including advising on claims for legal professional privilege and administrative law.
You have helped develop the nation’s future lawyers, and perhaps even a few judges, as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, and have already meaningfully served our community as a Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and as Senior Counsel. When you were named Senior Counsel, Chief Justice Ferguson of the Supreme Court of Victoria remarked that the 16 silks appointed that day, among whom your Honour was included, were chosen from a field of 114 applicants. The Chief Justice said: “
Being appointed Senior Counsel recognises each person’s skill, integrity, independence and standing in the profession. It is the expectation of the profession and the judiciary that the new silks will provide outstanding service to the administration of justice.
Skill, integrity and service to the administration of justice also sound like a pretty good list of attributes for a judge, and your Honour exemplifies these attributes. I am told once your Honour has formed an opinion, you are not afraid to take a stand against the majority. Your strong appreciation of the law and the protection it provides for all serves – will serve those who come before you well. In fact, your passion, empathy and dedication to giving everyone a fair hearing are already in evidence.
Since your appointment to the Court on 27 April, your Honour has already presided over a number of high profile cases, tackling some of the state’s and indeed, the nation’s most contentious issues, including the question of whether the vaccinated economy mandate violated people’s constitutional rights and freedoms. Secretary, Department of Health v Enviro Tech Holdings was concerned with whether the Therapeutic Goods Act had been contravened by a specific importation of face masks during the pandemic.
Your judgment made the press, and the Australian Financial Review quoted from your Honour’s judgment, but it’s a point you made that the press didn’t highlight that I want to focus on today. You wrote: “The pecuniary penalty needs to reflect an assessment of what be considered reasonably appropriate to protect the public interest by deterring future contraventions…” Balance, deliberation, the protection of the public interest: all hallmarks of a wise jurist who will serve the people without fear or favour.
While the cases coming before you have already made the press, it’s a more personal media story I would like to reflect on before I close today. The Australian Jewish News ran a piece announcing your appointment as a Justice of the Federal Court. For this article, the author spoke with a number of people who knew you well, and the consensus was clearly that the people of Australia are very lucky to have you serve in this role. However, it was your words that resonated with me. Your Honour said, “I am humbled and honoured by this opportunity to serve this wonderful country in this way.”
Speaking to those who are close to you, they also highlight your drive to serve. I heard that when asked about the decision to accept your appointment, despite the fact it meant giving up a highly lucrative career, without hesitation, you answered that you felt a duty to serve. I am told that three of your Honour’s four grandparents sought refuge in Australia prior to World War II, arriving on these shores speaking no English and with few possessions. They embraced this wonderful country of opportunity.
Through their commitment to hard work, their emphasis on the importance of education, and their focus on building strong community, they created opportunities for the generations that followed. They would, no doubt, be immensely proud that you have used your opportunities to now serve the community from the bench. As a profession, we share that pride when our best and brightest commit to a life of service in this way, and on behalf of the profession and the community, I express our gratitude.
While it seems you’ve taken to the bench with ease, I understand there were some hiccups behind the scenes. I believe you had to source a suitably sized chair from which to preside, and that until you could, you described yourself as “feeling like Goldilocks sitting in Papa Bear’s chair”. Well, it certainly seems to the Law Council of Australia and the Law Institute of Victoria that you are the perfect fit to serve the people of Australia. Your Honour, on behalf of the lawyers of Australia, I congratulate you and wish you well. May it please the Court.
ALLSOP CJ: Thank you, Ms Shearer. Justice Hespe.
HESPE J: Thank you, Chief Justice. I, too, would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet today, and pay my respect to their elders past, present and emerging. Chief Justice, the Honourable Justices Gordon and Steward of the High Court, the Honourable Kenneth Hayne, fellow Judges, former Judges, tribunal members, members of the profession, family and friends, a number of whom have travelled from interstate to be here today, I thank you for your attendance. Thank you for your words of welcome, Ms Curnow, Ms Shearer and Ms Annesley, and for the kind things that you have said about me, though I fear much poetic licence has been taken.
It is on occasions such as this when we feel the absence of those who are no longer with us most keenly. I speak of my parents who devoted their lives to my sister and me. I miss them both deeply. I was the first in the lineal line of descent to attend university. My paternal grandparents arrived in Australia as refugees with no formal education and speaking no English. My paternal grandfather worked hard to try to secure safe passage to Australia for his younger brothers and sisters. He successfully brought his younger sister over. But his younger brothers were not so lucky. They, and their young families, were later shot by the Nazis in a forest outside of Riga.
My father was one of three children; the middle child. The only son. When he commenced kindergarten, he, too, spoke no English. I recall him showing me one of his class photos from primary school. He told me to look carefully, and I would see that he was one of the lucky ones.
Looking beyond the cheerful faces smiling at the camera, one could see that many of the children wore their school uniforms. But had no shoes. They sat there smiling at the camera with bare feet. My father had shoes. My father was not able to finish his schooling but had to go work to help support his parents and his sisters. He worked with a cousin in a fruit and vegetable shop. My father would later become a national produce buyer for what was then known as Safeway Supermarkets and which we now know as Woolworths. My father passed away when I was 14 years old.
My maternal grandfather arrived in Melbourne from British Mandated Palestine. Barely a teenager, malnourished, and orphaned. He trained as a tailor, later making Australian Army uniforms and the blazers worn by the Australian Olympic Team at the Opening Ceremony of the 1956 Melbourne Games.
My mother trained as a schoolteacher. She gave up her career when I was born. My mother never looked to re-marry after the death of my father but devoted her life to her children. My mother was interested in people and loved nothing more than listening to their stories. People opened up to her because she showed interest in them. From her I learned that before one can receive from others one must learn to give of oneself. She passed away in 2019 just before COVID came and upended the world.
My parents valued education above all else. They were determined to give my sister and me the opportunities which they had been unable to enjoy. Every cent they earned was poured into our education. The school I attended was, at the time, a very small school with a focus on academia. It had no facilities to speak of. No music hall or sporting fields. Just dedicated teachers determined to bring out the best in their students. We were quite simply taught to learn.
Anything I may be seen to have accomplished belongs to my parents. They gave my sister and me everything they had to give. And they have my eternal love and respect. I am grateful that I am able to share today with those closest to me; my sister Kerrie, who knows me better than anybody else in the world. We have faced many challenges together. But we have always had each other’s back and we always will. My niece, Zoe, who lights up the world just by being in it. And my husband, Craig. He is my other half. My rock. My support and my love. I could not imagine lasting a day without him.
I commenced my professional life as a summer clerk at what was then Mallesons Stephen Jacques. The first person I met on that first day was a rather pale, lanky fellow with floppy, dark hair. My appointed mentor. Now known as the Honourable Justice Steward.
Justice Steward was reappointed my mentor when I commenced as an articled clerk. He moved my admission in the Supreme Court. And I later read with His Honour when I was call to the Bar. He was my mentor on my very first day in the profession and he has been my mentor and dear friend ever since. I am deeply grateful for every moment he has invested in me. He constantly told me that there was no magic formula to the work we perform just methodical reasoning and attention to detail.
Through my professional life I have been fortunate to work with the very best in the tax profession. At Mallesons I worked with leading lights like Frank Brody, Andrew Clements, David Wood, Ian Stanley, and my direct supervising partner, Michael Clough. I had the very best training, and I made the very best of friends.
One of the most complex transactions I worked on whilst I was at Mallesons was the demutualisation of NRMA Insurance. It was through working on that demutualisation that I met my husband, Craig. The demutualisation of an organisation led to the mutualisation of my life.
Through my time at Mallesons I was fortunate enough to gain experience instructing leading silks, among them the irreplaceable late Brian Shaw QC, the Honourable Justice Gordon, David Bloom QC, and John de Wijn QC. After coming to the Bar, I had the privilege of working with other leading silks, including Greg Davies QC, and Neil Young QC. Through my time at the Bar, I’ve also made very dear friends – some of whom have travelled from Sydney to be here today. I’ve had the privilege of lecturing in the subject of Tax Litigation in the Masters Program at the University of Melbourne. The course was essentially championed by the Honourable Justice Gordon and though Her Honour no longer directly teaches that subject, her refrain of asking, “Where are we going, and why?” echoes through the room at every lecture.
During my time as a part-time Senior Member at the AAT I was fortunate enough to benefit from the mentorship of Deputy Presidents O’Loughlin and McCabe as well as the former President Justice Thomas. Each of them were unstinting in gifting time and words of practical wisdom. I thank them.
At this time, the sentiments expressed by the Honourable Kenneth Hayne bellow loudly in my ear:
Judges are but custodians of the legacy of the courts to which they are appointed.
I am humbled and honoured to be appointed a custodian and guardian of the legacy of this Court and of the rule of law which it represents. As paradoxical as it may superficially sound, it is the rule of law which safeguards our liberty. It is because we are a society governed by the rule of law that I, a member of a minority, persecuted and discriminated against throughout history, can sit here before you today. In modern times it seems easier to focus on the things that divide us rather than the things that unite us. The rule of law is a tie that binds. It enables us to live together harmoniously and respectfully, and it protects us from the arbitrary exercise of power.
I am mindful of the responsibility with which I have been charged. I am humbled and honoured to serve the rule of law. As a member of this Court, I will endeavour to devote my energies and skills to serving and upholding the rule of law to the best of my ability without fear and without favour.
The Chief Justice often remarks upon the collegiality of this Court. He is right to do so. Since commencing I have been shown nothing but the hands of friendship and support from my fellow Judges, the Registrars of the Court, and the Court staff. I would like to particularly thank my EA, Wendy, my first interim associate, Andrew, and my current associate, Patrick, each of whom have been so patient with me as I have endeavoured to find my feet.
Lastly, I wish again to thank each and everyone of you that has taking the time to attend today whether it be in person or via the web. I am most deeply grateful.
ALLSOP CJ: The court will now adjourn.
