Ceremonial - Swearing-in of Gleeson J - Canberra [2021] HCATrans 34 (1 March 2021)

Last Updated: 5 March 2021

[2021] HCATrans 034

H I G H C O U R T O F A U S T R A L I A

CEREMONIAL SITTING

ON THE OCCASION

OF

THE SWEARING-IN

OF

THE HONOURABLE JACQUELINE SARAH GLEESON

AS A JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

AT

CANBERRA

AND

BY VIDEO LINK TO SYDNEY

ON

MONDAY, 1 MARCH 2021, AT 10.00 AM

Coram:

KIEFEL CJ
GAGELER J
KEANE J
GORDON J
EDELMAN J
STEWARD J

In addition to the members of the Court the following dignitaries were present within the Court:

Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales and Mr Dennis Wilson

Sir William Deane AC KBE QC, former Governor-General of Australia, former Justice of the High Court of Australia and Lady Deane

The Honourable Murray Gleeson AC QC, former Chief Justice of Australia

The Honourable Mary Gaudron QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

The Honourable William Gummow AC QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

The Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

The Honourable Virginia Bell AC SC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

The Honourable Geoffrey Nettle AC QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

At the Bar table the following persons were present:

Senator the Honourable Amanda Stoker, Assistant Minister to the Attorney‑General

The Honourable Mark Dreyfus QC MP, Shadow Attorney‑General for the Commonwealth

Ms Jacoba Brasch QC, President of the Law Council of Australia

Mr Matthew Howard SC, President of the Australian Bar Association

Ms Gabrielle Bashir SC, Senior Vice‑President of the New South Wales Bar Association

Mr Stephen Donoghue QC, Solicitor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia

Members of the judiciary seated within the Court:

The Honourable James Allsop AO, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable William Alstergren, Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia and Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia

The Honourable Thomas Bathurst AC, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Catherine Holmes AC, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland

The Honourable Anne Ferguson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria

The Honourable Peter Quinlan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia

The Honourable Justice Steven Rares, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice David Yates, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Anna Katzmann, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Bernard Murphy, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Brigitte Markovic, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Michael Lee, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Thomas Thawley, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Angus Stewart, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable President Andrew Bell, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Julie Ward, Chief Judge in Equity, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Lucy McCallum, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Michael Slattery AM RAN, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Peter Garling, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Francois Kunc, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Natalie Adams, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Julia Lonergan, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Kelly Rees, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Acting Justice Arthur Emmett AO, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson AO, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Acting Justice Monika Schmidt, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Glenn Martin AM, Supreme Court of Queensland

The Honourable Justice Chrissa Loukas‑Karlsson, Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory

The Honourable Associate Justice Verity McWilliam, Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory

The Honourable Judge Sylvia Emmett AM, Federal Circuit Court

The Honourable Judge Nicholas Manousaridis, Federal Circuit Court

The Honourable Judge Robyn Tupman, District Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Judge Justin Smith, District Court of New South Wales

Members of the judiciary attending in Sydney:

The Honourable Justice Nye Perram, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice John Nicholas, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice John Griffiths, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Kathleen Farrell, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Melissa Perry, Federal Court of Australia

The Honourable Justice Helen Wilson, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Trish Henry, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The Honourable Justice Kate Williams, Supreme Court of New South Wales

The following members of the Bar were present:

Mr David Jackson QC

Mr Bret Walker SC

Mr Matthew Walton SC

Mr Guy Reynolds SC

Ms Jane Needham SC

Ms Wendy Harris QC

Ms Sarah McNaughten SC

Ms Kristina Stern SC

Mr Robert Stitt QC

Mr Neil Williams SC

Mr David Pritchard SC

Mr Lloyd Babb SC

Mr Greg Sirtes SC

Mr Jeremy Kirk SC

Ms Kate Eastman SC

Ms Sarah Pritchard SC

Ms Michelle Painter SC

Mr Dominic Priestley SC

Ms Dominique Hogan-Doran SC

Mr Michael Green SC

Mr Jeremy Giles SC

Mr Roger Marshall SC

Ms Anna Mitchelmore SC

Mr Michael Izzo SC

Ms Elizabeth Raper SC

Mr Tim Castle SC

Ms Hayley Bennett

Ms Brenda Tronson

Mr Andrew Bulley

Mr Brendan Lim

Ms Janet McDonald

Ms Ingrid King

Speakers:

Senator the Honourable Amanda Stoker, Assistant Minister to the Attorney‑General

Ms Jacoba Brasch QC, President of the Law Council of Australia

Mr Matthew Howard SC, President of the Australian Bar Association

Ms Gabrielle Bashir SC, Senior Vice‑President of the New South Wales Bar Association

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

GLEESON J: Chief Justice. I have the honour to announce that I have received a Commission from His Excellency the Governor‑General appointing me a Justice of the High Court of Australia. I now present the Commission.

KIEFEL CJ: Principal Registrar, please read aloud the Commission.

PRINCIPAL REGISTRAR:

Commission of Appointment of a Justice of the High Court of Australia

I, General the Honourable David Hurley AC, DSC, Retired, Governor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council and under section 72 of the Constitution and section 5 of the High Court of Australia Act 1979, appoint the Honourable Justice Jacqueline Sarah Gleeson, a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, to be a Justice of the High Court of Australia, commencing on 1 March 2021 until she attains the age of 70 years.

Signed and sealed with the Great Seal of Australia on 28 October 2020. David Hurley, Governor‑General, By His Excellency’s Command, Christian Porter, Attorney‑General, Minister for Industrial Relations.

KIEFEL CJ: Justice Gleeson, I invite you to take the Affirmation of Allegiance and of Office.

GLEESON J: I, Jacqueline Sarah Gleeson, do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors, according to law, that I will well and truly serve Her in the Office of Justice of the High Court of Australia and that I will do right to all manner of people, according to law without fear or favour, affection or ill‑will.

KIEFEL CJ: I now invite you to subscribe the Affirmation of Allegiance and of Office.

KIEFEL CJ: Principal Registrar, please place these documents in the records of the Court.

KIEFEL CJ: Justice Gleeson, I invite you to take your seat at the Bench and to proceed to discharge the duties of the office of a Justice of the High Court of Australia.

KIEFEL CJ: Senator Stoker, Assistant Minister to the Attorney‑General.

SENATOR A. STOKER: May it please the Court.

May I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional custodians of the Canberra area, and pay my respects to all of Australia’s indigenous peoples.

It is a great privilege to be here today on behalf of the Australian Government and, indeed, the Australian people, to congratulate your Honour on the appointment as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. May I offer the Australian Government’s sincere thanks for your Honour’s willingness to serve as a Justice of this Court and the government extends its best wishes for your continued illustrious career on the Bench.

Your Honour’s elevation from the Federal Court of Australia to this most eminent of courts is a reflection of the respect you command and the high regard in which you are held by so many members of the judiciary and the legal profession that are here today.

May I particularly acknowledge the Governor of New South Wales Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC; former Governor‑General of Australia Sir William Deane AC KBE QC; six former members of this Court, the Honourable Murray Gleeson AC QC, the Honourable Mary Gaudron QC, the Honourable William Gummow AC, the Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC QC, the Honourable Virginia Bell AC SC and the Honourable Geoffrey Nettle AC QC; the Chief Justice of the Federal Court the Honourable James Allsop AO; the Chief Justice of the Family Court and the Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court the Honourable William Alstergren; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales the Honourable Thomas Bathurst AC; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland the Honourable Catherine Holmes AC; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria the Honourable Anne Ferguson; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia the Honourable Peter Quinlan; the Shadow Attorney‑General the Honourable Mark Dreyfus QC MP; the President of the Law Council of Australia Dr Jacoba Brasch QC; President of the Australian Bar Association Mr Matthew Howard SC; Vice‑President of the New South Wales Bar Association Ms Gabrielle Bashir SC; Solicitor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia Mr Stephen Donoghue QC and many other members of the legal profession.

May I also acknowledge the presence of your Honour’s family who proudly share this occasion with you.

In 2014, the then Attorney‑General, the Honourable George Brandis QC, had the pleasure of speaking about your Honour’s many extraordinary achievements upon the occasion of your appointment to the Federal Court. It is a privilege for me to appear today at your appointment to the High Court and to reflect upon your Honour’s contribution to the law.

Your Honour’s appointment to this Bench represents your dedication to the profession, both in the public sector and in private practice. Enumerating the full catalogue of your Honour’s accomplishments would occupy more time than permitted, therefore I intend to speak to just a few of the qualities that have marked your career to date and which I have no doubt will inform the significant contributions you will make to this Court.

Your Honour had the fortune of growing up in a distinguished family and is the eldest of four children born to your mother, Robyn, and your father, the Honourable Murray Gleeson AC QC, who, of course, was Chief Justice of this Court for over 10 years. Your Honour attended high school at Monte Sant’Angelo College. Here, you excelled at debating and public speaking, demonstrating early talent for advocacy.

Your Honour attended the University of Sydney where you completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1986 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1989. In addition to excelling in your legal education your Honour also participated in university debating and studied French. This dedication has proved worthwhile and I am told your Honour maintains a keen interest in furthering your command of the French language.

I am also told that as a university student it is possible your Honour would attend parties and from time to time fall asleep in a quiet corner rather than admit you were ready to go home at around 9.00 pm. Your Honour’s friends kindly reminded you that you were much too young to be falling asleep at parties.

In 1989 your Honour was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and commenced work as an associate to the Honourable Trevor Morling QC at the Federal Court.

Your Honour was, with respect, quite young when admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1991. I understand that after nine years your Honour took a momentous step in a unique career change. It is this servitude and wisdom that has contributed to your success here today.

Your Honour was offered the role of General Counsel at the Australian Broadcasting Authority’s “Cash for Comment” inquiry. So interested were you in the areas of public and administrative law that you accepted the position and pursued this specialised work.

Your Honour moved to the Australian Government Solicitor in 2003. Here, you advised and acted for regulatory agencies, including the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Tax Agents Board, the Companies Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board, the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Office of Film and Literature Classification. In all of these roles your Honour was a natural leader, always taking on the added responsibility of maintaining morale in long matters and organising collegiate dinners.

Throughout your Honour’s time at the ABA and the AGS you were known for your unparalleled talent and your instinct for public and administrative law. You provided thorough and substantiated recommendations for decision‑makers that greatly assisted in their decisions.

Members of the profession have lauded your Honour’s diligent and forensic approach to matters. In 2005, your Honour returned to the University of Sydney to complete a Masters of Law focusing on administrative, regulatory and trade practices law.

Two years later, in 2007, your Honour returned to the Bar and was appointed senior counsel in 2012. Your practice areas included, perhaps unsurprisingly, administrative law, competition and consumer law, professional liability and disciplinary proceedings and taxation.

Your contribution to the law extends to your commitments to various committees and associations. Your Honour has been Director of the New South Wales Bar Association, a member of the Professional Conduct Committee, the Bar Council and the Facilities and Functions Committee.

In 2014, your Honour was appointed as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. I am told that from the Bench your Honour runs an efficient courtroom. Experienced counsel appearing before you know that they must be well prepared and use the court’s time effectively. Your Honour is known within the profession for delivering refreshingly frank judgments. One such example of this is in proceedings relating to a property spruiker. A few memorable phrases from the judgment come to mind such as your finding that the respondent’s conduct amounted to “an expensive waste of time”, and that in relation to his evidence the respondent was “habitually careless with the truth”. Suffice to say, your Honour did not find in his favour.

At the same time I am told that in your decision of Drew v Lynch, your Honour became the second judge to use an emoji in a judgment, demonstrating your commitment to being down with the lingo.

Your Honour presided over the matter of Halifax Investment Services, a significant cross‑border insolvency matter requiring consideration of the UNCITRAL model law on international commercial arbitration and co‑operation with the High Court of New Zealand. These proceedings demonstrate your Honour’s valuable work on insolvency law during your time on the Bench at the Federal Court.

Another notable case over which you presided is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Cornerstone Investment which at the time set the record for the largest penalty ever awarded under Australian consumer law following systemic breaches of the law by a vocational education and training organisation.

Your Honour is known by members of the profession to be of serious character and considered in your approach to your work. What may be less publicised is your Honour’s wicked sense of humour and proclivity for the occasional prank in the workplace. I am told that some of your Honour’s colleagues would only catch up to your jokes some hours later once they had pulled up in their home driveways. I have been assured, of course, that these jokes are never at anyone else’s expense.

Humour aside, though, your Honour is scrupulously honest, such that when two yellow circles were recently placed on the floor of the elevators in the court’s building for social distancing purposes you have been observed even from afar to stand only on one of the two nominated circles, even when you are the only person in the lift.

Your Honour’s belief that the acquisition of knowledge should be a lifelong passion is demonstrated by your Honour’s habit of buying a book on whatever new topic your family mentions an interest in, whether that be law, philosophy or the arts. Beyond inspiring those closest to you your Honour is known to be generous in making time to meet with junior practitioners and law students to provide insight into your work as a judge. No doubt the versatility of your career enables you to provide advice from a myriad of perspectives.

I have been told that your Honour is a caring, loving, motivated and devoted mother to your daughter, Claire, who is an aspiring actor and writer currently enrolled at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.

Your Honour is a highly skilled craftswoman and a valued member of the cross‑jurisdiction court craft club, a bridge between the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney. I am told that your Honour’s knitting is said to compare very favourably with Justice Ward’s cross‑stitching and Justice Leeming’s origami. Your craft skills provide another example of your Honour’s powers of concentration and represent another opportunity for the Bench to inspire those in the parliamentary wing.

Outside of work your Honour also enjoys entertainment and the arts and I hazard a guess you may be the only Justice of the High Court who can claim to have been in the mosh pit of a Nirvana concert in 1992 during the band’s only Australian tour.

Despite your busy lifestyle I am told that your Honour enjoys being active and can often be found exercising in chambers or jogging in the corridors of the Federal Court. I hear that at the time your elevation to the High Court was announced you were in fact stretching in chambers to ensure you were in excellent health for your new appointment to the High Court. With that, we are blessed.

Your Honour’s appointment to this Court is a testament to your many years of hard work and dedication to the law and to justice. Your Honour will bring with you many attributes, including your sharp legal intellect, your strong work ethic and collegiality that I have no doubt will serve you well in this Court.

On behalf of the Australian Government and the Australian people I extend to you my sincerest congratulations and welcome you to the High Court of Australia.

May it please the Court.

KIEFEL CJ: Ms Brasch QC, President of the Law Council of Australia.

MS J. BRASCH, QC: May it please the Court.

All dignitaries, I am honoured to appear for the Law Council of Australia to welcome your Honour’s appointment as Justice of this Court. I acknowledge that we meet on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.

It was Deakin who called this Court the keystone of the federal arch. Today, your Honour becomes a custodian of that keystone at the apex of our nation’s legal and constitutional life.

Your Honour has walked a remarkable path through life and law, defined by themes of early achievement, diligence and humanity. The Court has gained in your honour a pre‑eminent member of our nation’s judiciary who brings to each case an attentiveness to the issues informed by a great breadth of knowledge and experience which will be of enormous value to the law and to the Court.

Your Honour’s first solicitor job with Bush Burke & Company you made a strong impression as a personable hard‑working solicitor with a sharp intellect. Cases were colourful and varied, which explained the year long presence on your desk of a can of abalone following a successful importation case.

When you first appeared as a young barrister in this Court a member of that firm kept a court listing notice as a souvenir as it bore your name. He gave it to your Honour but later wished he had kept it. It turned out to be an appreciating asset.

In 1991 your Honour went to the Bar aged 25, assured of what you wanted to do. Going to the Bar this young was an example of early achievement, following in the footsteps of advocates of old such as Tom Hughes QC who was called to the Bar at 26, Trevor Morling QC at 23.

Senior barristers noticed your Honour’s diligence, perseverance and mastery of detail. You appeared with now Justice Steven Rares, now Justice Michael Slattery, now Justice Francois Kunc, the Honourable Bob Hunter QC, Bret Walker SC, Rod Smith SC, all in a wide variety of litigation. I note many are here today.

You then gained experience as a solicitor, as we have already heard. On return to the Bar your Honour conducted a successful practice in administrative law, competition and consumer law, tax, professional liability. In 2012, just five years following your return, you took silk amongst an exceptional cohort. Of 26 appointments, 12 were women, seven of whom are now judges of the District, Supreme, Federal and High Courts.

As senior counsel your Honour was highly sought after. Your appearances in the largest ever civil ACT case, the Canberra bushfires litigation, and as counsel for the New South Wales Government at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse are testament to the seniority and significance of your standing as an advocate.

Your appointment to the Federal Court two years after taking silk is another example of your Honour’s intellect and expertise being recognised early in each stage of life. Early talent and diligence equally formed your Honour’s childhood. In fact, when news of your appointment came to light your childhood neighbours emailed you, reflecting that your intellect was apparent to them even then. They recalled that they used to hand your Honour maths tests over the fence which you answered with aplomb even before you were school age.

But it was diligence in the culinary arts that in the 1990s landed someone else in trouble. Your Honour’s flatmate, now Justice Loukas‑Karlsson, had informed her mother, Aphrodite, that being a barrister and cooking were mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, you impressed with the consummate culinary skills on her mother’s visit. Aphrodite, who was perhaps less impressed with her daughter’s cooking, thus bestowed upon your Honour her secret octopus recipe which, to this day, she has not deigned to share with Justice Loukas‑Karlsson.

Your Honour is deeply committed to your family, your daughter Claire, partner Angus, his children Ella and Steven, and your wider family. The Gleeson family dinner table conversation, which must be a lively affair, now endures, I understand, in zoom calls each week.

You have been a busy and hard‑working member of the Federal Court, heavily committed across the spectrum of its work. Apart from the admin and migration law workload you shouldered a huge burden in commercial law, helping to run the commercial and corporations duty list and contributed strongly to the court’s committee systems.

In acknowledging the presence of your Honour’s parents, the Honourable Murray Gleeson AC QC and Mrs Robyn Gleeson, I acknowledge the historic nature of this appointment, the first time the daughter of a High Court Justice has been appointed to the same Court in this country. As President of the Law Council of Australia I am proud to also acknowledge your father’s previous office holding with the Law Council and his honorary life membership.

We honour the diligent, disciplined and deeply‑principled contributions you have already made to the law, your Honour, characterised by an earliness of accomplishment leading to this potential for longevity of tenure. Your Honour has spoken of Scottish heritage. I thus invoke Robert Burns who wrote in 1789, “Dare to be honest and fear no labour”. He also identified prudence, cautious self‑control as the root of wisdom.

On your elevation to the Federal Court your Honour named self‑discipline as the virtue you most seek to follow. You also spoke of a profound respect for the rule of law as the bedrock of our society and economy. The legal profession of Australia is confident you will give life to those virtues and make firm that bedrock as you serve the people of Australia on this honourable Court.

May it please the Court.

KIEFEL CJ: Mr Howard SC, President of the Australian Bar Association.

MR M. HOWARD, SC: May it please the Court.

It is my privilege to appear on behalf of the Australian Bar to add its welcome to your Honour on your taking office as a Justice of this Court.

The Australian Bar Association acknowledges the relationship between the land on which barristers work around our country and the First Nations’ people of Australia, including the Ngunnawal people. I pay my respect to their elders, past, present and emerging.

Your Honour’s appointment to this Court is a most significant event in the life of this Court and our society. Your Honour has been appointed on the retirement of Justice Bell, whose presence in the Court I acknowledge.

If one were to spot the genealogy of the seat your Honour now occupies it includes Justices Kirby, Deane, Stephen, Windeyer and Evatt. If that list was not enough, the awesome responsibility your Honour has assumed may, perhaps, be further underlined by applying by analogy the observation of Robert H. Jackson – the only person to have served as Solicitor‑General, Attorney‑General and a Judge of the US Supreme Court – who said of that Court: “we are not final because we are infallible, we are infallible because we are final”.

The Honourable Robert French AC observed that it could not be accurate to talk of a High Court named after its Chief Justice because each retirement and appointment changed the Court.

Those two observations point to both this Court’s position as the ultimate arbiter of the most difficult judicial questions, and that the Court is comprised of individuals, however unified by their judicial oath.

May I respectfully suggest that in the answering of those most difficult questions, it can only be a good thing that they are resolved by calling on a collective wisdom drawn from different personalities, gender and experiences.

It is reported that your Honour has said that your first joining of the Bar was a failure of imagination on your part. If your Honour did make that judgment, then I understand, reliably, that your Honour is in a minority of one. It was a typically modest and self‑effacing comment.

Similarly to your predecessor in this Court, you did leave the Bar for a time. In your Honour’s case, as we have heard, it was to take up significant roles as a lawyer within government.

Happily for the Bar, again like your predecessor, you returned where your Honour’s conspicuous abilities saw your appointed silk in 2012. We have already heard what a remarkable year that was for the appointment of silk in New South Wales.

Your Honour was the very model of a modern silk: intellectually talented, hard‑working, extremely well‑prepared, juggling a life away from practice and supportive of those who rightly looked to your Honour in awe and admiration.

In a robbing of the Bar for which Chief Justice Allsop has expressed no remorse, your Honour was appointed to the Federal Court in April 2014. Your Honour’s “serious smarts” and other qualities were well known to the Chief Justice from your work together at the Bar.

You were joined on the Bench on your swearing in by one of your new colleagues, Justice Gordon, then of the Federal Court, and another, Justice Gageler, who was in the court.

Your Honour’s adapting to, and discharge of, that court’s work in sometimes difficult circumstances has obviously led to today. Your Honour did not lose your human qualities in the process, including, I am told, the ability to administer a “look” which left none in doubt that perhaps they should move along.

While on the Federal Court your Honour compiled records of the counsel who appeared before you to track the appearance of women barristers, including by reference to the type of cases in which they appeared. As a result of that work, your Honour was concerned about the lack of women appearing, for example, in commercial cases. And you expressed extra‑curially the not very radical notion, one might think, that the court wanted the best counsel to appear and not just counsel of a particular gender.

One may confidently expect the Australian public has the same desire for its judges. That is yet another reason to celebrate your Honour’s appointment.

In a paper entitled “The role of the Judge and becoming a Judge” a distinguished former Chief Justice of this Court, whose presence I acknowledge in the Court today, concluded that the most “important piece of practice advice” he could give to the new judges he was addressing was that: “you should enjoy being a judge. The work of administering justice according to law is important and honourable...”. The then Chief Justice wished those judges both “success and happiness” in their new career.

The Australian Bar does likewise and congratulates your Honour. We very much look forward to appearing before your Honour in this Court.

May it please the Court.

KIEFEL CJ: Ms Bashir SC, Senior Vice‑President of the New South Wales Bar Association.

MS G. BASHIR, SC: May it please the Court.

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

It is an honour and a privilege to represent the New South Wales Bar in welcoming your Honour Justice Gleeson to this Court and offering congratulations from the barristers of our State on your Honour’s further elevation.

Your Honour’s appointment is not solely a reflection of your dedication to the study of law, but also of your exceptional capabilities demonstrated as a solicitor, practising barrister and as a judicial officer of the Federal Court of Australia. On the Federal Court your Honour has shown fairness, thoroughness, exceptional intelligence, patience, diligence, courtesy and a wide‑ranging deep knowledge of the law, all while managing an unrelenting workload.

Your Honour has managed the busy Commercial and Corporations list of the Federal Court and been a member of the Full Court of the Federal Court in substantial appeals. Your Honour has vast knowledge and expertise in areas including corporations and commercial law, defamation, competition and consumer law, trademarks, migration, insurance, unlawful discrimination, bankruptcy and cross‑border insolvency. Your Honour has been notably prodigious without comprising the quality of your Honour’s judgments.

Your Honour successfully wrangled what was only the second large shareholder class action to go to judgment at trial in the Federal Court. After that case of Crowley v Worley Limited where your Honour trusted counsel to be sensible about the length of their submissions in closing, only to receive hundreds of pages, your Honour will no doubt revel in the strictly enforced page limitations of this jurisdiction.

In the case of Kelly, in the Matter of Halifax Investment Services your Honour took preliminary steps to facilitate a ground‑breaking international cross‑border concurrent court hearing, with two courts sitting simultaneously in two countries, our Federal Court with the High Court of New Zealand.

Your Honour has been involved in very significant cases concerning contraventions of consumer law, being able to cut through spurious arguments with “disarming clarity” as some respondents found out when they endeavoured to argue that a book titled “How to buy a house for $1” was not misleading.

Former Justice Bell, prior to her ascension to this Bench quipped that she “Always had a couple of CLRs on the bedside table”. I am sure that your Honour’s taste is no different when it comes to reading for relaxation.

No doubt, as former Justice Bell steps into what former Chief Justice French described as a meeting with the “soft pink tones of the constitutional sunset”, your Honour is ready and armed with a well‑thumbed copy of the Constitution in the bright light of day. While unlike her Honour Justice Bell, your Honour may not have seen the inside of a gaol cell, it is fortunately not a prerequisite for the job.

In this 21st year of the 21st century, we have passed a year like no other in your Honour’s lifetime. The bushfires of 2019-2020 scalded the south coast of New South Wales, before COVID‑19 crept into our country, lockdowns and border closures abounded, many suffered their loved ones dying in isolation or on distant shores, celebrations were restricted or postponed, and sharing a meal with someone from outside of immediate family became a treasured occasion. The profession adapted quickly to virtual court, hand sanitising, mask wearing, juries “in the round” where jury trials could proceed and social distancing. Your Honour transitioned seamlessly to remote hearings in the digital environment.

The Chief Justice of this Court, your Honour Justice Kiefel, showed extraordinary leadership to the profession and beyond in highlighting the utter necessity for respectful relationships free from harassment of any form.

The year gone by is one where humanity and resilience have resounded. These are qualities that your Honour Justice Gleeson holds in great store. One need only note that your Honour left the New South Wales Bar as a young woman, later returned to it, swiftly took silk and was appointed to the Federal Court just two years later, to understand the depths of your Honour’s resilience, work ethic and determination. Humanity, independence and integrity in the application of the law are qualities that can only engender public confidence and trust in the judiciary.

Your Honour’s inquiring intellect, curiosity and engagement with fellow judicial officers and counsel appearing before you, without a hint of arrogance or self‑importance, is perfectly suited to the high judicial office your Honour assumes today.

While at the Bar, your Honour made a significant contribution to the law in your first nine years of practice before leaving us and returning in 2007. Your Honour held briefs in cases of national significance, as we have heard, such as the Canberra bushfires litigation in the Supreme Court of the ACT before being enticed away from the Bar by Chief Justice Allsop.

Over and above your successful practice at the Bar, your Honour offered years of service to the New South Wales Bar Association as an elected member of Bar Council, and also as a member of a professional conduct committee - a voluntary undertaking of great significance and importance to the regulation of the profession. Your Honour did not stop there - also giving time to the Legal Assistance Referral Scheme, appearing amicus curiae, and experiencing the joys of doing so amongst a bevy of unrepresented litigants. Your Honour has mentored many readers, juniors and associates in the profession, and they speak of your Honour’s leadership, generosity and thoughtfulness.

Your Honour has been involved in the New South Wales Bar’s Continuing Professional Development Scheme, including calling for support of equitable briefing measures across the profession. The New South Wales Bar hopes that at least during the long tenure that your Honour may have in this place that there is a visible change in the view from that Bench which reflects what we can see from the Bar table today in the changed constitution of the High Court, even from the time that Justice Gaudron was appointed in 1987.

Similarly to Senator Stoker, a judicial friend of your Honour’s exhorted me to tell old tales of mosh pits and rock bands and conduct that young adults in a COVID era can only dream of. I told that friend that I will speak of no Nirvana except the one in which your Honour finds yourself today.

The members of the New South Wales Bar acknowledge that we are not the only people here today or watching virtually who rightfully admire your Honour’s distinguished career and achievements. We extend the warmest of wishes to all of your family and friends as we celebrate your Honour.

On behalf of the New South Wales Bar Association, congratulations, your Honour, on your elevation to the High Court and all the very best for the years to come.

May it please the Court.

KIEFEL CJ: Justice Gleeson.

GLEESON J: Your Honour the Chief Justice, your Honours, Assistant Minister to the Attorney‑General for the Commonwealth, Senator the Honourable Amanda Stoker, Ms Brasch, Mr Howard, Ms Bashir and all of you who have taken the time today to attend this ceremony.

The Court is honoured, as am I, by the substantial efforts that you have made to attend during the COVID‑19 pandemic. I apologise to those whom it has been necessary to seat in Courtroom 2 in order to practise social distancing. I am glad that the magnificent dimensions of the Court will permit us to share morning tea together shortly. I also thank those who are watching from the High Court in Sydney, and online.

You have heard something of my life story, and I thank the speakers for the picture they have painted. To those who know me better, I cherish your silence.

I gratefully acknowledge the presence of the following former Justices of this Court, the Honourable Sir William Deane AC KBE QC and Lady Deane, the Honourable Mary Gaudron QC, the Honourable William Gummow AC QC, the Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC QC, the Honourable Virginia Bell AC SC and Ms Seward, the Honourable Geoffrey Nettle AC QC and Mrs Nettle; the Governor of New South Wales, her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC and Mr Wilson; and the Chief Justices of the Federal Court, the Chief Justice of the Federal Court Chief Justice Allsop, the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Chief Justice Alstergren, New South Wales Chief Justice Bathurst, Victoria Chief Justice Ferguson, Western Australia Chief Justice Quinlan and Queensland Chief Justice Holmes.

Your attendance and the presence of everyone here today signifies the importance of this Court as a foundational institution in Australian society, the keystone in the federal arch, as Ms Brasch mentioned. I particularly appreciate this collective recognition and encouragement at a time when the topic of respect for institutions is current. Chief Justice Bathurst spoke on the subject of “Trust in the Judiciary” at the opening of the 2021 law term in New South Wales. His Honour adverted to the widespread decline of public trust in institutions both in Australia and internationally, and identified possible measures to foster trust in the judiciary as an institution. Mutually respectful attitudes in behaviour between government and the courts, between courts within the Australian legal system, between the Bench and Bar and informed community and academic debate all serve to promote institutional integrity, ultimately in the service of democracy.

However, at the end of the day, it is the provision of justice according to law that proves the institutional integrity of our courts. I have received a vast amount of good wishes and encouragement from you and from many others, and those kind sentiments have put strong winds in my sails. I have also been welcomed warmly to the Court by my new judicial colleagues and the staff of the Court, particularly Philippa Lynch, Carolyn Rogers and Ben Wickham. I have been given every conceivable tool to enable me to focus on the task at hand. What remains is for me to do the hard work necessary to provide justice according to law in this Court.

In conceiving my function, I can do no better than repeat the reflection of Justice Deane at his own swearing‑in upon the solemn promise that I have made this morning. It is a solemn promise of service to the people of this country, the promise to do right by “all manner of people according to law without fear or favour, affection or ill will”. It acknowledges that our community includes “the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the good and the bad”.

I am both humbled and proud to accept the baton, if I could put it that way, from Justice Virginia Bell. She exemplified the Judge who would surely instil confidence as to the integrity and worthiness of the Australian judiciary. Her Honour was the model of judicial courtesy, tolerance and respect for the individual litigant. Further, any interested citizen could read and understand her Honour’s judgments without difficulty. That is a quality that I certainly hope to emulate. After all, the rule of law “requires that the law is accessible and so far as possible, intelligible, clear and predictable”^[1]. This standard applies not only to statutes, but to judgments. It is not only an aspect of the rule of law, but also crucial for effective democratic participation.

I hope the other judges in attendance from the Federal Court, New South Wales Supreme Court, Queensland Supreme Court, District Court of New South Wales and Federal Circuit Court will forgive me for not mentioning them each by name. I would be very delighted to do that, and also to say something about each of you and quite a few others. On the other hand, I do hope to spend several years in happy company with my colleagues on the Bench this morning, so please forgive my effort to be reasonably brief.

I will limit myself to saying that my years on the Federal Court have been, without doubt, the most satisfying of my professional life. I have derived so much meaning from my position and have done that in the company of decent, good‑humoured, intelligent, hard‑working and caring individuals. In particular, it has been an immense privilege and pleasure to have been a member of the Federal Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Allsop. His Honour has been my mentor since the early 1990s when I was a junior barrister. His Honour’s open enthusiasm in teasing out a legal problem has never wavered and is a powerful demonstration of commitment to the rule of law.

It remains to say something about my family and friends, and my non‑judicial colleagues. My father, Murray Gleeson, and my mother, Robyn Gleeson. The opportunity to overrule the decisions of one’s father is rare indeed. For her part, my mother can still consider her decisions unreviewable. I am grateful that they are both alive and well to see this day. My sisters, Rebecca and Gabrielle, are here; as well as a sample of my delightful nieces and nephews, Klaus, Jasmine and Indigo. My brother, Nicholas, lives in Singapore and could not join us.

My partner Angus, my daughter Claire, and my stepdaughter Ella, are here today. I do wish that my stepson Steven, could have been with us. My family received the news of my appointment with unqualified bemused delight. I am confident of their selfless support.

My wider family and friends, both from the Bar and beyond, know how much their good influences have shaped the course of my life and how much support and encouragement they have provided to me. I have been greedy in the number of mentors that I have solicited. I thank them for the extravagant amounts of time and wisdom they have conferred upon me.

I also particularly wish to acknowledge my wonderful current and former judge’s associates. Associates are one of the great joys of judicial life. Mine have been no exception.

Just one more time I will allow my father to have the last word concerning the weight of responsibilities that I have taken today. That weight is heavy. But “a sense of inadequacy is no excuse for lack of courage or determination”.

Thank you all for your support.

KIEFEL CJ: The Court will adjourn until 10.00 am tomorrow.

AT 10.45 AM THE COURT ADJOURNED

---

^[1] Borrowdale v Director‑General of Health [2020] NZHC 2091 at [291] (Thomas, Venning and Ellis JJ).