𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛

In light of Dyson Heydon, there’s are questions the High Court and certain other institutions/individuals must answer.

Significant change is due. This thread outlines my view as a young member of the profession.

#auspol #DysonHeydon

In a Monday night press release the Chief Justice professed how ‘ashamed’ the Court was that what did happen, could have happened. And ashamed the Court ought be.

Unfortunately, the very writhing nature of the Court’s statement today suggests very little of the kind of shame that we should expect, and even less of an intention toward meaningful action than we should demand. And the reason for this is simple: complicity.

That the entire judicial fraternity turned a blind eye to what was an ‘open secret’ for decades is not excusable as an oversight or aberration, it is entirely inexcusable and begs the serious question as to whom knew what an when.

There is an incredible amount of misplaced pride and gusto within our legal institutions; many abdications said to be made in light of tradition do little more than to ensure that justice remains a white man’s lore.

Be it the robes you’re expected to wear, or the demeaner you’re expected to hold, or the silence you’re expected to keep, or the abuse you’re expected to take. Go so far as to even speak out on these and well, you can’t say we weren’t warned.

Throughout legal studies at University there’s two things that we’re primarily taught. The first, obviously, is the law; an intricate and all-embracing beast that one could never fully learn.

The second is more nuanced, though clear; it’s a combination of deference and respect due not only to our legal institutions but also to it’s lords, an obligation owed by you to them on account of their authority held, despite their authority never being held to account.

Let me be clear, our Judiciary and our justice system is something — despite it’s many flaws — that we should not only respect and be proud of, but also be deferential to.

But to the individuals operating within it, you are owed nothing until you earn it (and I mean really earn it), and once you do earn it you are owed it only so long as you deserve it.

That you sit at a bench under the seal of our Commonwealth or a State ought to see you afforded the respect and deference that comes with that institution, however, it oughtn’t allow you to desecrate it.

Perhaps most problematic here is the fact that the very protections put in place to supposedly ensure the integrity of our profession are contributing to it’s decline.

Long held traditions and norms have been codified that dictate, almost in minute terms, exactly what sort of a person you are to be if you are to be a member of the legal profession, and the ways in which you must always conduct yourself.

Most evident is a huge disparity of power throughout the industry that protects the ‘old-guard’ and the old ways — all the while the standards of professionalism and modernity that society has by and large embraced is passing the legal profession by.

The real change that our Judiciary and our justice system requires won’t come from the hollow and enervated platitudes offered up by the Court in today’s statement, these are the kind of things you’d expect from our politicians not our Chief Justice.

The change we so desperately need is one of representation. In statistics released by the ABS IN 2017 there were some 231 male judges across the country, compared to just 94 female judges.

The average age of a judge upon their appointment to the Court is 58.

Statistics on ethnicity are harder to come by, though it widely accepted that the Judiciary is predominantly white — the High Court never having had a First Nation’s person appointed as a Justice, nor any other individuals other than Anglo-Caucasians.

Turn to Judges CV’s and you see more striking similarities: University of Sydney, Scotch College, University of Melbourne, Cambridge, University of Queensland, St Mary’s, Yale, St Joseph’s, Oxford, St Ignatius, Harvard. So, it’s not only a white boys club, it’s a class club.

The first step toward restructuring our system must be the rooting out and removal, without fear or favour, of any and all individuals who were complicit in allowing Dyson Heydon to perpetrate his crimes. It is simply not good enough.

Those vested with the imprimatur of state authority — who have no doubt used that authority to condemn individuals for the same conduct they themselves are guilty of — must no longer be allowed to utilise that authority as a means of self preservation.

It defies logic that certain current or former Justice’s were not aware of these matters before they were officially ‘reported’ to the High Court last year. Whilst blissful ignorance may be the reasonable excuse of a fool, it certainly is not for a Justice of the High Court.

Therefore, an immediate explanation must be sought from each Justice as to what they knew and when they knew it. In such case that knowledge was had or suspicions held by a Justice, it is incumbent upon them to immediately resign, or face removal.

As for Heydon, he deserves relegation to the trash pile of Australian history; forever forgotten for his dangerous approach to law and his Machiavellian political sycophancy, but forever reviled for his predatory sexual crimes — and make no mistake, these were crimes. Period.