Speech to the Law Council of Australia Gala Dinner
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Good evening.
I acknowledge that today we gather on the lands of the traditional custodians— the Ngunnawal people — and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and surrounding regions.
I pay my respects to their elders, past and present.
Thank you Greg for your wonderful acknowledgement of country, spoken in language.
As Australia’s 28th Governor-General, as the first Canberra-born, and the eighth Australian-born governor-general to have a background in the law, I am especially delighted to address you all tonight.
I am so pleased that Simeon joins me tonight – he is the real lawyer in the family and I am proud of his leadership of so many important matters for the Bar and the profession over so many years.
Tonight, it is important also to reflect on the fact that the first Australian-born and legally trained governor-general, Sir Isaac Isaacs, was in office in 1933, when the Law Council of Australia was formed.
As its members and friends, you know that the Council has moved at a remarkable pace since its landmark foundation, and has encompassed a vast landscape of national and global interests.
For nine decades, the Council has been a repository of knowledge and experience, collegiality and professionalism:
- a representative body, where the weight of consensus shapes the Council’s advice to government, agencies, and the courts.
But, as the breadth of your membership has evolved with the complex mosaic of our national diversity, it has increasingly become a forum for a multiplicity of views, opinions and positions.
It is living proof of the strength we find in difference, and the unity that emerges out of diversity.
And I congratulate the Council for positioning support for diversity and inclusion as key to your strategic pillar to advance the integrity and excellence of the Australian legal profession.
While my career moved away from law, after a few years in private practice, to business and the boardroom and a range of community, mental health and sports governance roles, I remain indebted to the law lecturers and mentors of my university student days and early professional life in the law.
I was so fortunate to work as a research officers in the ACT Magistrates Court for Chief Magistrate Ron Cahill.
And to the many, many legal scholars, practitioners and academics who set an enduring example of the good that flows from judging with compassion …
… reasoning with patience …
… and seeking truth with fortitude …
I also had the great privilege of studying law here at the ANU, alongside my dear friend Robert Beech Jones – we knew then what you have all discovered in recent years – that Robert was always destined for high legal office.
In fact, the highest.
James Popple would also attend as a fellow ANU law school student; and we knew it then not only having observed a brilliant young man who worked exceptionally hard, but through the expression of his compassion and care for others and his sense of justice and rigour in all that he did.
We were so thrilled to be with Robert as he was sworn-in as a Justice of the High Court of Australia, just late last year
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Here at Regatta Point, we look out at a grouping of our nation’s most important political, cultural, legal and historic institutions.
We see a glimpse of the National Gallery of Australia, the classical façade of the National Library and … without craning our necks too far … the flag flying above Parliament House and the sweeping curves of the National Museum.
The centrepiece of our view is, of course, the High Court of Australia.
The building in which our laws and constitution are examined, scrutinised and adjudicated upon.
The High Court’s design competition guidelines, required the building to impart:
‘a sense of strength and security …’ and ‘the rights, privileges and responsibilities of the Australian judicial system’.i
I like to think Marion Mahony Griffin – this venue’s namesake and whose life, work and spirit is so indelibly imprinted on this city – would approve of the building’s prominent location.
It aligns with her determination to represent the highest democratic ideals in the design and architecture of civic places and buildings.
In 1914, only days after the outbreak of the First World War, Mahony Griffin wrote,
‘A consistent belief in the principle of democracy means not only that we must accept the responsibility of using our own reasoning powers instead of relying on the authority of others, but that we must recognise the right and duty of every individual to rely upon the use of his own reason.’
Reason, as a process of the logical accumulation of evidence, interpretation and experience, has ever been at the heart of the law.
And, as you all know so well, reason, as the gift of questioning citizens, is the source and sustenance of our democracy.
Listening to Greg’s comments from tonight -- the exceptional list of important matters, including access to justice is a reminder of just how vital and courageous you are and that you care deeply about matters that define our country.
On 1 July this year, at my swearing-in as your Governor-General, I celebrated Australia as the product of a mighty three-part story …
… 65,000 years of the longest continuous culture on earth, shared so generously and purposefully by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people …
… joined to the strong and vital democratic institutions that underpin the stability of our nation …
… and Australia’s modern chapter of optimism, of belonging and of progress, established by ongoing and remarkable multiculturalism, including over half a century of immigration and refugee arrivals who are and will be fundamental to our present and future.
In this story we find proof of the Honourable Michael Kirby’s assertion in his Judicial Farewell from the High Court in 2009, that there is
‘no prouder boast in the world than to be a citizen of Australia’.ii
Some of you will know that I was Michael’s Associate when he was President of the NSW Court of Appeals.
I was fortunate to share a platform with him just last week at a celebration of the Public Education Forum.
He taught me a great many things ... about the law ... about using storytelling to make complex judgements and principles accessible ...
And he was the first person in public life I had come across that spoke about love as being at the core of our institutions. In his case, Michael saw love as being at the centre of the creation of the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights.
At my swearing-in, I also undertook during my term as Governor-General to focus unstintingly on the uplifting power of care, kindness and respect.
Care for the people and places of this land.
Kindness to those who are beginning a new chapter of their lives in Australia.
And respect for one another, expressed in the way we discuss and debate the issues of our time without rancour.
As I was sworn in, the connection between the chapters of the Australian story and the values that underpin our identity were beginning to form in my mind.
Today, having met Australians in every state and territory, from every background and walk of life, I hold it as a demonstrable truth that, without care, kindness and respect, the pillars on which rest the security, stability and prosperity of our nation are imperilled.
At a time of increasing conflict around the world …
… when even here we face crises of confidence in the veracity of news …
... where disinformation and misinformation are actively used to undermine conscious engagement as voters forgetting that one of our great advantages is compulsory voting and an Independent Electoral Commission...
… when the space for journalistic truthtelling is diminished by the impact of AI and the influence of algorithms and sometimes just a lack of care…
… and when diversity is held up as a reason for division …
… respect for difference – in opinion, identity and outlook – has never been more critical.
And of course, in my new role, the place of our Constitution and a strong, ethical, diverse and trusted legal profession is core to the stability of this country.
Your commitment to ensuring that our legal community remains trusted and admired is to be both recognised and celebrated and I hope to amplify that in my role.
Your role and the role of the Law Council has always been the case and continues to be critical.
Please continue the care.
Please continue to do as you have always done to face into these things with a word that I thought Greg used so beautifully that adds to care and kindness and respect; it’s tenderness.
To hear you speak of tenderness in relation to your partner, Greg.
Michael Kirby would remind us that these are words we should be using often to think about what it is we are all doing and the place of care in whatever profession but particularly the legal profession at this very important time for our country.
It gives me great pleasure that you are here tonight.
I’m very conscious of the honour and the great privilege I hold as your Governor General.
I want you to know as I say to every group I address, that I will serve out my five years with that focus on care and kindness and respect, and it won’t waver, and it doesn’t waver in relation to your work and the law.
So I want to give you the greater sense of courage in everything that you do.
Just keep it up. Thank you for everything you do.
Greg, congratulations on your term; Juliana, welcome into your new role and those that come behind you as well.
You are in a long tradition of people who care and that’s important for our country. It’s a wonderful legacy that you are leaving Greg and its because of the power of this room and the members of the Law Council.
Thank you for having me address you tonight.