Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

Potty Mouth Solicitor Dispatched ... NSW Court of Appeal takes dim view of solicitor who laced his correspondence with disrespectful insults ... Insufficiently professional ... Arrived from Greece with only his underpants ... No contrition ... Anthony Kanaan files ... Read more >>

Politics Media Law Society


The End Of The Affair ... Lord Moloch’s bid for more Fox News fans … The Wall Street Journal rallies the MAGA base …Will the old rogue abandon his journalists? … Is “bawdy” the right word here? … The Deep State plumbs the depths … John and Stanley Roth’s generosity to loving causes ... Read on >> 

Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Suing for defamation - it's such a good idea ...Federal Court of Australia ... Sydney barrister loses bid for extension of time to bring appeal over decision allowing Giles George to intervene to seek an equitable lien over costs ... Falling out between barrister and firm after successful defamation action ... No error or procedural unfairness ... From Stephen Murray at the Gazette of Law & Journalism ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Major victory for the media as public interest defence established in large and lengthy defamation case brought by orthopaedic surgeon ... Al Muderis v Nine Network, Fairfax and The Age ... Good journalism wins the day ... More >> 

Justinian's Bloggers

Postcard from London ... Summertime - And the living' is easy ... Votes for 16-year olds ... Paralegal's theft by pen ... Spy helping British intelligence from his job at Border Force ... Super-injunction comes out of the shadows ... Feed them strawberries and cream ... Floyd Alexander-Hunt files from Blighty ... Read more >> 

"I've stopped six wars in the last - I'm averaging about a war a month. But the last three were very close together. India and Pakistan, and a lot of them. Congo was just and Rwanda was just done, but you probably know I won't go into it very much, because I don't know the final numbers yet. I don't know. Numerous people were killed, and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They've been fighting for 500 years, intermittently, and we solved that war. You probably saw it just came out over the wire, so we solved it ..."

President Donald Trump at a meeting in Scotland with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer ... July 28, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Home Duties ... The dumping of Attorney General Mark Dreyfus ... Behind the scenes ... Bastardry among the brothers ... Unfinished business ... Family law, privacy ... Considerable policy and legislative results ... Here's Michelle Rowland as AG ... What are her priors? ... Polly Peck reports from the Gallery ... Read more >> 


Justinian's archive

Abolish silks ... Sydney SC writes to the editor calling for abolition of the silk system ... Appointments are anachronistic ... It's not a matter of ability, only notability ... Secret blackballing ... "Corrupt" process ... Confessions from an insider who played the game ... From Justinian's Archive, October 24, 2002 ... Read more >> 


 

 

« The Saints Go Marching In | Main | Regrets »
Tuesday
Jan282025

A life in Commonwealth cars is not a good look

Scene beside the lake ... Michael Kirby bids adieu to the Last Chance Saloon ... A solemn occasion filled with the great and the good ... Taxi driver's failure to lament ... From Justinian's Archive, February 2, 2009 

The High Court doesn't do farewells - but Michael Kirby does

Wish me good luck as you wave me goodbye. Kirbs says hoo-roo to the High Court. After more than 30 years in various judicial positions this remarkable man says farewell to the judging caper.  

Justice Michael Kirby cut a lonely figure at the ceremony to mark his farewell from the High Court today (Mon. Feb. 2, 2009). 

The attendant announced to a packed number one court: 

"A farewell for the Hon Justice Michael Kirby, God save The Queen." 

A well varnished Kirbs adorned the bench to receive wave after wave of commendation from his nominated well-wishers. 

The other members of the High Court were conspicuously absent. Their non-attendance said loudly that this was not an official High Court affair. This was a private matter arranged by Justice Kirby to bid au revoir to himself. 

A lot of somebodies and quite a few others were in attendance. 

Soon-to-be High Court Justice Bell was there looking snappy in a brown pin striped suit. Justice McHugh and his consort beamed as though having a day at the races. 

Solicitors General by the bus load craned their necks to see who was looking at them. (Bloody) Mary Gaudron waved her handbag. David (Jacko) Jackson hauled himself to Canberra because he would never miss an event with Michael Kirby as the centrepiece. 

Malcolm Turnbull strutted in like a school prefect looking for someone to whom a detention should be given (by the way, his backside seems noticeably larger these days.) Bob Brown from the Greens looked well-browned. (Soapy) George Brandis appeared sinister in his full bottomed rig (courtesy of Daphnis de Jersey). [That's enough names, Ed.]

Brandis "QC"

The High Court jamboree was just one in a series of rallies to mark the departure of this singular jurist. There are dinners, colloquiums, panel discussions and next week a book launch of a massive 1,000 page door-stopper. 

Today Kirby did a fine job. He honoured everyone who honoured him as well as a few million others. There were a few good lines besides: 

"Ceremonies like this help to cement our corporate life and to remind us that we are all but temporary travellers in these parts. Mr [T.E.F.] Hughes, your presence reminds me of how the Duke of Edinburgh said he felt at his 80th birthday party. He said that he had not expected that his mother-in-law would still be there, aged 101." 

And on High Court architecture and being cut off from the rest of humanity:  

"It is a great pity that the architects placed most of the judicial chambers on level nine of this building facing the airport. This plants sullen, escapist thoughts in the minds of some justices.  

Chief Justices look out at the lake, upon which they are reputed to walk. From my windows I have watched the Brindabellas with their changing colours, the trees and the bright stars by night. Walking to and from work in the different seasons has been a special joy of my service here. Best not to be too cut off from reality. A life in Commonwealth cars is not a good look." 

He warned incoming justice Virginia Bell not to lose touch. She is to take over the departing judge's chambers and he said that if she forgets Doc Evatt's "little people" the ghosts of the former occupants, William Deane and Michael Kirby, will come and haunt her. 

Kirby ended with a conversation he said he had with a taxi driver (usually a reliable source of information).  

Driver: "I read that you're being forced to retire?" 

Kirbs: "Yes, the Constitution requires it at 70. There was a long pause. I waited for him to say 'But you don't look 70'. He never did ... After I alighted, the driver drove off very slowly into the distance. I can swear that I saw tears streaming down his cheeks. So it will be with some of you. But not all." 

Virginia Bell will be sworn in tomorrow (Tues. Feb. 3) and Justinian TV, aka Jacques Tati Productions, will this week broadcast a video presentation of the finest moments from her coronation and Kirbs' farewell.  

 

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.