Vote early, vote often
Bar Talk • Thursday, November 8, 2012 Sydney and Melbourne bars go to the polls ... Same old candidates turn-up for re-election … Wall of men … Women fighting to be counted
NSW bar election count underway
ELECTION fever is sweeping through Phillip and William Streets.
Forget the electoral sideshow in the US of A. The bar council elections in NSW and Victoria are where we find the real contest of ideas, values and power.
The Victorian ballot is offering 45 candidates to fill 21 spots on the council. In NSW there are 70 candidates seeking to fill the same number of places.
In Victoria six of the candidates are women, while in NSW there are 17 women seeking election.
Polls in Melbourne close on Wednesday, Nov. 14. In Sydney, time's up today at 5pm (Thursday, Nov. 8). The bar's AGM gets underway while counting is finalised with the wonder of a machine, possibly borrowed from the Florida Electoral Commission.
Why such a small number of Yarraside women candidates?
It's hard to fathom. At the moment there are only five females on the Vic bar council, compared to nine in NSW.
The bars have fine-sounding equality and diversity policies and smart women on their councils.
Yet the blokey barrier seems to be stronger in Victoria and we have indications that female barristers feel the male "culture" more acutely.
Visitors to Owen Dixon Chambers are confronted by the Wall of Men, photos of past presidents of the grill, stretching for yard after yard. There are a few women tucked around the corner.
The big female cheese on the council is Fiona McLeod SC, who is senior vice "chairman" and is expected to take Melanie Sloss's spot as "chairman".
After that there are currently four juniors representing the female ranks on the council.
In NSW, the nine female councillors are all running again. In fact, all the current council is putting itself up for re-election, with the exception of retiring president Bernard Coles and the acting sol-gen Justin Gleeson.
In Victoria, four existing councillors are tossing it in and not running again.
Historically, sitting members have a high chance of being returned, which means the old guard gets older and the prospects of fresh blood, or change, are not great.
One reason why there are releatively few women in the higher sanctums is that it is harder for women to manage 15-years, plus, at the bar.
NSW has sought to iron that out by abolishing the requirement to vote for a minimum number of senior counsel. Now members can vote for 21 candidates, regardless of "seniority".
The Victorians have clung to a structured council, which delivers control to the old guard - 11 members from the 15-years-plus group, six from the six-to-15-years bracket and four from the under-sixes.
Victorian members are asked to delete names from each group, at least seven, eight and nine for categories A, B and C respectively.
The Women Barristers Association sent around a missive urging women members to "strengthen" their vote by deleting more than the minimum number of required candidates.
"For example, in category A you are required to delete at least seven names. However, if you delete all names except Fiona [McLeod SC] and Samantha [Marks SC] then each will receive a higher proportion of the vote."
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