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Reynolds can't get over it ... Former senator drops off news to her favourite hacks at The Australian ... Linda Reynolds is suing the Commonwealth and lawyers HWL Ebsworth over the Brittany Higgins settlement ... Claim that $2.4 million payment to former staffer affirmed Higgins' allegation ... Read more >> 

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Party time for Dicey ... Heydon's book - a pathway to rehabilitation ... The predatory man and the clever intellect - all wrapped up in the one person ... Academic tome and cancel agenda ... Despite the plaudits the record of abuse doesn't vanish ... Book launch with young associates at a safe distance ... Procrustes thinks out loud ... Read more >> 

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The Lubyanka ... Bullying investigation into former Federal Court judge goes nowhere ... "Complaint unsubstantiated" ... Phew! ... Recommendations about staff education ... Nothing recommended for judicial induction ... More >> 

 

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Governance turmoil at Tiny Town Law Society ... Night of the long knives ... Lakeside in Canberra ... ACT Law Society upheaval over governance changes ... Bodies carted out of the council room ... Blood on the carpet ... Fraught litigation another distraction ... From Gang Gang ... Read more >> 


"We're in unchartered territory here. A Pope hasn't died before during an Australian election campaign."  

Jane Norman, National Affairs Correspondent, ABC News ... April 21, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ... 
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Letter from Rome ... Judges on strike ... Too much "reform" ... Berlusconi legacy ... Referendum on the way ... Constitutional court inflames the Meloni regime with decision on boat people ... Insults galore ... Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >> 


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Tea is for Tippy ... Life of a tiffstaff ... Bright, ambitious and, when it comes to the crucial things, hopeless ... Milking the glory of the gig ...  Introducing Tippy, our new blogger filing from within the concrete cage at Queens Square ... From Justinian's Archive, March 15, 2010 ...  Read more >> 


 

 

« I once met ... Arnold Schwarzenegger | Main | I Once Met ... Paul Keating »
Sunday
Sep262021

I Once Met ... Margaret Thatcher

David Bennett QC had an encounter at the House of Lords ... Former PM Margaret Thatcher on the supremacy of parliament ... Frosty view on Australian constitutional checks and balances   

Thatcher - lonely in the Lords

In 2001 in London while I was solicitor-general of Australia, I met Margaret Thatcher for a few minutes at the House of Lords. 

She asked me about my functions and I explained that my main task was defending challenges to the validity of Commonwealth legislation in the High Court. 

She obviously knew little about common law systems outside the UK because she expressed incredulity at the possibility that a court could hold legislation to be invalid.

David Bennett AC QC

I Once Met ... Bob Hawke
I Once Met ... Lionel Murphy
I Once Met ... Paul Keating 

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