Law Council President's Message - May 2025
30 May 2025
If you are a regular reader of LCA Update you already know about the trips I have taken overseas to attend international meetings and conferences, the submissions we have made on vitally important topics, and the new policies and guidelines we have released.
I thought rather than go over details you may already be familiar with, I would instead share with you some of the ‘colour’ moments from the past few months and discuss a few of the challenges that continue to plague us as a profession and society.
In an earlier edition of this newsletter, the Law Council announced the launch of its Policy Statement on Child Justice Reform.
The development of this policy – and shifts we are seeing in the criminal justice landscape across the country – led me to write an opinion piece on what I believe is the child justice crisis in Australia.
The Canberra Times published this piece and shared it with its partner newspapers across the country.
This brought the issue to the attention of a significant audience, which we know because of the almost instantaneous messages of support the Law Council received, including from respected leaders within the justice system.
While it sometimes feels like an uphill battle to get politicians to appreciate the impact of certain child justice issues (particularly around minimum age of criminal responsibility and removal of the presumption against bail) we need to keep advocating, based on the evidence, for better responses to child offending so that we can minimise further damage to children and make our communities safer in the long run.
The release of our Child Justice Policy prompted additional media interest, and I was invited to speak on ABC Television’s News Breakfast program.
On the night before this interview, I arrived home from a trip to Tasmania at around 11pm and was due in the Sydney studio at 7am. As you can imagine, a 7am arrival time required being up well before the crack of dawn – not exactly conducive to being at one’s best!
To make things even harder, the program is filmed out of Melbourne, which means the hosts are in Melbourne and I was joining them remotely. That’s not too bad, I hear you say, but for those of you haven’t done one of these interviews – which included myself before this – let me tell you about it.
Once the microphone was on, I was placed in a room and seated staring at a blank wall. You can’t see the presenters, you can only hear them. This makes the discussion a little more difficult as you have to imagine you are speaking with them and keep eye contact with people who aren’t really there.
I share this with you because it was a fun and different experience, but I was very pleased to have the opportunity to advocate for a nationally coordinated approach to child justice through such a widely watched platform.
Again, I know our message did get out there because of those who contacted me in the wake of the segment going to air.
I have travelled quite a bit in the first few months of my time as President of the Law Council of Australia and every visit I make leads to a new revelation, it provides additional insight and different perspectives that inform our work.
A growing concern that has been heightened by my travels – both domestically and internationally – relates to actions being taken by governments which are chipping away at the safeguards that underpin our democracy thanks to the rule of law principles.
The rule of law holds all people to account equally, regardless of rank or station. No one person or office is above the law. It prevents the arbitrary use of power. Without the rule of law, there can be no real democracy.
We have spoken out about these actions at an international level and continue to promote and defend the rule of law here at home.
Therefore, you will not be surprised to learn that I was personally very pleased to see that the very first formal statement issued by the Hon Michelle Rowland MP following her appointment as the new Commonwealth Attorney-General included a commitment to upholding the rule of law.
We look forward to working with the new Attorney-General, and all members of the 48th Parliament on important matters, including protecting the rule of law, over the coming three years.
Last Updated on 30/05/2025