The Judicial Independence in Australia: Contemporary Challenges, Future Directions conference is happening in just over two months time in Brisbane at the University of Queensland.
The Magna Carta Committee of the Rule of Law Institute is proud to be the main sponsor of this important event.
The conference discusses the controversies and challenges facing judicial independence at all levels of government.
Judicial independence is fundamental to the rule of law, former High Court Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE QC, the keynote speaker at the conference, spoke of this link in his paper for the Judicial Commission of New South Wales:
Nowadays, judicial independence is seen as a desirable, if not essential, characteristic of a wider court system, extending to judges of district and county courts. It was otherwise in earlier times. Courts of petty sessions were constituted by justices and later by police or stipendiary magistrates who were officers of the executive. Today consistently with the rule of the law, curial determinations should be made by judicial officers who are independent.
Other speakers include:
- Papers by The Hon Justice Martin Daubney, and Professors John Williams, George Williams AO, Suri Ratnapala, HP Lee, Brian Opeskin, Fiona Wheeler, Heather Douglas, James Allan, Andrew Lynch and Rosalind Dixon
- Sessions hosted by sitting and retired judges of the Queensland Supreme Court and Federal Court of Australia.
The conference will run from 10-11 July 2015 at The University of Queensland.
More information and registration details can be found here
