Farewell to the Honourable Justice Hasluck
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THE SUPREME COURT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA FAREWELL TO THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE NICHOLAS HASLUCK AM TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS AT PERTH ON FRIDAY, 7 MAY 2010, AT 9.34 AM 7/5/10 1 (s&c) Spark & Cannon 1/1/ems Farewell MARTIN CJ: The Court sits this morning to mark the retirement of his Honour Justice Nicholas Hasluck from the Court. I would like to particularly welcome this morning members of his Honour's family including his wife Sally-Anne, his son Anthony, daughter-in-law Kelly, grandsons Sebastian and Samuel, and other members of his Honour's family. I also extend a warm welcome to his Honour's many special guests. I would also like to welcome Justice Tony Siopis of the Federal Court of Australia; his Honour Judge Peter Martino, acting Chief Judge of the District Court of Western Australia; President Denis Reynolds of the Children's Court; her Honour Deputy Chief Magistrate Libby Woods, representing the Chief Magistrate; the Honourable Professor David Malcolm AC QC, former Chief Justice; Ms Cheryl Gwilliam, Director-General of the Department of the Attorney-General; and many other distinguished guests too numerous to name, including former members of this and other Courts. I would also like to particularly welcome those who will address the Court this morning, being Deputy State Solicitor Mr Robert Mitchell SC, representing the honourable Christian Porter MLA, Attorney-General of Western Australia, on behalf of the government, and unfortunately the Attorney can't be with us this morning; Mr Hylton Quail, President of the Law Society; and Mr Grant Donaldson SC, President of the WA Bar Association. His Honour Justice Hasluck joined the Court on May Day 2000. His Honour was the only Judge appointed that year. There might be room for interesting debate on the question of whether his Honour was the last Judge appointed to the Court in the 20th century or the first Judge appointed to the Court in the 21st century, depending upon the view one takes of the placement of the year 2000, but his Honour was certainly one or the other. However, I fear I digress as there are obviously many more important aspects of his Honour's appointment and time on the Bench appropriately recognised. Prior to his appointment, his Honour had chosen a breadth of interest and endeavour which went well beyond the law. Those endeavours included service to the community in a variety of capacities, including membership of the Western Australian Arts Council from 1975 to 1978, Deputy Chair of the Australia Council between 1978 and 1982, member of the Committee of Management of the Australian Society of Authors between 1992 and 1995, Deputy Chair of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts between 1993 and 1998, member of the Copyright Law Review Committee of Experts Group between 1994 and 1997, and Chair of the Literature Fund of the Australia Council between 1998 and 2000. Your Honour's 7/5/10 MARTIN CJ 2 Spark & Cannon 1/2/ems Farewell distinguished service in the fields of literature and arts administration was recognised by membership of the Order of Australia. Of course his Honour's appointment to the Bench in 2000 transmogrified the form of his service to the community into the channel of judicial service, and his Honour was no stranger to service of that kind, having served as President of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal between 1989 and 2000. Somewhat remarkably, prior to his Honour's appointment to the Bench he was able to combine his conspicuous endeavours in the fields of literature and arts administration with an outstanding legal career. After practising in partnership with the late Robert Holmes a Court, your Honour became a partner in the firm of Keall Brinsden before leaving to join the West Australian Bar Association in 1984, taking silk in 1988. When I joined the Court in 2006 there were four ex-partners of Keall Brinsden on the Court, a number which rivalled or indeed surpassed the historical prominence of ex-partners of Muir Williams Nicholson or Freehills on the Bench. Your Honour's departure reveals the transience of these things as there will now be just two, President McLure and myself. Your Honour's appointment also changed the nature of your publications. Prior to appointment you were a distinguished author of fiction, short stories, poetry and essays. As a novelist your Honour was twice short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award, a joint winner of the West Australian Premier's Book Awards, having also been short-listed for that award for another novel, and a recipient of The Age Book of the Year Award. Your Honour's appointment to the Bench has been a loss to the Australian literary community. Since appointment, your many publications have been almost exclusively in the field of non-fiction, although not uncommonly including sections of historical drama. Regrettably, your conspicuous attention to the duties of your office has precluded significant extracurricular literary activities, to the disappointment of the Australian reading public. Your Honour has shouldered a very significant share of the work of the Court over the 10 years or so since your appointment. The Court's web site and the Law Reports of Western Australia are replete with your Honour's judgments. The facility of expression evident in those judgments portrays your Honour's literary origins. 7/5/10 MARTIN CJ 3 Spark & Cannon 2/1/mjs Farewell Your Honour's contribution to the work of the Court has not been limited to your judicial duties. Perhaps not surprisingly, given your literary background, your Honour has served for many years on the library committees of the court and has made an outstanding contribution in that area. As I have mentioned, your Honour's appointment to the Bench deprived the literary world of a significant author. The tables are now reversed. Your retirement will mean that the Court will lose the benefit of your significant contribution but, on the positive side, the literary world will be enhanced by your Honour's ability to return to your literary pursuits. I think we can be confident that not too many judicial secrets will be revealed through the pages of your forthcoming works, although I am sure we all expect to see some subtle reference to the insights derived from 10 years at the coalface in criminal trials and civil disputes. It only remains for me to thank your Honour for your conspicuous service to the Court and to the community during your term as a Judge of this Court. On behalf of the Court, I would like to wish you and wife Sally-Anne good health and a long and enjoyable retirement. Mr Mitchell. MITCHELL, MR: May it please the Court. I have the great privilege on behalf of the Attorney-General and Government for Western Australia of acknowledging the distinguished service of Justice Hasluck on your Honour's retirement from this Court. May I firstly convey the apologies of the Attorney-General, the honourable Christian Porter, for his inability to personally attend this sitting of the Court due to his official commitments outside the State. May I also convey the Attorney-General's personal gratitude for the dedication and skill with which your Honour has discharged your duties as a Judge of this Court over the past decade. Your Honour may recall that when you were welcomed to the Court on 1 May 2000 you expressed some surprise at the high praise and kind words which you then graciously received. Given your Honour's achievements at that time, which have been referred to by the Chief Justice, I am a little surprised that your Honour was surprised. I hope though that, having been through the experience once, your Honour is prepared today and will not be surprised again by the barrage of high praise and kind words which you are to receive at this sitting. Before joining that barrage, however, I feel obliged to sound a note of criticism in reflecting upon your Honour's judicial career. Your Honour has, I am 7/5/10 MITCHELL SC, MR 4 9.39 Spark & Cannon 2/2/mjs Farewell afraid, failed to meet three key performance indicators which are identified by the Solicitor-General at your welcome to this Court in May of 2000. Your Honour might recall that at that time the Solicitor referred to a comment of Lord Asquith that the ideal Judge of first instance is one who is short, simple and wrong. As to the criterion of being short, your Honour's written judgments were never any longer than they needed to be. Nevertheless, they could not always be described as short. I am told that in one five-month period your Honour delivered 25 judgments, comprising some 525 pages, and that over the past four years your Honour has written more than 2500 pages of reasons for decision in your own name. In more than one occasion in the course of a longer judgment your Honour has found the need to, as you put it, "remind myself of something which was set out earlier in the decision". To put that effort in some context, your Honour has, over the past 10 years, delivered more than 400 civil judgments. That is in addition to presiding over many criminal trials across the State and sitting from time to time on the Court of Appeal. Your Honour can only be described as a prolific Judge. As to the second criterion, I cannot think of anyone who would describe your Honour as simple. Your Honour enjoys a reputation for producing decisions which are thorough, which carefully analyse the relevant evidence and law and which are, of course, elegantly composed.