Opinion: Tim Carmody Deserves the Chance to Prove His Competence As Chief Justice

Opinion: Tim Carmody deserves the chance to prove his competence as Chief Justice ANTHONY MORRIS THE COURIER-MAIL AUGUST 04, 2014 12:00AM FEW political commentators try as hard as Tony Fitzgerald to present their own political views as non-partisan. Fitzgerald’s frequent press releases have for some time carried express disclaimers, that he has “never been a member or supporter of any political party” and doesn’t know “any member of any Parliament anywhere”. He has now abandoned this practice and with good reason. Were he the official leader of the Opposition, he could not have done a better hatchet-job on the Newman Government. Which is fine. In a democracy, all citizens are entitled to push the barrow for whichever side of politics they support. What sticks in my craw, however, is the gobsmacking hypocrisy from the once-celebrated corruption-fighter. Fitzgerald obsesses over the youthfulness of the state’s Attorney-General. He does not mention that, in his early 30s, Jarrod Bleijie is about the same age as Fitzgerald was when appointed the state’s (then) youngest-ever QC. Fitzgerald says that Chief Justice Carmody “had briefly been a Family Court judge”. In fact, Carmody’s five years on the Family Court is double Fitzgerald’s time as a Federal Court Judge before appointment as Court of Appeal president. Contempt for Carmody Fitzgerald describes as “startling” and “politically charged” Carmody’s recommendation to prosecute Goss government ministers who (as he concluded) acted illegally in deciding to shred the Heiner documents. Yet Fitzgerald himself recommended “startling” and “politically-charged” prosecutions of ministers in the Bjelke-Petersen government. CRITIC: Campbell Newman targeted by Tony Fitzgerald BLEIJE: AG says government ‘respects Fitzgerald’ Fitzgerald describes Carmody’s appointment as “opaque”, but few judicial appointments could rival the opacity of Fitzgerald’s own. An unprecedented legislative amendment empowered the Governor in Council to fix Fitzgerald’s remuneration package, making his salary a state secret. Fitzgerald says that Carmody was promoted “without plausible explanation”. But he never made similar comments about appointments – equally lacking any “plausible explanation” – by the Goss, Beattie and Bligh governments. In 1998, no “plausible explanation” supported the appointment of a junior District Court judge to replace Fitzgerald as president. Justice Margaret McMurdo has turned out to be (in Fitzgerald’s own words) “one of Queensland’s most respected judges”. But Carmody is streets ahead of where McMurdo was at the time of her elevation to the state’s second-highest judicial office. Both were educated at highly regarded secondary schools, Brisbane Girls’ Grammar and Nudgee College. Their first legal jobs were each with the Public Defender’s Office where McMurdo chose to spend most of her practising career. When appointed, McMurdo had just two years’ experience of the rigours of private practice. Carmody has practised at the private bar for about 20 years. In 1999, Carmody received the ultimate professional recognition when Chief Justice de Jersey appointed him Senior Counsel. Thereafter, he conducted cases of sufficient size or complexity to warrant leading counsel. McMurdo was never a silk, and had no such opportunities to conduct large and complex civil cases. Unlike Carmody’s experience on the Family Court, McMurdo had never been a judge of a superior court of unlimited monetary jurisdiction. Nor had she ever carried the responsibility for heading a court, which Carmody did as Chief Magistrate. Nor did McMurdo have a track record to compare with Carmody’s, whether as a meat packer, as a sworn officer of the Queensland Police Service, as one of the counsel assisting the Fitzgerald inquiry, as a special prosecutor, as counsel assisting the Connolly-Ryan inquiry, as Queensland Crime Commissioner, or as head of the Child Protection Commission of Inquiry. Each has an impressive extrajudicial curriculum vitae. McMurdo is on the Law Faculty Advisory Committee at QUT; QUT appointed Carmody as an adjunct Law Professor. Both were awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003. The difference is that few such professional or community accolades preceded McMurdo’s appointment as president. Again, Carmody begins well ahead of where McMurdo was at that time. Admittedly, McMurdo had one advantage over Carmody. She hails from a distinguished legal family. Her father was a solicitor; her uncle a Supreme Court judge; a cousin was a respected barrister; and her husband, then a leading commercial silk, is now also a judge. Carmody could not boast any similar connections. If Carmody is underqualified for the position of Chief Justice, then, applying the same reasoning, McMurdo was totally unqualified for elevation as Court of Appeal president. Yet Fitzgerald saw no reason to defend the office which he had recently vacated from being “demeaned”; nor, apparently, did it occur to him that other judges of the Supreme Court were “grossly insulted” to be leapfrogged by a junior District Court judge. Given that Carmody starts with far greater advantages than McMurdo ever did, one can feel optimistic he will confound his critics, as McMurdo has done. He deserves the chance to do so. It will be better for everyone concerned if that happens without sniping from the sidelines, even on the part of the most distinguished of has-beens. Anthony J H Morris QC is a Brisbane barrister .

Load more