At its annual colloquium in Melbourne last weekend, the Judicial Conference of Australia elected a new President, Justice Judith Kelly of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and Vice President, Justice Glenn Martin of the Supreme Court of Queensland. Justice Judith Kelly noted with concern observations made by Judge Robyn Tupman of the [&hellip...
Today, the President of the Judicial Conference of Australia, Justice Robert Beech-Jones, reiterated the JCA’s position in relation to the Federal Government’s proposal to restructure the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court. The legislation giving effect to that proposal was introduced into Federal Parliament on 23 August and referred to a Senate Committee on [&hellip...
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The President of the JCA, Justice Robert Beech-Jones, has expressed concern that the current debate about the proposed restructure of the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court has included unfounded criticism of the performance of individual judges and groups of judges. “Generally, an assessment of the merits of the proposed restructure is a policy [&hellip...
A letter was sent on behalf of the President of the JCA, Justice Robert Beech-Jones, to the Editor of The Australian in response to the article “Don’t quarantine judges from criticism” published on page 2 of that newspaper on 20 March 2018. Part of this letter was published in the newspaper on 22 March 2018. [&hellip...
The President of the Judicial Conference of Australia, Justice Robert Beech-Jones, has expressed concern over the recent reporting and criticism of a Victorian Magistrate’s reasons for granting bail. On 1 February 2018 a Victorian Magistrate determined to grant bail to a person charged with culpable driving causing death. In giving reasons for his decision, the [&hellip...
The President of the JCA, Justice Robert Beech-Jones, has expressed concern over the repeated personal attacks on judges and magistrates in Victoria that are occurring as part of the political dispute between the Federal and Victorian governments over law and order in that State. “The appropriate policing and legislative response to concerns over these issues [&hellip...
The JCA has written to the Editor of Melbourne’s Sunday Herald-Sun pointing out three aspects of the newspaper’s misreporting of a County Court judge’s reasons for sentence which resulted in the paper’s readers being significantly misled. To read the JCA’s letter and the judge’s reasons for sentence click here...
A Queensland magistrate has been blamed for the current crimes of a violent offender because five years ago she allegedly handed down a soft sentence to that offender. Justice Robert Beech-Jones, the President of the Judicial Conference of Australia, the judges’ and magistrates’ professional association, has condemned this attack in the Courier-Mail of November 15 [&hellip...
The JCA has issued the following media release: Poland’s judges under serious threat to their independence Australia’s association of judges and magistrates, the Judicial Conference of Australia (JCA), has today expressed deep concerns about developments in Poland affecting the independence of its judges. Last week Poland’s parliament amended the law dealing with the selection of [&hellip...
