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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

O/N H-1860940

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CEREMONIAL SITTING OF THE FULL COURT

TO WELCOME

THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE YASEEN SHARIFF

THE HONOURABLE DEBRA MORTIMER, Chief Justice 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE PERRAM 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE YATES
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE PERRY 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MARKOVIC 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE BROMWICH 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE WHEELAHAN 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE STEWART 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE ABRAHAM 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE DOWNES 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE GOODMAN 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE RAPER 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE KENNETT 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE HATCHER 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE JACKMAN 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE HORAN 
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE SHARIFF

SYDNEY

9.30 AM, WEDNESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2023
MORTIMER CJ: Please announce the welcome. A warm welcome to you all. We are on Gadigal Country. On behalf of the Judges, the Registrars and the staff of the Federal Court, I offer our respect to the Gadigal People and their Elders and to the people of the wider Eora Nation, especially the Elders of that Nation. It’s a real delight to see so many people here today. I acknowledge present and former Justices of the High Court, although I know some could not be here today, and they’ve sent their apologies. Former Justices and the former Chief Justice of our Court, although again I’ve received apologies from many who have been unable to attend.  

I acknowledge our present and former colleagues from the New South Wales Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, other New South Wales Courts and Tribunals, the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. Again, there are several current Judges who could not be here, including Chief Justice Bell and President Ward, and they’ve sent their apologies. Joining us for the ceremony today are members of Justice Shariff’s family and his friends and colleagues. This is a marvellous occasion. It is a day to be celebrated, and it is wonderful to see you all here today. 

Justice Shariff, you took the oath of office last Thursday, here on level 20, in front of your friends and family and many of your colleagues from the New South Wales Registry. You have therefore been on the job, so to speak, for almost a week. We welcomed you then, and today we have the opportunity to give you the public welcome that your appointment deserves. On behalf of the Judges, Registrars and all the staff of the Federal Court, I congratulate you on your appointment and I am confident that you will serve the Australian community with distinction. Mr Melican, Senior Executive Lawyer with the Australian Government Solicitor, I invite you to speak on behalf of the Attorney-General for the Commonwealth.

MR P. MELICAN: May it please the Court. I too would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the Traditional Custodians of this land, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I would like to extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today. It is a great privilege to be here today on behalf of the Australian Government to congratulate your Honour on your appointment as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. The Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus KC, regrets that he cannot be here to share this occasion with you today due to Parliamentary Sittings in Canberra. However, he has asked that I convey the Government’s sincere appreciation to your Honour’s willingness to serve as a Judge of this Court and extend the Government’s best wishes to your career on the Bench.

Your Honour’s appointment to this Court is another success in an esteemed and eminent career. Many of your colleagues in the legal profession are here today, a testament to the high regard in which your Honour is held. May I particularly acknowledge the Honourable Justice Jacqueline Gleeson, Justice of the High Court of Australia; the Honourable James Allsop AC, former Chief Justice of the Federal Court; Mr Peter Dunning KC, President of the Australian Bar Association; Ms 
Gabrielle Bashir SC, President of the New South Wales Bar Association; Mr Luke Murphy, President of the Law Council of Australia; Ms Jennifer Ball, Junior Vice President of the Law Society of New South Wales; other current and former members of the Judiciary and members of the legal profession.

May I also acknowledge the presence of your Honour’s family who proudly share this occasion with you. In particular, I acknowledge Sonya and your children, Gabriel and Camilla; your brother Fahim; and your sister-in-law Husna. I also acknowledge your late parents, Mohammed and Neelofar. Your family, friends and colleagues all express how proud your parents would be, not only of the special achievement we are celebrating here today but of the discipline, kindness and generosity you have demonstrated on the journey to this point and will no doubt continue to demonstrate on the Bench.

Your Honour was born in Madras, India, and your family migrated to Australia when you were quite young. Today, 13 September, is a particularly special day for your Honour as it is the anniversary of the arrival of your family in Australia. The proud son of hardworking parents, your Honour was raised in Sydney with a love for Australia and a dedication to serving the community. Your Honour’s own industrious nature has been evident since childhood, and you were always extremely disciplined in the pursuit of your various academic interests and hobbies.

I am told that on occasions when Ramadan fell during the summer months, your Honour would play cricket in the searing heat while fasting and then come back home to study before heading back outside for more batting practice. Quite a few of the family home’s windows were sacrificed as a result of your Honour’s dedication to that craft, much to the irritation of your parents. Your Honour was an enthusiastic student and needed very little encouragement to attend to your studies. I am told that your Honour’s parents encouraged you to gain a higher education and to pursue a career which best served the community. I am told your Honour would often discuss current events and that even as a child your Honour could hold your own in conversations with adults, often arguing a point until everyone agreed, no doubt foreshadowing the well reputed legal career to come.

In 2000, your Honour graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws, First Class Honours, and a Bachelor of Economics. In 2001, your Honour was admitted as a Legal Practitioner in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Your Honour commenced your legal career with Clayton Utz where you worked as a solicitor until 2005. Your Honour then took up a position with Allens Arthur Robinson before returning to Clayton Utz as a Senior Associate. In 2007, you were called to the New South Wales Bar. At the Bar, your Honour soon developed a busy and varied practice, working in Industrial Law and Employment Law, regulatory matters, as well as counter-terrorism and white collar crime. Colleagues from this time have commented that your Honour was first among equals as a Junior Counsel, demonstrating a wisdom and judgment beyond your years.

It is with great pleasure that I now turn to speak to a few of the personal qualities that have placed you well for your career on the Bench. Equity and equality have been the hallmarks of your Honour’s career, ensuring everyone, regardless of their background, were afforded the same opportunities. Your Honour is known for your unfailing support and willingness to offer encouragement to your juniors, providing them opportunities to learn and to develop their own skills. I am told that your Honour has always cultivated a strong work ethic and love for the law in your juniors. You always spend time with them and generously share your knowledge and experience. You make a point of praising their skills and encouraging others to defer to their expertise, whilst always providing constructive feedback on their work. 

Many of your friends and colleagues have also noted your Honour’s remarkable ability to connect with people from all walks of life. I am told it would not be unusual to observe your Honour passionately discussing the latest High Court decision with the Leading Silk one day and then sharing the same fervour while conversing with a fellow diehard West Tigers fan on the hill at Leichhardt Oval on the weekend. Indeed, it is widely known that outside the law, your Honour’s greatest passions are your children and your love for sport. Your Honour has even sought out opportunities to combine those loves, having coached your son’s cricket team and now your daughter’s soccer team.  

Growing up, you were known to be quite the sportsman yourself, playing cricket in the summer and rugby league in the winter. Your brother speaks of how the night before a cricket match, your Honour would sleep with your bat and wear your cricket clothes to bed so that you would be ready for the match the following day. Your Honour has tried on many sporting hats over the years as player and coach. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention again your enduring role as a spectator and supporter of your beloved West Tigers. Your Honour’s unwavering support for your team, even through some of the leaner years, is undoubtedly a reflection of the same loyalty you are known for in your personal and professional relationships.

Your Honour’s appointment to this Court acknowledges your dedication to the law and accomplishments in the legal profession. Your Honour takes on this judicial office with the best wishes of the Australian legal community and it is trusted that you will approach this role with the same exceptional dedication to the law that you have shown throughout your career. On behalf of the Australian Government and the Australian people, I extend to you my sincere congratulations and welcome to the Federal Court of Australia. May it please the Court.

MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Mr Melican. Mr Dunning, President of the Australian Bar Association.

MR P. DUNNING KC: May it please the Court, Chief Justice, Justice Shariff, Justices of the Federal Court, Justice Gleeson, distinguished guests, it is my privilege and pleasure in equal measure, your Honour, to express on behalf of the Bar nationally its congratulations on your Honour’s fine appointment to this Court. 
Your Honour’s broad practice at the Bar, including employment, Industrial Law, corporations, equity, professional negligence, disciplinary and regulatory work equipped your Honour well for the discharge of the important function with which you have been entrusted. Likewise, your personal qualities of decency, hard work and companionability will serve this Court well. In doing so, I acknowledge the First Nations People and the special role that Courts everywhere have in bringing peace to us as a nation in that regard and the particular role that this Court has in acknowledging those people who have been the custodians of this land from time immemorial.  

Your Honour, to be appointed to a national Court is the height of professional distinction, and hard earned in your Honour’s case. Your Honour might – should feel justifiably proud in that regard. Likewise, one does not achieve success like today without the love and the support of friends and family, which your Honour has plainly had. Those friends and family should also take justifiable pride in today’s appointment. Whilst it is appropriate that the national body of the Bar recognise your Honour’s appointment today, it is your home Bar, the Bar of New South Wales, that ought to speak in detail to your Honour’s many qualities. And, on that note, I will pass to my friend, Ms Bashir SC, to do exactly that. May it please the Court.

MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Mr Dunning. Ms Bashir, President of the New South Wales Bar Association.

MS G. BASHIR SC: May it please the Court, I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and pay respects to their elders, past, present, and, of course, other First National People here with us today and watching on the livestream. It’s a true pleasure to honour and welcome your Honour’s appointment to this Honourable Court on behalf of the New South Wales Bar today. Your Honour’s deep sense of civility, voluminous intellect, versatility of legal acumen, connections to community and principled approach to the rule of law all make you a worthy peer amongst those you sit beside today and an important role model for those who will follow in your footsteps.  

We welcome Sonya and your children, Gabriel and Camilla, who I hope can see. That can move if they can’t. Your mother-in-law, Mary, your brother, Fahim, and his family, and extended family observing from Melbourne and India. We join with them in applauding your Honour’s achievements and celebrating your commitment today. Your parents, Mrs Neelofar Shariff, and your father, Mr Muneer Shariff, who are no longer with us would be so immensely proud of you today and we all grateful for their wonderful influence on you. They instilled in you a regard for public service, which is now fully realised by your Honour giving up a busy and successful practice as a sought-after leading Silk in order to answer the call of judicial service.  

Your Honour is very proud of your family heritage as someone who was born in Madras, India, that panoply of marvelousness, and came to Australia at aged seven and a half years old. Your Honour commenced schooling at St Charles in Ryde, 
where despite the fact you were equally fluent in Urdu and English, you were placed in the year below into an “English as a second language” class. This was the first, but would not be the last time that your Honour’s natural ability and talent was underestimated on account of your ethnicity and times would not always be easy. You were pretty swiftly moved back into your rightful place in that class. Today puts paid to those times and sees the triumph of your Honour abiding by your parents advice to study hard, work hard and respect others and their faith in the transformative powers of education.  

Your Honour was brought up by immigrant, educated working parents who made sacrifices to create opportunities for their children. At home, they encouraged conversation and debate about politics, economics, science, philosophy and law, with your Honour proving to be an independent thinker early on. Your father, Muneer, enjoyed detective and Courtroom stories, and especially loved Sherlock Holmes. He would explain to you the importance of first principles, and then would refer affectionately to you as “Mr Watson” as he told you problems were “elementary”, and at every occasion took away your calculator, encouraging you to work out problems for yourself, even if the working out took multiple pages.  

He might now see your Honour as embodying Holmes, who once proclaimed, “My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems. Give me work. Give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis and I am in my own proper atmosphere.” How else does one explain how your Honour managed to wrangle in the one case the various subject matters of universities, intellectual freedom, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and enterprise agreements, or in another equity interests, collective agreements, IVF fertility and jurisdictional questions. Your Honour’s breadth of experience traverses not only restraint of trade and leading Industrial and Employment Law litigation, but the intricacies of Corporations Law.  

Appearances in major inquiries and inquests and criminal law, including counter-terrorism trials and appeals. In the area of Corporations Law, you worked on the hard-fought continuous disclosure case successfully brought by ASIC in this Court against Get Swift and its directors and in the case of ASIC v Australian Mines Limited (No 2). His Honour Justice Halley, who led you in the Get Swift matters, recalls that your formidable forensic legal skills, together with your beguiling and disarming charm, were deployed to great effect. Then there was Wipro Limited, a technical Employment and Industrial Law case about long service leave in New South Wales in which the concept of continuous service was considered with respect to the territorial reach of the Long Service Leave Act.  

In Berkeley Challenge v United Workers and Spotless Services v Fair Work Ombudsman, your Honour appeared for the Fair Work Ombudsman before the Full Federal Court and to resist a proposed special leave application in a case of importance to workers on the issues of the proper construction of the national employment standard and entitlement to redundancy payments under the Fair Work Act. And in Qantas Airways Limited v Rohrlach, this involved a Singapore choice of law clause and issues of the proper scope of jurisdiction, restraints on trade and 
anti-antisuit injunctions. And your Honour has appeared in this jurisdiction on numerous other occasions in matters relating to the operation and interpretation of the Fair Work Act, judicial review, enterprise agreements and awards, stay of Tribunal proceedings, regulatory and class actions.  

On high-profile cases, your Honour has consistently maintained an understated presence, even when acting for Channel Seven, and in another matter with a team of Barristers for Jack de Belin in his challenge to the no fault stand down rule launched in this Court. One brief was a case where you were called on to display your characteristic dispassion, independence, intellectual integrity and impartiality when you were asked to advise your beloved Tigers, the team your father introduced you to at age eight at Leichhardt Oval, commencing a lifelong obsession. You were briefed by the Tigers to take on the North Queensland Cowboys when the Tigers were considering a legal challenge to a loss – the Tigers would say a “purported loss” – in an NRL game due to points scored by the Cowboys in a penalty kick taken after the fulltime siren. Unfortunately, but perhaps not uncharacteristically, at the time the Tigers were at the bottom of the table.

Ultimately, the team decided not to pursue legal action citing advice from Senior Counsel, which referred to the difficulty of persuading the Court that there was any utility in the grant of declaratory relief when apart from who ends up in the top 10, very little else turns on the outcome. The club also made its own declaration in terms that this Court might have been reluctant to grant, namely the obstruction penalty which was given was erroneous, and, therefore, by implication, West Tigers should have won that match. We know it. Everyone knows it. Unfortunately, the history books will not record it that way.  

Your Honour is a strict adherent to the cab rank rule, acting for all sides, whether individuals, major corporations, non-profit organisations or government agencies and regulators. In doing so, your Honour has honed an adaptive approach in client consultations and in cross-examination of witnesses, showing that you can deal with people from all walks of life, whether hardy union representatives, savvy corporate high-flyers or individual workers. Your Honour has a manner of putting individuals at ease who may be having their first ever visit to Chambers or the Courtroom, and no doubt this skill will be very effective in your Honour’s Courtroom here.
 
Your Honour has always had that ability, regardless of background or position, and at Carlingford High School you developed strong friendships that remain today. We welcome many of your friends here today, including on the livestream. You’ve been a loyal and generous friend, particularly in times of need, and your friends are thrilled by your appointment. So too are the many juniors who your Honour has tutored and mentored at the Bar. The contributions of juniors were always valued by your Honour, and they were given plenty of opportunities to develop their skills.  

Your Honour has certainly walked the walk, whether taking on a reader from a non-traditional background or making practical adjustments for juniors returning from maternity leave to assist with their transition back. When your Honour was called to 
the Bar, you read with the now Justice Robert Bromwich and Arthur Moses SC, learning from their expertise and experiencing early on the very different personalities that can be found at the Bar. Over the years, you were led by a who’s who of the profession, including now Justice Stewart, Justice Abraham, Justice Halley, Justice Hatcher, Bret Walker SC, John Sheahan SC, John West KC and others, too many to mention.  

Your Honour survived being led by Arthur Moses over several years and numerous matters and even the phone calls following Court where, after a few minutes, your Honour would realise that it was not a complaining opponent or the Bar President on the phone but Moses impersonating one or the other. Moses says it was a privilege to work with you, that your Honour was first among equals as Counsel, showed wisdom and judgment beyond your years at the Bar. He observed very quickly that your Honour was a first-class lawyer who could pick up a brief in any area of the law and glide into any Court as a confident and well-prepared advocate, while always humble. You outworked opponents. You knew the weaknesses of your client’s case better than your opponents, allowing for full and frank advice. Moses observed also, over time, that your Honour is a night owl with an unwavering preference to working late rather than, say, conferences scheduled before 8.30 am, which your Honour unperturbably tended to regard as optional.  

Then there is your Honour’s moniker as “The Fox”, a legacy from the matter of Ridd v James Cook University, an intellectual freedom case which commenced in the Fair Work Commission and ultimately ended up in the High Court. The academic, Mr Ridd, had an opinion piece published in The Australian about his experience of being cross-examined by your Honour, bemoaning that there was not the same level of interrogation in the sciences. I quote:

When Shariff got up to grill me, he made a small smile that reminded me of a fox about to trap a rabbit. I have been told that Shariff is a perfect gentleman, but at that moment he had a job to do. It was to challenge me, not to be nice to me. I watched and thought, “If only this guaranteed questioning of evidence occurred in the environmental sciences.” We need the scientific equivalent of Shariff.

More than chuffed by the article, your Honour took to juniors calling you “The Fox” and even placed an image of a fox in Chambers. On the 12th Floor, there’s a tradition of displaying names of alumni and it is yet to be seen whether your Honour will be memorialised as Yaseen “The Fox” Shariff SC. An informant, who I will give the pseudonym CO’N, has also informed me that your Honour is part of an enthusiastic band that he calls the Carlingford Dad Bods. He claims that the band distributes their work to friends on WhatsApp, invariably provoking prompt replies of, “Please stop,” “That’s so bad,” or, “Not cool.” I asked what kind of music the band played. He said, “It’s very hard to tell.” In Criminal Law, we know that informants are notoriously unreliable, and I am sure that your Honour is very deft on the electric guitar.

Howsoever the 12th Floor members remember you, the New South Wales Bar will never forget your Honour’s tireless work as our dedicated Secretary when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020 and throughout the lockdowns that year. At that time, our Executive met every afternoon to discuss and act on developments in Court operations, health and safety, and to take all available steps to safeguard and assist our self-employed profession while keeping access to the Courts afoot as best we could. It was a remarkable time.  

It was also during this period that following the leadership of Chief Justice Kiefel, the profession underwent a further watershed period in confronting, speaking very plainly against and redoubling actions to eliminate sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying in the profession. Your Honour was ever firm and resolute on this topic and went the extra mile by voluntarily participating in the working group that drafted our updated best practice guidelines, bringing your considerable experience to bear. It will be a large adjustment at the Bar to a future without your Honour on our Bar Council, and we pay tribute to your work there and your dedicated contributions to executive and committee work, including as a long-serving member of the Professional Conduct Committee, leading Professional Conduct Committee 3, being on it since 2010 and its most recent Chair, and as Co-Chair of our Industrial, Employment, Health and Safety Committee.  

In all matters, your Honour has formed considered, independent and thoughtful views, always informed by meticulous attention to detail delivered in a calm, measured and persuasive manner. Our profession is changing, and your Honour’s appointment is part of that change, which we embrace. Your Honour took your oath last week and bring to judicial life a remarkable work ethic, embodied in the Bradman-come-Tendulkar like discipline that you exhibited as a child when practising your cricket skills by hitting the ball against the wall in the rain, hail or shine and into the night, just not too early in the morning. We are fortunate that the same dedication you have given to the legal profession will now be directed to administering justice as a Judge of this Court. Congratulations from the New South Wales Bar, your Honour. We wish you all the very best for the years to come. May it please the Court.

MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Ms Bashir. Mr Murphy, President of the Law Council of Australia.

MR L. MURPHY: May it please the Court. I also respectfully acknowledge that we are meeting on the Traditional Land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. And I pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present, and Elders from other communities who may be here today. I also acknowledge the Honourable Debra Mortimer, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia; the Honourable Justice Gleeson; former Chief Justice, the Honourable James Allsop AC; Mr Peter Melican, Senior Executive Lawyer, Australian Government Solicitor; President of the Australian Bar Association, Mr Peter Dunning KC; President of the New South Wales Bar Association, Gabrielle Bashir SC; Ms Jennifer Ball, Junior President of 
the New South Wales Law Society; all Judicial Officers, dignitaries, family, friends and, most of all, your Honour.

I am honoured to appear on behalf of the Australian legal profession, and in particular the Law Society of New South Wales, to welcome your Honour’s elevation to the Bench. Today is, it goes without saying, a very special day for your Honour. Even more so, as we have heard, given that today is also the 38th anniversary of the day your Honour first stepped foot in Australia. The Law Council, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, has throughout that time advocated for a justice system that best serves our community.  

The Law Council has, for those nine decades, advocated that such a system must include a process of appointment that is a meritocracy, one free of political influence and uninfluenced by political persuasion. Only those of the very best legal acumen should be considered, and just a few of those considered, appointed. There must also be transparency and consultation in such a process. The Law Council was, therefore, delighted that when announcing your Honour’s appointment, the Attorney-General said:

I have consulted extensively with key members of the legal community seeking nominations of suitably qualified people.

Can I say that judging by the overwhelming endorsement of your appointment, which has been shared with the Law Council by those who know your Honour, it is no surprise that your name was top of the Attorney-General’s list. Often when preparing speeches for occasions such as this, as your Honour would be well aware, we reach out to friends and colleagues of the guest of honour. When preparing for today, I had the rare experience that friends and colleagues initiated contact with us and their desire and readiness to assist says much about the esteem in which you are held. All who were spoken to expounded the impressive qualities you will bring to the Bench. Before settling on your legal career, I understand – not surprising from what we’ve heard already – that your Honour dreamed of playing cricket for Australia and at one stage considered becoming an English teacher.

However, the love of words you inherited from your mother and the logical mind from your father have provided the perfect foundation for entering the law.  your Honour’s passion for crafting a strong argument, your integrity, your compassion, your humility, work ethic and loyalty have shined through your work as an advocate. Your Honour believes in the law and has been guided by the principle that the law, and your role in it, should always aim to enhance our society. You believe every person deserves equal access to justice; everyone has a right to be heard. It is these attributes that will no doubt ensure that those who come before you will leave knowing that they have been heard and listened to, and that a considered judicial determination has been delivered. As your Honour well knows, this is essential to the fair administration of justice, and it is because of these attributes that the Australian legal profession has complete confidence in your appointment.

One of the volunteers I referred to earlier is former President of the Law Council and now Vice President of the Fair Work Commission, Mr Joe Catanzariti. You worked with Joe from very early in your career. What I think says so much about your Honour, however, is how that came to pass. Your Honour attended a function, had a conversation with Joe, impressed him so much that he offered you a job on the spot. Joe has said he hopes he is still around to witness the very positive contribution that he has no doubt you will make to Australia’s judiciary for many years to come.

Your Honour, today is a solemn occasion. It marks the beginning of a new call to serve for you as a Judge of the Court. It is a call that will require all the power of your acknowledged intellect, wisdom, compassionate understanding of the human condition, and all of your humility in the service of the administration of justice. On behalf of the Australian legal profession, I congratulate your Honour on your appointment, and the profession looks forward to the valuable contribution you will continue to make to the administration of justice in this community. And, of course, I wish your Honour a happy anniversary on your arrival 38 years ago, and at risk of stating the obvious, our community is better for your and your family’s arrival. May it please the Court.

MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Mr Murphy. Justice Shariff, I invite you to reply.

SHARIFF J: Thank you, Chief Justice. We are meeting here today on Gadigal land of the Eora Nation. I acknowledge and pay my respects to their Elders, both past, present and emerging, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, including those who are present or observing online.  

I am humbled by your attendance, and you have done the Court a great honour by coming or observing. I am honoured by the presence of current and former members of this Court and other Courts and Tribunals, including the Honourable Justice Gleeson, Justice of the High Court. I also thank those who have travelled to be here, including my eldest friend from university, Emily, and her husband, Anthony. Members of my extended family are watching the broadcast in India and in Melbourne. Arthur Moses and my close friend, Jarrod, are watching in New York, and Sophie Callan, my good friend, is watching from the south of France. I thank them all and I hope you can hear and see me.

To my family I say As-salam-alaikum, which simply means peace be with you.

Thank you, Mr Melican, Mr Dunning, my friend, Ms Bashir and Mr Murphy for your speeches. I do not have the power to rule upon the admissibility of your material, but I do thank you for exercising some restraint.  

I feel very honoured to be joining the Federal Court; it is a Court both past and present of giants of the law. I note the presence here of the Honourable James Allsop AC who lead this Court with fine distinction and is an eminent legal mind. Chief Justice Mortimer, you are like each of your predecessors, another eminent legal mind. I am thrilled to be working under your stewardship of this Court, and I thank all the Judges of this Court and the staff of this Court for their warm welcome.

As you have heard, today, in fact, marks the 38th anniversary of my arrival here. My parents sacrificed everything and left their lives in Madras for the hopes and dreams of a land of opportunity.  

My family story is not quite the epic saga of the contemporary Indian novel, but it is a story of spirt and inspiration, and please indulge me in speaking to some of it.  

My father was the eldest of eight children. His maternal grandfather was born into poverty and did not complete an education. He found work fixing odd things here and there, including watches. Very quickly he became a self-taught master watchmaker. He made and sold fine watches, including to Officers in the Colonial British Army that then occupied India. My father inherited his grandfather’s love of mechanics. He was the first of his family to attend university and embarked upon a career as an Engineer, but was amongst the early pioneers in India to move into computer science. He had a remarkable mathematical mind, and as you have heard, shunned the use of calculators. From my father, I learnt that every problem could be solved if one started with first principles and worked forward with logic. My father reinforced this to me daily and importantly reminded me to have standards in everything I do. My father had an unwavering work ethic and a commitment to family, and I treasure the many lessons he taught me.

My mother’s parents also commenced life in modest circumstances. My grandfather overcame various adversities and excelled in his studies and attended university and went on to be the Chief Scientist in the Department of Fisheries in Madras. He had a love of what we then called the King’s English, which he passed on to us. My grandfather’s cousin, Dr Aziz Sheriff, and nephew, Dr Afsar Pasha, both studied medicine and became the first two Indian doctors to be permitted to practice in Australia, which they did in the regional Victoria town of Drouin. The Age newspaper of 3 December 1968 reports that they had been recruited by a local pharmacist to work there with the inducement of a three-car garage and a black and white television. Another nephew of my grandparents, Dr Qamar Zaman, and his wife, Dr Nalni Zaman, were amongst the first Indian doctors to have their own practices in the south-west of Sydney. They provided great support to my parents when we moved here, and I thank them. They and their family set the benchmark, not just for academic excellence, but for public service for the rest of our extended clan.  

My mother was bright. She was vivacious and attractive. She completed university with a Bachelors in Zoology, but then made a segway to do a PhD exploring the intersection of western and eastern philosophical thought. My father and mother had a shared passion for reading, and, in particular, the great Urdu and English poets. Although I did not inherit my father’s mathematical mind, I inherited my parents love of words. I miss my parents dearly.  

My greatest strength in life was my maternal grandmother. She was a diminutive woman with a giant heart and spirit and my guiding light. She suffered from acute pain from a childhood injury, and although she lived her life in this perpetual pain, she never let it show or let her spirit waiver. She raised five children, two of whom in turn had disabilities.  

It was my grandmother who taught me to read and write, crouched over her stove, one hand manipulating the meal preparation for the evening ahead, and in the other hand, a piece of chalk and a slate board. She had lived through a great war, sectarian conflict, the partition of a nation and was my beacon of strength. Her love of her children and all her grandchildren was matched only by her love for Australian cricketers, and, in particular, Alan Border, who she encouraged me to emulate with his dogged, never-give-up Australian attitude.  

All of my family was bonded by their faith. None of them ever felt that anything but that their circumstances were borne of universal design. They were also bonded by their shared belief that education was central to progress in life and being of service to others and the community was a virtue.  

None of these giants in my life are here today in person, but I pay tribute to them, and their spirit courses through every fibre of my being.  

My brother, Fahim, is here today, and I thank him for his unconditional love and support and that of his wife and their daughter, Zuniera.  

As you have heard, I attended Carlingford High School in Sydney’s north-west. I am grateful for my public education and to this country for giving me that opportunity. I made many lifelong friends at school, some of them are here today or watching online. Two of my friends, Niro and Peter, also did law. My close friend, Jarrod, is in New York, and I thank them all for their friendship. I am so proud of the collective achievements of all of that remarkable group of friends from school, but more so for the very fine men and women you have all grown up to be.  

Like many others who have gone before me, I had no connection to the law. In the game of chance that is life, in my third year of university, I made a last-minute decision to attend a dinner at Randwick Racecourse. There was no Friday night race meeting, so the only gamble I made was to summon the courage to talk to a then senior partner of Clayton Utz, Joe Catanzariti. He was refreshingly approachable and invited me to interview for a position as his Paralegal. That led to the start of my career at that firm. Joe took me under his wing and taught me about the law. Like other significant people in my life, Joe was committed to public service. As many of you know, Joe went on to be the President of the Law Society and has also been a leader in the community through various organisations.  

The other partner I worked for, Robbie Walker, taught me to write in the old-fashioned way by curbing my enthusiasm with red ink and paring back letters and advices to short, elegant statements. They have both done me an honour by attending today.  

When I mentioned to some senior partners at Clayton Utz that I would be joining the 12th Floor, they suggested I read with Robert Bromwich, who was then a senior junior. Within minutes of sending an email, I had his Honour on the phone, and there began a conversation, like most conversations with Robert, that never seem to end. Much like my father, Robert taught me to learn things from first principles. Robert and his wife, Sancia, introduced me and Sonya to their family life, and they made us feel at home when the Bar seemed like such a strange place. It seems like life has come full circle now that I am back working with his Honour, and I am thrilled about doing so.  

I also read from the Book of Moses – the Moses from Parramatta, that is. This Moses did part the seas for me and delivered manna from heaven in the form of briefs. Arthur taught me a great deal about being fully prepared for hearings, and most importantly, court-craft. One thing I learned from Arthur was to have fun. There were many times we were giggling beyond control in his chambers. Arthur is currently in New York under the guise of settling his son, Nicholas, into his Masters of Law at NYU, but I am fairly confident that Moses is there actually organising a “superpac” for Kanye’s 2024 Presidential bid to “make America rap again”.  

As some or most of you know, Arthur has colourful turns of phrase, and before long I learned them all. When an opponent was being inconsistent, Arthur would protest that there had been a “shifting of the sands” and moving his fingers to demonstrate the point, or that our opponent had “taken more positions than a yoga class in Bondi”. These were not so much Moses’ 10 commandments brought down from Mount Sinai, but they did provide fodder for instructing solicitors and me to occasionally play Moses Bingo. Arthur, I hope you, Kanye and Jay-Z can hear me over there in New York. I do promise I will not yell out “bingo” when you appear before me. Arthur is actually the most generous person I know, and I am grateful that I got to learn from such a master.  

In the years before I took Silk, Wendy Abraham took me under her wing as a mentor and instilled in me a great deal of confidence to be a leader at the Bar. I also had the great privilege of working on matters with John Halley, as you have heard, who by his sheer focus, stamina and meticulous preparation taught me how to pull together long cases. I feel so blessed to join a Court where so many of my mentors are now my colleagues.  

There were many other Silks who influenced me one way or another, and most of them are seated there on the second Bar table.  

My entire life as a barrister has been spent on the 12th Floor. The only barrister I knew on that floor was Jeremy Clarke. He had been the first Barrister I had briefed.  Jeremy exposed me to interesting commercial cases and a method of preparation that was thorough, as well as introducing me to Melbourne Cup betting. I rarely took his advice, to the detriment of my bank account.  

The talent of the women and men of the 12th Floor is incredible, and I doubt I would be offered readership if I were to apply now. As it stands, each of Justices Rares, Perram, Bromwich, Stewart and Abraham are formerly of the 12th Floor. With my addition, that makes six of the 21 members of the Sydney Registry alumni of that floor. It is a pity that I will not get to sit with Justice Rares, whose contribution to the work of this Court will be recognised in due course.  

I have benefited from outstanding Clerks. Bob Rymer guided me and became a friend, and Trish Hoff was an absolute professional. The Floor could not operate without all of its support and administrative staff, and they are very rarely recognised, but you have all helped me along the way.  
To all my colleagues on the 12th Floor, thank you so much.  

I also thank the Directors and staff of Counsel’s Chambers who attend to a thankless, but necessary, task of maintaining the chambers next door.  

I have been blessed to have had tremendous juniors who have made me look good.  All of my eight readers are doing so well, and I am so proud of each of you. I need to mention Callan O’Neill, Tim Kane and Matthew Kalyk, first because they asked to be mentioned, second, because not mentioning them will lead to a torrent of messages like the ones I received late last night and first thing this morning that would place them in contempt, but also, third, because they have been good juniors and friends. Other juniors have not asked to be mentioned, but Jamie, Dilan, Michael, Bilal, Oshie, Leo, Nicholas, Maurice, Jaye and Talia, you are all very talented barristers, and thank you for your friendship.  

Vanja Bulut deserves a special mention. Her story is a remarkable one. She came to this country as a refugee at the age of eight and did not speak English. Vanja, it is my turn to say to you, “you’ve got this”.  

I would not be here without the support of all the solicitors who briefed me. You know who you are, and I cannot single any one of you out. Thank you to each of you for entrusting me with your clients’ cases. It was my great privilege to work with each of you, and clients from every walk of life. Thank you for doing the Court a great honour by attending today and thank you to those of you who travelled from interstate.  

I loved being a member of the Bar Council and participating in the work of its Professional Conduct Committees. I would encourage all of you at some point in your careers to participate in the work of the Bar Council or the Law Society.  

I have every confidence in the future of the Bar. However, it is a hard and punishing profession. The pressure at times can be intense. The Bar, and the legal profession generally, can give you the highest of highs but also the lowest of lows. It is reassuring that the profession as a whole is looking both inwards and outwards to how things that need to change will change and that things that need to remain essential do remain essential. I have great confidence in the leadership of the profession to chart a course that maintains this important balance.

In a difficult profession that can at times be isolating, friends and family are important and bear the burden. For almost my entire time at the Bar, I have shared my professional and personal burden with David Lloyd. I first met David when we shared the electricity supply room on level 12, which was the readers room. We were two middling men sharing a confined space with no air conditioning. It was worse than a teenage boy’s room, but not as bad as Sirtes’ room. In his wedding speech, David aptly described it as worse than doing time in Long Bay Correctional. I agree.  

One of the many things David said to me upon learning of my appointment – and there were many words of counsel – was that becoming a Judge is not an opportunity to settle old scores. I agree with him, with one exception. In a case that was reportedly hyped, I think by Callan O’Neill, as “the Battle Royale of the 12th Floor”, which saw Shariff take on Lloyd, the score stands one-nil in my favour. Now that I have settled the only score I will settle, can I say, David, you are a remarkable barrister, an incredible advocate and an even better friend. I have no doubt that in due course, I will be at your welcome ceremony. My Personal Assistant, Kathryn Zappia, may well deserve a Public Service Medal for having to work for both me and David and maintaining her sanity. Kath, you have been so much more than a Personal Assistant to us; you have been a loyal and incredible friend.  

By far the most significant influence in my adult life has been Sonya. I would not be here but for Sonya’s love and support. Our partners do not have a choice about what kind of partner they will see at the end of a long day, but they do have a choice as to the comfort and solace they provide us. Sonya provided me with that and more. My achievements in the profession are due to her. Sonya, you are an incredibly talented lawyer, an amazing mother, and my life has been enriched by you. It is fashionable to speak of the burdens that fall upon partners. It is fashionable because it is true. I was not present when I needed to be, and there were times when I was physically present, but I was absent in other ways. I am sorry, Sonya, that you bore the burden of that.  

Sonya’s mother, Mary, whose birthday it is today, has been like a mother to me. And she, along with her brother Kevin, have provided great support to us.  

To my delightful children, Gabriel and Camilla, you light up my life and bring me such unparalleled joy. I love you so much, and you make me so proud by your kind, gentle and loving natures. I do promise that I will not seek to exercise any of my Judge’s powers on you if you misbehave. I just count myself lucky every day that I get to be your dad.

I started my life in a different land, in a different time, in a different culture. Although my path has been unique to me, all the Judges of this Court and its staff have each had their journeys with their own rich family histories, their own share of ups and downs, good and bad fortune. It makes us human, and it makes us representative of the community in which we live. How I got here is much like how anyone else gets here. I had good fortune, and I was lifted by the people I have mentioned and others.  

You, the Australian community, embraced me and gave me every opportunity. Those of us who are migrants – and in a way, we all are – yearn to belong. You have done me the greatest honour by appointing me as one of your number. Tim Winton writes in his book, Island Home, that this country kind of leans in on you. And it does. It has lent in on me, and I have lent on it. Early on in my career, Arthur Moses emailed me a speech given by Chief Justice Spigelman to a group of high school students. The Chief Justice noted that he had arrived here at the age of three as a refugee, and the Chief Justice said this:

If one looks around the world, the nations in which it could be seriously expected that a transition to an office like Chief Justiceship could be achieved by a migrant in one generation can be counted on the fingers of one hand. This says something very positive about Australia.  

The words of Chief Justice Spigelman ring true to me. We live in a country where a Jewish man who was not born here, arrived as a refugee, rose to being the Chief Justice of the State. Another man of Jewish faith was appointed to the High Court and then became the first Australian-born Governor-General. The current Chief Justice of the High Court was born in Cairns, dropped out of school at the age of 15 and studied law part time whilst working as a secretary. The incoming Chief Justice of the High Court grew up in the Upper Hunter Valley town of Sandy Hollow. The next appointee to the High Court was raised in the north-west of Tasmania in a village called Savage River. The former Chief Justice of this Court trained as a teacher. The current Chief Justice of this Court was born in New Zealand and was publicly educated there.  

There are more of these stories and, as I have said, the stories of the other Judges of this Court and its staff, and all of you present here and online, bind us together as one. As a country, there is undoubtedly more that we can do for those without opportunity, but this truly for me has been the land of the hopes and dreams of my mother and father. 

Thank you for affording me all the opportunities that you have and opening all the many doors that each of you has done for me. It is my time to repay you. I will listen, and I will do my best to well and truly serve you. But the time has now come for me to do just that. To borrow from Robert Frost, I have promises to keep and many miles to go before I sleep.

MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Justice Shariff. The Court will now adjourn.

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