Ceremonial Sitting of the Full Court
to Welcome the Honourable Justice Hill
Transcript of proceedings
THE HONOURABLE DEBRA MORTIMER, CHIEF JUSTICE
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MORDECAI BROMBERG
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE BERNARD MURPHY
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MELISSA PERRY
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE JONATHAN BEACH
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE DAVID O’CALLAGHAN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE KATRINA BANKS-SMITH
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MICHAEL WHEELAHAN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MICHAEL O’BRYAN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE JOHN SNADEN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE SHAUN MCELWAINE
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE LISA HESPE
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE CATHERINE BUTTON
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE CHRISTOPHER HORAN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE PENELOPE NESKOVCIN
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE CRAIG DOWLING
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE ELIZABETH BENNETT
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE GRAEME HILL
MELBOURNE
9.16 AM, TUESDAY, 13 MAY 2025
MORTIMER CJ: A warm welcome to you all. This building sits on the country of the people of the Eastern Kulin Nation. For many generations before colonisation, their ancestors walked these lands, cared for their country and practised their laws and customs in their languages. I recognise and respect the determination of Eastern Kulin Nation Elders and their communities to restore and preserve their connection to country, their laws, their customs and their languages. We’re honoured this morning to be joined by a number of distinguished guests, including former and present colleagues of the Supreme Court of Victoria and of this court, and it’s very good to see so many members of counsel, solicitors, members of the Academy, and colleagues from federal and state tribunals and courts. Welcome especially to those who may not be in court as regularly as most of us – members of Justice Hill’s family and friends. No one achieves a milestone like this on their own, and today is an opportunity to acknowledge all the support and encouragement which has enabled his Honour to reach this point in his distinguished career.
It is also the occasion where the profession and the community can understand and reflect on the exceptional qualities and attributes which his Honour will bring to his work as a justice of this court. Justice Hill, the affirmation of office you took on 2 April this year binds you, as it does each of us, to administer justice according to law with independence, fairness, courage and impartiality. I’m confident you will do so, and I am confident in your dedication to excellent public service on this court. Congratulations on your appointment. Mr Matthew Blunn, Australian Government Solicitor representing the Attorney-General for the Commonwealth, I invite you to address the court.
MR M BLUNN: May it please the court. I, too, would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders, past and present. I also extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today. It is a particular privilege for me to have the opportunity to congratulate your Honour on your appointment as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, being in a position, as I am, to speak of my direct experience of your Honour. That your Honour’s achievements would be subject of a welcome speech to this honourable court is of no surprise. That I have the privilege of giving that speech is a surprise to us both, given our relative scores at university. On behalf of the Attorney-General and the Australian Government, I thank your Honour for your willingness to serve as a judge of this court. The government extends its best wishes for your career on the bench.
Your Honour’s appointment to the Federal Court has been warmly welcomed by the Australian legal community, and is another success in an eminent career. That so many of your colleagues in the judiciary and the legal profession are here today is a testament to the high regard in which your colleagues hold your Honour. May I particularly acknowledge the Honourable Chief Justice, Richard Niall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Ms Róisín Annesley KC, President of the Australian Bar Association, Mr Justin Hannebery KC, President of the Victorian Bar Association, Mr Matthew Hibbins, President of the Law Institute of Victoria and representing the Law Council of Australia, and 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, I am certain, proudly share this occasion with you – your wife, Adrienne, sons, Jonathan and David, your father, Tony, and his partner, Cheryl, and sisters, Alison and Jenni. Your Honour’s early years were spent in Hobart with your parents, Peta and Tony, and older sisters Alison and Jenni. Your high school years were enjoyed in Canberra after your Honour’s fortunate relocation.
Your Honour’s great childhood passions were music and cricket, and these passions have stayed with you to this day. Your Honour was a fast and fearsome bowler and represented the Australian Capital Territory for interstate school cricket. Among many sporting triumphs, a favourite memory of your Honour’s is dismissing fellow school boy and international cricketer-to-be Michael Bevan, the significance of which will not be lost on anyone who played or watched cricket in the 1980s. A reasonably small cohort in context.
In a household of impressive, articulate women, your Honour worked extra hard to keep up with your older sisters, who were great sportswomen, excellent students, and champion debaters. I understand we can attribute some of your Honour’s focus and resilience in your career to your time fighting to get in a few words at the dinner table. Your Honour attended the Australian National University and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours and the university medal. School and university friends described your Honour as an infuriatingly efficient student who somehow managed to complete coursework quickly while balancing a social life, sport and music. Your Honour’s quiet intelligence was not lost on your friends.
Your Honour went on to complete your Masters of Laws in 2001 at Columbia University, specialising in constitutional law and graduating with the highest level of honours as James Kent Scholar. Your Honour was admitted to practise in the Australian Capital Territory in 1993 and commenced a legal career as a government lawyer with the Attorney-General’s Department and Australian Government Solicitor. You worked as a legal advisor, then in constitutional litigation, before being called to the bar in 2007 and finally taking silk in 2021.
During your time as a government lawyer, your Honour took well-earned opportunities as your capacity was recognised. In 1997, your Honour was the Associate to the Honourable Justice Kenneth Hayne, AC KC, at the High Court of Australia. Later, upon the conclusion of your Master’s degree in 2001, your Honour was appointed as counsel assisting the then Commonwealth Solicitor-General, David Bennett AC QC. After an impressive career in government service, your Honour joined the Bar where you would be known for your intellect and hard-working nature, both attributes reflected in the quality of your submissions. It could be said that your Honour was incredible in Court, succinct, persuasive, particularly known for your work on native title compensation cases, having appeared most recently in the Yunupingu matter.
Your Honour has also made significant contributions to legal education, including as a co-author of the last three editions of Hanks’ Constitutional Law in Australia. Your Honour was an occasional lecturer at the University of Melbourne between 2009 and 2016, and despite your workload, your Honour found time to mentor six readers, with whom you have developed relationships of respect and confidence. Admiring friends and colleagues speak of your Honour’s vast catalogue of knowledge and interests, bringing a creative flair to anything you do. I am also told that your Honour’s party trick is your ability to recall the precise Commonwealth Law Report citation for any High Court case and often the page on which a particular passage appeared. Your encyclopedic recall extends to the subject area of Broadway musicals, finding a way to sprinkle quotes or lyrics in any discussion.
Throughout your career, your Honour has been known as an extraordinary colleague and friend, a genuine person who is interested in other people, and as someone who goes out of their way to connect and organise a get-together. Chambers will miss your social morning coffee, outings and floor lunches. Over and above your commitment to legal work and scholarship, your Honour has always been devoted to your wife, Adrienne, and a dedicated and patient father to your sons, Jonty and David. You share your love of music – I understand mostly – and movies with your sons. I’m told that David had a love of trains and that your Honour had a Saturday morning routine of taking train trips with him, often selecting far-flung stations to visit and take a souvenir photo.
I’m told your Honour gladly continued this tradition on a family holiday to Paris, enjoying a day-long tour of the Paris Métro with David, allowing Adrienne to take in the museums and sites of Paris. Jonty’s Paris treat is strangely unexplained. I understand that those who came to know your Honour also come to know your musical talents and fixations. I am told your Honour’s late mother, Peta, had been uneasy about you diverting your career in music and taking up the law, but felt much better once you had won the university medal.
Nonetheless, your Honour has continued to pursue your musical talent as well as legal talents, having written a full-length musical and many other smaller compositions. At the wedding of a university friend many years ago, after the speeches had finished, your Honour mentioned that you had composed a song for the happy couple. Your Honour then brought the house down by going to the piano, playing the ballad to an admiring throng and proceeding to take requests for the rest of the evening as the wedding turned into a sing-along, a highlight which is recalled by all those in attendance, including the bride and groom. I understand your Honour also greatly admires musical skill in others, particularly the works of Lin-Manuel Miranda, with Hamilton being a favourite. I’m told your Honour loves all forms of music, from classical to jazz and pop. The only real exception is heavy metal, which perhaps, not coincidentally, is your eldest son’s preferred genre.
In conclusion, in the midst of our fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favourite object of my heart and the happy reward as I trust of our mutual cares, labours and dangers, I congratulate your Honour on your appointment. Your Honour takes on this judicial office with the best wishes of the Australian legal profession, and it is trusted that you will approach this role with exceptional dedication to the law as you have shown throughout your career. On behalf of the Attorney-General, the Australian Government and the Australian people, I extend to you my sincere congratulations for your appointment to the Federal Court of Australia. May it please the Court.
MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Mr Blunn. Ms Annesley, President of the Australian Bar Association.
MS R. ANNESLEY KC: May it please the Court. I appear on behalf of the Australian Bar Association. It is always a day of great pride for the Bar when one of its own takes an appointment. On behalf of the 7000 barristers who make up the State and Territory Bars, may I extend my sincere congratulations to your Honour on your well-deserved appointment. It is not at all surprising that your Honour was appointed to this Court, given the regularity with which you appeared both in the first instance and on appeal, particularly in migration law matters. For your Honour, it must feel very much like going to your favourite theatre, just moving from the stools to the box seats.
Your Honour has left a busy and demanding practise at the Bar. As a result of your vast professional experience, your Honour brings to this Court superior intellect, outstanding analytical skill, a passion for the law and administration of justice, a prodigious work ethic and a proven track record of succinct writing. Mr Blunn for the Commonwealth has spoken eloquently to the personal and professional journey that has brought your Honour to this point. It is apparent that your Honour’s career has been one notable for your considerable public service. First as a solicitor initially in the Attorney-General’s Department, and then in the Australian Government Solicitor’s Office, then as an associate to the Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC KC and as counsel Assistant Commonwealth Solicitor General David Bennett AC QC.
Your Honour’s appointment to this Court is an extension of your selfless and continuing commitment to public service and the community. On behalf of the Australian Bar, may I wish your Honour a happy and long and distinguished career as a judge of this Court. May it please the Court.
MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Ms Annesley. Mr Hannebery, President of the Victorian Bar Association.
MR J. HANNEBERY KC: May it please the Court. It’s my privilege today on behalf of the Victorian Bar to welcome your Honour to this Honourable Court. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the peoples of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present. Although your Honour spent most of your professional life here in Victoria, it turns out we are lucky to have you. Your journey began in Tasmania, born to school teachers Peta and Tony, and attending the Friends’ School, where your father taught maths. The family later moved to Canberra, where you completed your schooling at Canberra
Boys Grammar, and then studied law at the Australian National University, graduating with a university medal in 1992.
Following admission to practise in the ACT in 1993, you worked at the Attorney-General’s Department, and then the Australian Government Solicitor, chiefly under David Bennett QC, head of the Constitutional Litigation Unit and the first of several formative mentors. In 1997, you took up a position as associate to the Honourable Kenneth Hayne of the High Court, another key mentor who recalls your deep interest in the law, particularly the work of the High Court, as legendary even then. Your Honour’s encyclopedic knowledge of the Commonwealth Law Reports, volume and page numbers included, remains a topic of whispered awe among colleagues.
During this time, you also became close friends with another High Court associate, now Justice Rowena Orr of the Court of Appeal. Seeking broader horizons, you headed to the United States, completing a Master of Laws at Columbia University in 2001, where you graduated a James Kent Scholar. Your Honour’s housemate at the time, now your wife, Professor Adrienne Stone, recalls your time living at Riverside Drive at 92nd Street as formative and full of life-long friendships, including with Jill Copeland, now of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. We also hear you made good use of Manhattan’s theatre scene and cultural distractions.
Given you were studying US election law during that groundbreaking case Bush v Gore, it’s something of a miracle you returned at all. But return you did. Back in Australia, you worked as counsel assisting the Commonwealth solicitor general, David Bennett AC KC, before moving to Melbourne and signing the Victorian bar role in 2007. Your mentor at the bar was Richard Niall, now Chief Justice Niall, who helped you establish a flourishing practice on level 22 of Owen Dixon West. You quickly developed a reputation for complex administrative and public law, including constitutional, migration, and native title matters.
In a generous passing on of opportunities you had received, your Honour took on six readers: Hannah Douglas, Joshua Lessing, Joel Tito, Thomas Wood, Gregory Buchhorn, and Timothy Farhall, all of whom benefited from your sharp intellect, warmth, and quiet wisdom. Mr Lessing recalls that your advocacy was always technically sound, eloquently delivered, and marked by impeccable curtesy. You were always, he says, very much the gentleman in the argument. Your Honour’s readers also speak of your dry sense of humour and your egalitarian embrace of high and low culture, one moment debating symphonies, the next discussing which James Cameron movie is superior.
These worlds notably collided during a lunch on level 22. A group of senior barristers and retired High Court judges were puzzling over an unusual land measurement term, fetch, which, of course, as we all know here, means the distance wind travels unobstructed over water. Having been silent until then, you suddenly piped up with the exclamation “Stop trying to make fetch happen.” While your reader Hannah Douglas burst into laughter, the Mean Girls reference was utterly lost on the rest of the room. We understand that your Honour, however, looked quietly pleased with himself.
You shared chambers with many distinguished barristers, several now judges, including the Honourable Ken Hayne. He remembers you as a thoughtful companion, an instigator of the lunchtime age quiz group, which prompted much laughter. You will be greatly missed there. Peter Hanks KC, another colleague, described you as a bit of a polymath, referring perhaps to your love of trashy films, cricket, musical theatre compositions, and unyielding passion for constitutional law. On that final subject, he says you’re full bottle on chapter 3 of the Constitution, the bit that separates judicial power from the legislative and executive branches. Fittingly, ten years ago, you joined Mr Hanks and Frances Gordon KC as co-authors of Hanks Constitutional Law in Australia, editions 3 to 5, a tome that is considered one of the leading texts in the field.
Leading up to and after taking silk in 2021, your Honour appeared in a wide range of significant constitutional and public law cases. One matter, Griffiths v Northern Territory, offers a window into your work – the legal implications of land rights and the extent to which the Commonwealth can extinguish them. There are too many other important cases to mention. Mr Hanks recalls that appearing opposite you was always an intellectual rather than bruising experience. You approached advocacy as a contest of ideas, not egos, and brought to Court not only careful argument, but friendliness and decency.
Your family is proud of you today. Your father, Tony, your wife, Adrienne, your sons, David and Jonathan, who we understand have inherited your eclectic tastes for film and music. Your sisters, Jenni, Justice Jenni Hill of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, and Alison, a chemistry professor at the University of Exeter, no doubt your late mother Peta would have been proud too. Whether your beloved mini Dachshund Brian notices the change at home remains to be seen. Your Honour brings to the bench a keen intellect, quiet diligence, deep legal knowledge and a strong humanity. These qualities will serve you and the people of Australia exceptionally well. You will make an excellent judge. As Peter Hanks KC put it, you’ve stored up an enormous fund of knowledge ready now to be put to great effect. “He will be great,” he said. May it please the Court.
MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Mr Hannebery. Mr Hibbins, President of the Law Institute of Victoria and representing the Law Council of Australia.
MR M. HIBBINS: May it please the Court. I appear on behalf of the Law Council of Australia and the Law Institute of Victoria to welcome your Honour as a Justice of this Court. Unfortunately, the president of the LCA, Juliana Warner, is unable to attend today, but sends her congratulations and best wishes on your appointment to this Court. I echo the respectful acknowledgement of the traditional custodians of the land that we gather on, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and I pay my respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders that are with us today.
Your Honour, it is a great privilege and great pleasure to speak to you today at your ceremonial welcome to the Federal Court. As we’ve heard from my colleagues, you are highly regarded across the legal profession. Through a distinguished career in the Federal Public Service and at the Bar, my colleagues have spoken a lot about your later career. I would particularly like to focus on your work at the Attorney-General’s Department and the Australian Government Solicitor advising on Constitutional Litigation until 2006. In those roles, you were respected for your excellence and general enthusiasm for opinion writing. Your colleague and distinguished Commonwealth KC, Guy Aitken, took time out of his holiday to speak about your extraordinary early intellectual interest in the law, particularly constitutional law.
Guy says you had an unusual enthusiasm for opinion writing during your time with the Office of General Counsel of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. While others moaned about being overwhelmed by work, you would gratefully take on any task. With your appointment to this Court, Guy points out that you join your former colleagues from the OGC, the Honourable Chris Horan and the Honourable Geoffrey Kennett, now also of this Court. Your Honour began in the finance unit of the OGC in the early 1990s under the mentorship of two outstanding Government lawyers, George Witynski and Peter Lahy, PSM. Guy says you thrived in this environment, recalling the settling-in process sometimes resembled a good cop, bad cop interrogation, with George Witynski providing the tough love so conducive for a young lawyer to flourish in that office.
Your Honour went on to work initially with David Bennett KC, head of the Constitutional Litigation Unit of the Attorney-General’s Department, and then as counsel assisting the then Commonwealth Solicitor-General, a different David Bennett KC AO. We understand they often received each other’s mail. Guy says it’s impossible to perceive of a better grounding in Commonwealth public law than the experience that you’ve had, particularly given that you distinguished yourself in each of these roles. David Bennett, who you worked with for many years in the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, says the characteristic which you set apart from other lawyers was your ability to put constitutional issues into a broader context.
You were a person who thought deeply about everything and how everything fits together in relationships between the Commonwealth and the States and between individual States, issues which go to the heart of our Constitution. And as we’ve heard a number of times today, remarkably, you never had to look up the citations. David says you have a mind that allows you to recall these sorts of details without hesitation. Your intellectual contribution was always valued and immensely helpful to the Constitutional Litigation Unit, and you enjoyed talking about constitutional law, often for a very long time. Others found it helpful to talk through the complex issues with you to help them clarify their own thoughts.
At the Bar, you also immersed yourself in administrative law and immigration law, where you brought the same capacity for comprehensive knowledge of law and the ability to listen to others. This capacity to listen and to think about what people are saying to you will be invaluable in your new role. Peter Lahy, now retired from the Attorney-General’s department, fondly recalls working with you in those early days of your career as a solicitor, providing advice on constitutional matters to the Commonwealth and government departments. He says you were always a highly intellectual, focused, and determined young man, always ready and willing to draft briefs.
The thing he remembers clearly is your appetite for work. You would often ask if there was something that you could do for your manager, and there always was. You were dogged in your work and very helpful to those around you. Peter was delighted to hear of your appointment and wishes you well in the new role. Your interest and experience in constitutional law has of course been contributed to the publication of a series of books and legal articles which have led most observers to realise what a remarkable public lawyer you are. You published numerous articles in the Federal Law Review and elsewhere about the exercise of judicial power by the Commonwealth and the role of executive power of the states. Your conclusions would have a major implication for Commonwealth state cooperative legislative schemes.
However, as we’ve heard, you are perhaps best known for your seminal work as co-author of the third to fifth editions of Hanks’ Constitutional Law in Australia, an authority and comprehensive guide to Australian constitutional law. In the latest edition published in 2024, you and your colleagues explored further the major themes and issues relating to the structure and function of government in Australia, drawing on formal constitutional documents, legislation, judicial decisions, political practice, and academic commentary. It is used extensively as a guide to the legal aspects of government in Australia. It has been called the most comprehensive, authoritative, and critical account of the rules which structure and reflect the exercise of political power in this country.
Finally, we know that your depth of practical knowledge, experience, and intellectual insights will be greatly appreciated by all those who appear before you. On behalf of the solicitors of this country and the state of Victoria, I thank you for your service to our community, and I wish you a long and satisfying career as a justice of this court. We wish all the best to you and your family in this next chapter of your life in the law. May it please the court.
MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Mr Hibbins. Justice Hill, I invite you to reply.
HILL J: Thank you, your Honour. I thank the Attorney-General’s representative, the Chief Justice, judicial brethren and colleagues, distinguished guests, and perhaps not quite so distinguished guests. I also acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and pay my respect to their elders, past and present. You’ve heard that I’m the youngest of three children. That means I’m used to not being the first person to do something, which is just as well. I’m not the first person in my immediate family to be a judge. My sister is a judge of the Western Australian Supreme Court. I’m certainly not the first person on level 22 of Owen Dixon West to become a judge. I think we’re almost at double figures there. And I’m not even the first Graeme Hill to be appointed to this court.
But originality is not something prized among judges. If a judgment of mine is ever described as very original, I doubt that would be intended as a compliment. So today, respecting precedent, and eschewing originality, I will take the familiar course of acknowledging and thanking people who ought to be thanked. I begin with a general thank you to all attending, and a thank you for all the kind words from the earlier speakers. Now, Matthew Blunn and I have known each other since the first semester of law school, and it seems we were a little bit surprised as to where we’ve ended up, but we’re entirely unsurprised that the other person has achieved what they’ve achieved. So I reciprocate, Matthew – it is the least surprising thing in the world to me that you’re now the Australia Government Solicitor.
Moving on, there are five groups of people who I should thank particularly after that general thank you. I will thank them in roughly chronological order. The first group, of course, is my family – first in all senses. As you’ve heard, my parents were both high school teachers, and my father was the first person in his family to attend university. He and my mother made a lot of sacrifices for us, and I would like to think all their hard work paid off. It’s great to see you. Unfortunately my mother died in 2017, but she was around when it really counted. My father and his partner Cheryl have come from Canberra. My sister Alison has come all the way from Devon, and my sister Jenni has come all the way from Perth. I thank them for making the journey to be here, and it’s great to see them.
Going out of chronological order, family also means my wife, Adrienne, and our sons, David and Jonathan. They are the people who make my life worth living. I’m very pleased that Adrienne’s father, also a Jonathan, is here today. Adrienne’s mother died in 2021, but she was a member of this Court. I said hello to her picture on the way in today. I think she’s here with us in spirit.
The second group are my friends in the ranks of government lawyers. I’m very pleased to my Law Society colleague for mentioning George Witynski and Peter Lahy. Peter’s here today. They were my first two bosses when I left law school. And it was Peter who advised me never to paraphrase a statutory provision, but to quote it exactly. And the metaphor of good cop, bad cop actually is pretty apt if I think about it. I met a few other people at that time, including a promising young summer clerk called Andrew Buckland. Now, the reason that’s funny is Andrew Buckland is now Andrew Buckland KC, Chief General Counsel of Australia. He has made the journey here today as well, so it’s great to see you, Andrew.
The second half of my government practise was in Commonwealth Constitutional Litigation, and you have heard there were two David Bennetts. You would think it would be confusing, but it wasn’t, because they’re such different people. David Bennett, the Solicitor-General, is a larger-than-life figure and a legend of the law. I share with him a love of terrible puns and extended analogies.
AGS David Bennett was a much quieter figure, and he knew more about constitutional law and Commonwealth government policy than perhaps anyone ever could or should. And I often think about AGS David and his unyielding pursuit of excellence if I’m ever tempted to take a shortcut. Now, as we’ve heard, some of the people I met during this time, and our colleagues, particularly Justice Kennett and Justice Horan, but also, a person who I briefed a lot as a junior solicitor was Justice Melissa Perry. It’s great to see all those people again.
The third group, really a dynamic duo, is Justice Ken Hayne and Justice Michelle Gordon. Since his retirement, he insists he’s just Ken – very up-to-date cultural references, as you can see. I had the privilege of working as Ken’s Canberra associate in 1997, and that experience completely changed the trajectory of my career. And he has remained a valued mentor ever since. Working for Ken also meant that I was brought into the path of Justice Gordon, who has also been a source of much invaluable advice. She told me to get off my keister and apply for Silk, which I did. But she also recommended that I see if I could read with a promising young Barrister called Richard Niall.
That brings me to the fourth group, my family in the law in Melbourne, particularly my colleagues on level 8 Melbourne Chambers, and then level 22, Owen Dixon West. I owe particular thanks to Richard Niall, who was my mentor, and Chief Justice Debbie Mortimer, who was my de facto senior mentor, and Peter Hanks. Richard was as fine a mentor as I think anyone could ask for, and he and Debbie were crucial in broadening my perspective on the law. I should also express my gratitude to List G. Barristers and the Victorian Bar generally. I think there was a choice of going to Sydney or Melbourne, and I think we in Melbourne should be proud of the fact that it’s set up in such a way that people can come to the Bar without having to mortgage their souls and take on expensive commercial work to pay for it, but can come into the Bar and do public service work as I did.
I would also like to thank people at the Court who have been very gracious and helpful and welcoming to the Court. I thank in particular my two interim associates, Ben and Seda, and my associate, Elijahrsquo, who's sitting there, and my executive assistant, Elaine, who’s sitting there. So I think we’ve now got the full team together, and we’re ready to do some judging.
The fifth and final group is three people deserving of thanks who I couldn’t fit in under any other general rubric. On my notes, I have “other,” but they all deserve serious thanks. The first person is Professor Robin Creyke, who taught me administrative law. I wouldn’t have any career at all if not for Robin. So I thank you, Robin. It’s great to see you.
The second person is Sturt Glacken KC. And I’ve been looking for him. I don’t know if he is – there we go. Sturt led me in those led me in those two cases, the Timber Creek compensation case and Yunupingu, and they’re career highlights, and I owe that opportunity to Sturt. I heard from a colleague recently – so Sturt and I, there was what you could call some creative tension. It’s probably less McCartney and Lennon and more like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. But I heard from a colleague that he was having a bit of an argument with Sturt, and Sturt said “God, it’s like arguing with Graeme Hill.” Of course I assume he said that either nostalgically or admiringly. I should just say, as a measure of the opportunities Sturt gave me, the only souvenirs I’ve kept from the bar are a couple of maps and a painting from the Timber Creek case. So it was, as I say, a great opportunity that Sturt gave me.
The third person I want to mention and thank is someone who I’ve never met and whose name I don’t know. I mentioned earlier that working in Ken Hayne’s chambers completely changed the course of my career, but the thing was, I wasn’t the first person offered that job. His associate who was coming with him from the Court of Appeal rang someone else, this mystery person, and offered her the job, and she said “I don’t want that job. Can I have your job in Melbourne?” So thank you to that random person, because without you, I may never have got the chance to work for Ken, and things would have been very different.
May I conclude by saying something brief about my new role. It’s lovely to have this one occasion to talk about me, because it’s the only time that things should ever be about me in this place. I am acutely conscious of the very great responsibility that this job entails. There is much to learn and a great deal of hard work ahead, but that’s what makes the task worth doing. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I can promise to do it to the best of my abilities.
MORTIMER CJ: Thank you, Hill J. Now, before the court adjourns, it is an unplanned coincidence that this ceremony is occurring today with the swearing in of the new ministry of the Federal Government. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the exceptional public service of the former Attorney-General to the Commonwealth, the Honourable Mark Dreyfus KC MP, and I respectfully welcome the new Attorney-General for the Commonwealth, Michelle Rowland. Please adjourn the court.
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