Storm of criticism from lawyers about Campbell Newman's promotion of chief magistrate to state's top judicial post

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Australian Bar Association has warned the independence of the judiciary is “under threat” in Queensland and the state's law society has also added its voice to concerns over the Newman government's appointment of Tim Carmody QC as chief justice of the supreme court.



The developments increase pressure on the Queensland attorney general, Jarrod Bleijie, stemming from the designation of Carmody, currently chief magistrate, as the next chief justice.

Peter Davis QC had already resigned as Queensland Bar Association president in protest at the alleged leaking and distortion of private conversations he had with Bleijie and a government staffer as part of consultations in the lead-up to Carmody’s appointment.

Now the Australian Bar Association president, Mark Livesey QC, has said barristers across Australia support Davis's “principled stand” and Bleijie must consider whether the “breakdown in trust” can be repaired.

“If confidentiality in the judicial appointment process cannot be assured [Bleijie] must reconsider whether he can continue in his position,” Livesey said in a statement.

“The handling of this matter has seriously called into question the appointment process and judicial independence … It is essential to public confidence in the administration of justice that the process for the appointment of a chief justice should ensure that the appointment is made, and is seen to be made, solely on the basis of merit and with complete impartiality.”

The Queensland Law Society, which represents solicitors and originally “warmly welcomed” Carmody's appointment, has now described the issues raised by Davis as “of fundamental concern to the administration of justice in Queensland”.

In a letter to members, the society's president, Ian Brown, said it was critically important that confidentiality of communications was maintained when consultation was undertaken, and the profession must resist any attempt to compromise its independence.

“The matters raised by Peter Davis QC are of singular concern as they go to the process of judicial appointment which, if tainted, runs the very great risk of undermining the conﬁdence of the profession and the community in individual appointments which then ﬂows on to the larger institution of the courts,” Brown said in the letter, a copy of which was published by the online law journal Justinian.

“Such an outcome cannot be contemplated. The issues raised must be addressed if we are to preserve conﬁdence in our system of justice.”

On Thursday, when the appointment was announced, Brown issued a statement saying Carmody had served the profession with “great distinction” and would carry out the new role with “dignity, integrity and compassion”.

But senior legal figures publicly questioned Carmody's suitability for the role, before and after the government formally announced the appointment on Thursday.

Critics have included Queensland's former solicitor general, Walter Sofronoff QC, and the retired supreme court judges Richard Chesterman QC and George Fryberg.

One of the strongest rebukes came from the head of the landmark 1980s corruption inquiry in Queensland, Tony Fitzgerald QC, who said “the megalomaniacs currently holding power in Queensland” were “prepared to damage even fundamental institutions like the supreme court and cast doubt on fundamental principles like the independence of the judiciary”.

On Sunday the Newman cabinet minister Ian Walker called on critics to stop fuelling the war of words, saying Carmody deserved to be given a fair go.

Walker, a former solicitor and now the minister for science, IT, innovation and the arts, said: “People have got to put a sock in it, they’ve got to shut up and they’ve got to let justice Carmody get on with the job.”



Carmody, a former family court judge and former Queensland crime commissioner, declared that he was “fiercely independent” as he hit back at claims that he was seen to be too close to the government.

In a sign of the controversy surrounding the appointment, Carmody told Fairfax Media on Friday that it was “regrettable that not one of the supreme court judges has congratulated me yet”.

He vowed to seek to earn the respect of colleagues: “I would’ve thought, of all professions, that lawyers would understand and give practical expression to fairness, the fair go.”

Bleijie responded to Davis's letter by declaring he had “not engaged in rumour and innuendo” and did not intend to do so now.

“The government consulted extensively and carefully considered all submissions from the legal profession regarding the appointment of the chief justice, and the decision was made with the premier on Wednesday afternoon," Bleijie said.

Also on Saturday the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties questioned Carmody's rapid promotion, and details emerged of a dinner between Bleijie and Carmody at the Brisbane restaurant Urbane on 5 September last year, a week before he took over as chief magistrate.

Bleijie told the Australian Associated Press the dinner was a “congratulatory catch-up” after the chief magistrate announcement and that he saw “various members of the judiciary socially from time to time”.

Davis said on Saturday he was humbled to have received about 200 text messages and emails from around the country applauding his decision to resign.

He believed there was “little if any support for the [Carmody] appointment within the legal profession and little or none within the ranks of sitting supreme court judges”.

In his resignation letter Davis alleged that Ryan Haddrick, a barrister who served as Bleijie's interim chief of staff after the 2012 election and then acted as a junior counsel at a government-ordered child protection inquiry headed by Carmody, had told a bar council member “that the statutory power of the bar association to issue practising certificates could be removed”.

Davis said the attorney general's office assured him “that what Haddrick had said was untrue and not authorised by the government”. Davis said he had a conversation with Carmody and “it was evident that the judge had been told the substance of the confidential conversations I had had with the attorney general concerning him”.

Davis said the premier, Campbell Newman, and Bleijie subsequently announced Carmody's appointment “as accurately predicted by Haddrick”.

Guardian Australia sought comment from Haddrick on Friday but is yet to receive a response.

