That’s a rap: raucous send-off for new High Court judge
NSW might be claiming new High Court justice Robert Beech-Jones as one of its own, but a farewell on Thursday left it clear that his heart lies with Tasmania.
The NSW Supreme Court’s ceremony to mark the judge’s 11 years of service was thick on the ground with references to the judge’s early years in Savage River, a mining town of 150 on the state’s west coast.
NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell reckoned his appointment had corrected a historical wrong – the passing over of Constitution co-author Andrew Inglis Clark for a seat on the first High Court.
Justice Robert Beech Jones (left) speaks at his farewell to the NSW Supreme Court, with Chief Justice Andrew Bell. Gillianne Tedder
Chief Justice Bell noted Justice Beech-Jones had “memorably” begun a paragraph in a judgment with the sentence, “Tasmania is too often overlooked”.
He even invoked the judge’s home town as he suggested the sartorial standards of the High Court might drop when he is sworn in on November 6 and fills the seat left by the retirement of Chief Justice Susan Kiefel.
“His ink-stained CCA [Court of Criminal Appeal] robes, which resemble Jackson Pollock’s smock, will soon be repossessed and may well adorn a mannequin for the purposes of our bicentennial celebrations next year.
“In memory of his Honour’s boyhood home, the mannequin might come to be known as ‘The Savage from Savage River’.”
On a more serious note, Chief Justice Bell said there had been “a compelling case” for the appointment of a state judge with deep experience in criminal law.
The High Court had been left short on that front with the retirements of Virginia Bell in 2020 and Patrick Keane in 2022. And the previous five appointments had come from the Federal Court.
“There was an equally
Read more on afr.com
