Ceremonial - Welcome to the Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason, Mr Justice Toohey, Justice Gaudron and Justice McHugh - Hobart

[1990] HCATrans 47

H I G H C O U R T O F A U S T R A L I A

SPECIAL SITTING

WELCOME TO

THE CHIEF JUSTICE SIR ANTHONY MASON, K.B.E.

and

JUSTICE TOOHEY, A.O., JUSTICE GAUDRON and JUSTICE McHUGH, A.C.

AT

HOBART

TUESDAY, 13 MARCH 1990

ON

Coram:

MASON CJ

TOOHEY J

GAUDRON J

McHUGH J

Speaker:

Mr P. Slicer, on behalf of the Law Society of Tasmania and

the Bar Association of Tasmania

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

MR SLICER:  Your Honour the Chief Justice and Your Honours

Justices Toohey, Gaudron and McHugh, it is a twofold

pleasure, on behalf of the profession within Tasmania,
to welcome you to this sittings here, and it is
twofold because of the continuing commitment of the
High Court to undertake sittings in the outposts of

Empire and because it is the first time that each of you have sat as High Court Justices in this State.

Tasmania, because of its size, has not had much,

traditionally, to offer to the High Court in the way

of dilemmas and problem-solving devices. We have

given you potatoes, waterside workers, crayfish, dams

and the occasional instructive lecture to you, or to

your Cour4 by our late Sir Reginald Wright. But, like

many a memorable meal, it is sometimes the little

delicacies that one remembers.

We are conscious of the incredible workload

that this Court has undertaken, especially over the

last 10 years, and the effect of the Court in

providing Australia with a unifying body of law.	In
this day of technology, centralization and cost
efficiency, it is an obvious burden to you,and to

the Court as a whole,to sit at various places in the

Commonwealth. But your commitment to do so has more

than a symbolic value. It goes to the essence of

our legal system. No matter what.are modern

complexities, political and economic pressures, the

pressures of economics on the courts, the High Court

in particular, by continuing the tradition of sitting

in each of the States, shows that it is committed to

the principle that each citizen has an equal right

before the law.

Your Honours, may your time here be pleasant

and productive, and we, the profession, look forward,

some of us with a little trepidation, to your future

sittings in this State. Welcome.

MASON CJ:  Mr Slicer, thank you for your generous remarks.

I am pleased that there is sufficient work to

justify a sitting of the Court in Hobart this year,

though one could have hoped for some civil work,

even if only potatoes, to leaven a list which consists

exclusively of criminal cases. This visit gives us a
valuable opportunity to renew our friendly relationship

with the judges and the profession in this State.

I recall that when I joined the Court in 1972

the sittings in Hobart were virtually an annual

event. That ceased to be so before the Court acquired

its permanent home in Canberra in 1980. Unfortunately,

since then, our visits have become somewhat sporadic,

our last visit being four years ago.

In the matter of civil special leave

applications, Hobart, along with Adelaide, suffers

some disadvantage in that satisfactory video-link

facilities to enable such applications to be heard

in Canberra are not yet in place. I trust that that

omission will be rectified in the course of time.

In conclusion,once again I thank the profession

through you, Mr Slicer, for its warm welcome.

MR SLICER: If Your Honour please.

TOOHEY J:  Mr Slicer, I would add my thanks to those of the

Chief Justice. I must say that I was becoming

somewhat pessimistic about the prospects of ever

sitting in Hobart. To the extent that the infrequency

of the Court's visits reflects a non-litigious
community and the quality of the judgments of the
courts of this State, that is all to the good.
But, it is important, I think, that the Court should not
only be seen as the final court of appeal for

Australia, but is seen to exercise its jurisdiction

throughout the country.

It is important for litigants to understand

their rights of access to the Court, and the Court

undoubtedly gains a better understanding of the

way in which the law is working if its activities

are not unduly focused on the most populated States.

And if that sounds like the parochialism of a

West Australian, so be it.

None of this is to insist that you have us

back next year, though it is a nice thought.

Thank you.

GAUDRON J:  Yes. Thank you, Mr Slicer. I find that on this

occasion I can quite happily agree with the remarks

of the Chief Justice and Justice Toohey. At least

for the newer members of the Bench there is a

significant disadvantage in lengthy intervals between

sittings of the Court in the several Australian
States.	I must say that the prospect of being

welcomed by a legal profession that has had, in my

case, in any event, three years to pass judgment

on my judicial work is apt at least to shatter

one's complacency.

I am grateful for your very generous remarks

and your warm welcome, and I hope that the

interval until the Court's next sitting will not

be as lengthy as it was this time. And, in the

meantime I look forward to the able assistance of the Tasmanian legal profession in the despatch of of the business of the Court at this sittings.

McHUGH J:  Thank you Mr Slicer. It gives me great pleasure

to be the subject of this welcome by the Tasmanian

legal profession. The annual visits of the

High Court to Tasmania, to Queensland, to South

Australia and to Western Australia give the public

as well as the members of the profession of those

States an opportunity to see the workings of the

Court at first hand. Those visits enable litigants

if they desire to be present when their cases are

argued before the High Court. Those visits enable

the Justices of this Court to meet the members of
the profession and the judges of the various

courts whose work, from time to time, comes before

the High Court for further examination.

No doubt the benefits which accrue from these

visits are intangible and cannot easily be quantified in a monetary cost-benefit analysis, but nevertheless

in my view, they are real benefits. I think they play

an important part in unifying the administration of

justice in this country. Hopefully they will

continue despite the cost-cutting measures which

all public institutions, including the courts, have

been forced to adopt. Certainly I look forward

to making visits to Tasmania during my tenure on

the Court, hopefully, annually. Thank you very much.

MR SLICER: If Your Honours please.