Remarks To Farewell the Honourable Justice Virginia Bell, AC

[2021] HCATrans 9

[2021] HCATrans 009

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

REMARKS TO FAREWELL

THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE VIRGINIA BELL, AC

AS A JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

AT

CANBERRA

ON

WEDNESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2021, AT 9.49 AM

KIEFEL CJ:   The handing down of this judgment is likely to be the last occasion on which we sit as a Full Court with Justice Bell before her Honour’s retirement on 28 February 2021.

Justice Bell was sworn in as a Justice of this Court on 3 February 2009.  The level of attendance at that ceremony evidenced the high regard in which her Honour is held.  Prior to her appointment to this Court Justice Bell had a long and distinguished career, commencing with her early work as a volunteer at the Redfern Legal Centre to a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and later its Court of Appeal.  In each of the courts in which she has sat her Honour has been known for her industry and her courtesy.

Her Honour’s judgments combine intellectual rigour with practicality, adherence to judicial method and elegance in style.  They invariably drew agreement from colleagues and have contributed significantly to the jurisprudence of this Court.

Justice Bell has been a model Judge and colleague.  We shall miss her good humour.

The Court thanks Justice Bell for her valuable service and wishes her and her partner, Angela Seward, well for the future.

The Court will now adjourn to reconstitute.

AT 9.50 AM THE MATTER WAS CONCLUDED