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In defence of judges

  • 16 July 2014
Judge Garry Neilson is in a spot of bother. He is not the first judge to find himself in this situation and he will not be the last.

Judges enjoy a life of privilege and status. In their own courtroom they are feudal masters. They have a private dining room. They get free and secure parking. Discreet security measures envelop them. They live quietly and do not draw attention to themselves. 

When one of them makes a mistake, the media jumps all over them. Politicians rant. The controversy is always out of proportion to the alleged error. It may be damaging to a career, even deadly. Judges do not deserve to be treated in this way. 

Take the case of a judge who fell asleep briefly during a trial. I accept that he did fall asleep, though I was not there. I have seen many barristers and solicitors fall asleep. I have been close to it on many occasions myself. The air conditioning in courtrooms is universally bad – alternately freezing or stuffy and suffocating. Put into that situation a judge with a certain medical condition and it is not surprising if he nodded off a few times in a long and distinguished career. 

The case of Jeff Shaw was equally trivial, though more embarrassing to the judge. What did he do? He was drunk. He walked out of a hospital with both blood samples, went home, tried to move his car a few yards down the road to a better parking spot, and pranged it. There were only two sane reactions to this story at the time: 1. privately, a roar of laughter from Phillip to Goulburn Street (haven’t we all had a night on the town that got a little out of hand?) 2. publicly, pity for him in that he waited too long to come forward to return the second blood sample to police. As a former politician he should have known better. 

Jeff Shaw resigned. He preserved his own dignity and that of his office. What would you have done? Let’s get personal. Know thyself.

Why should I defend judges? Because they will not defend themselves. They can’t. Their life of privilege leaves them strangely vulnerable. They are perhaps the last people alive who take an oath of office seriously. They will protect the dignity of their office before their own. They will cop it sweet when a newspaper screams SACK HIM.
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