- Court chief denies being under orders
- By Fergus Shiel - Law Reporter
- 09/07/2004 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 100 articles in 2004 )
Diana Bryant, Chief Justice of the Family Court, at the bench after her swearing in yesterday.The Family Court's new chief, Diana Bryant, has pledged to rebuild public respect for the court while rejecting any suggestion that she's been given "riding instructions" from the Howard Government.
After being sworn in yesterday, Chief Justice Bryant told reporters that the court's work was difficult, as it dealt with people in crisis, but it was distressing to her, nevertheless, that it did not enjoy full public respect.
"If at the end of my tenure I can improve the understanding of the court and have the respect of the public for the court, that would be something I would be very proud of," she said.
Justice Bryant said it was not her inclination to be outspoken, and she hoped to see the court's relationship with government improve, but she would set its course independently.
"I can assure you that I have absolutely no riding instructions from anybody about anything," she said.
Justice Bryant said she would speak out when she felt it was important to do so, but said impartiality was vital.
"I personally think it's always important to remember that 50 per cent of the litigants are men and 50 per cent of the litigants are women," she said. "And I think one has to be very careful about making comments which might make one of these groups perceive the court to be biased."
Justice Bryant, who previously headed the Federal Magistrates Court, takes over as chief of the nation's most contentious court from the outspoken Alastair Nicholson, who has retired.
Only the second woman to head an Australian federal court, Justice Bryant is widely recognised as a skilled lawyer and excellent administrator.
A third-generation lawyer, she has been practising law since 1970 and was a director of Australian Airlines from 1984 to 1989.
Justice Bryant, who was sworn in by High Court judge Kenneth Hayne at the Family Court's Melbourne headquarters, also expressed a desire to see court processes sped up and simplified where possible.
"There's no doubt that people want to have their cases heard... in a reasonably timely way," she said. "They want to have them heard without spending too much of their money and without investing too much of their lives in doing that."
Justice Roderick Joske, the Family Court's longest-serving judge, told reporters that the court warmly welcomed its new chief.
"She's a first-class lawyer to start off with, which is important, but she is a person of warmth and compassion (as well)," Justice Joske said.
The Family Court's new deputy chief, John Faulks, told reporters that he looked forward to hired legal guns no longer having a role to play in children's cases.
Justice Faulks said it was one thing to allow people to tear themselves apart over property and financial disputes, but quite another where children were involved.
He said the court had been piloting a revolutionary project to give judges a far bigger say in directing children's cases, with very encouraging results.
The official welcome for Chief Justice Bryant has been postponed, as she is about to undergo back surgery.
Chief courts new respect
1Will not be visible to public.
2Receive notification of other comments posted for this article. To cease notification after having posted click here.
3To make a link clickable in the comments box enclose in link tags - ie.<link>Link</link>.
4To show an image enclose the image URL in tags - ie.<image>https://fredspage.com/box.jpg</image>. Note: image may be resized if too large
To further have your say, head to our forum Click Here
To contribute a news article Click Here
To view or contribute a Quote Click Here