Michael Kirby

[medusala]

This guy is a disgrace. Speaking out against the elected govt and its policies. The media are a bunch of hypocritical muppets. Squealed like stuck pigs when pollies got stuck in to him and others over clueless decisions like Mabo and the concrete leftist McHugh who proclaimed the history of white Australia was "one of unutterable shame". Deafening silence when a high court judge criticises the govt though. He should resign immediately or else never complain again when pollies criticise his hard left dribble he passes off as informed judgement.

 

[Contra Mundum]

Re: Igronance uber alles

This guy is a disgrace. Speaking out against the elected govt and its policies. The media are a bunch of hypocritical muppets. Squealed like stuck pigs when pollies got stuck in to him and others over clueless decisions like Mabo and the concrete leftist McHugh who proclaimed the history of white Australia was "one of unutterable shame". Deafening silence when a high court judge criticises the govt though. He should resign immediately or else never complain again when pollies criticise his hard left dribble he passes off as informed judgement.

I was at the 100th anniversary conference - Alll he said was that Australia is a Country that does not accept extreme ideology and that in such a coutnry an institution that enshrines a "fair go" was only natural.

Your comments on McHugh J are totally ignorant. In that last two years he as consistently made joint judgement with the "Capital C" conservatives on the Bench: namely Gleeson, Gummow,Heydon, Hayne and Callinan - so much for his "hard leftist" stance.

Michael Kirby is one of the most eminent jurists that Australia has ever produced: he was made a Deputy President on the Commission at age 36, became the youngest ever President of the Law Reform Commission, became the youngest ever President of the NSW Court of Appeal and his appointment to the High Court was seen by most lawyers as totally justified on merit.

Your line is similar to that of senator Heffernan who could not attack his judiical record but instead made totally baseless attacks which were thinly vailed prejudice of the most base kind.

For God sake don't waste our time making comments about things you know absolutely nothing about. If you want to talk about judicial activism have a look at the latest judgement of the Court in Electrolux.

The current ideological hegemony empowers tools like you to make attacks based on nothing more than emtpy rhetoric - move over Andrew Bolt and Janet Albrechsen there is a new kid on the block

 

[Contra Mundum]

BY THE WAY KIRBY WAS NOT ON THE ********ING COURT WHEN THE MABO JUDGEMENT WAS MADE!

 

[MightyFighting]

This guy is a disgrace. Speaking out against the elected govt and its policies. The media are a bunch of hypocritical muppets. Squealed like stuck pigs when pollies got stuck in to him and others over clueless decisions like Mabo and the concrete leftist McHugh who proclaimed the history of white Australia was "one of unutterable shame". Deafening silence when a high court judge criticises the govt though. He should resign immediately or else never complain again when pollies criticise his hard left dribble he passes off as informed judgement.

Kirby's a small-l liberal. Is that "hard left" to you?

 

[medusala]

Kirby has made comment on it and was there for Wik.

It is very clear that politicians shouldnt comment on High Court decisions and High Court judges (and the GG for that matter) shouldnt comment on politics.

There have been numerous times when he has been in the dissenting minority, I dont have an issue with that. Its more that numerous cabinet ministers have been thoroughly criticised for speaking against court decisions whereas High Court judges are immune from criticism.

Have some bloody consistency.

 

[Contra Mundum]

Kirby has made comment on it and was there for Wik.

It is very clear that politicians shouldnt comment on High Court decisions and High Court judges (and the GG for that matter) shouldnt comment on politics.

There have been numerous times when he has been in the dissenting minority, I dont have an issue with that. Its more that numerous cabinet ministers have been thoroughly criticised for speaking against court decisions whereas High Court judges are immune from criticism.

Have some bloody consistency.

May I remind you that the judicial arm is the Government.

In the last few years the pattern has been that Kirby is the only dissentiant - it is not the same as the Barwick Court where Mason and Deane were coupled. Since the retirement of Gerard Brennan I can only find two judgements where McHugh has been part of a dissenting minority - but hey lets not let the facts stand in the way of a good story - Terra Nullius was a total myth based on Western Chauvinism - it could not last further scrutiny by the Court.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Kirby has made comment on it and was there for Wik.

It is very clear that politicians shouldnt comment on High Court decisions and High Court judges (and the GG for that matter) shouldnt comment on politics.

There have been numerous times when he has been in the dissenting minority, I dont have an issue with that. Its more that numerous cabinet ministers have been thoroughly criticised for speaking against court decisions whereas High Court judges are immune from criticism.

Have some bloody consistency.

He was also there for McGinty, and countless other conservative decisions that Howard's HCA has made, it all evens out in the end. Stop whinging.

 

[medusala]

Kirby's a small-l liberal. Is that "hard left" to you?

No doubt in comparison to others of the Hawke Era he is more to the centre. Arguably soft left but I certainly wouldnt say small l liberal and I dare say Keating had no intention of appointing a small l liberal to the HC.

I will repeat again that its not because I disagree with some of his decisions that I am annoyed its just that he feels free to speak out against politicians whilst demanding they leave the bench alone.

A High Court judge has labelled some detractors of the industrial relations system as "industrial ayatollahs", and says there is "no room for them in this nation".

Michael Kirby, in a speech yesterday defending the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, said the body had been "an instrument for the defence of fundamental human rights and dignity".

He then blasted critics of the commission who wanted to see it closed down, or have it converted into a mediatory body.

"Persons of such views tend to live in a remote world of fantasy, inflaming themselves by their rhetoric into more and more unreal passions, usually engaging in serious dialogue only with people of like persuasion," Justice Kirby said. "For the rest of us, who live in the real world, and know our country and its institutions better, time will not be wasted over such fairytales."

I would suggest that is vefry strong language to use and certainly not that of a small l liberal. In fact the words could easily have come from the mouth of Doug Cameron.

 

[Contra Mundum]

No doubt in comparison to others of the Hawke Era he is more to the centre. Arguably soft left but I certainly wouldnt say small l liberal and I dare say Keating had no intention of appointing a small l liberal to the HC.

I will repeat again that its not because I disagree with some of his decisions that I am annoyed its just that he feels free to speak out against politicians whilst demanding they leave the bench alone.

A High Court judge has labelled some detractors of the industrial relations system as "industrial ayatollahs", and says there is "no room for them in this nation".

Michael Kirby, in a speech yesterday defending the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, said the body had been "an instrument for the defence of fundamental human rights and dignity".

He then blasted critics of the commission who wanted to see it closed down, or have it converted into a mediatory body.

"Persons of such views tend to live in a remote world of fantasy, inflaming themselves by their rhetoric into more and more unreal passions, usually engaging in serious dialogue only with people of like persuasion," Justice Kirby said. "For the rest of us, who live in the real world, and know our country and its institutions better, time will not be wasted over such fairytales."

I would suggest that is vefry strong language to use and certainly not that of a small l liberal. In fact the words could easily have come from the mouth of Doug Cameron.

He was a senior deputy president on the Commission and unlike the current federal minister who never took an industrial brief in all his time at the Victorian Bar he knows what he is talking about. The Industrial Ayatollahs was aimed more at Des Moore than the Government - in the Fin Review the day after the election he proposed the very things that Kirby is talking about abolition of the Commission and its replacement by a mediatory body. The Current Federal Government appears to be stopping short of that proposal.

 

[medusala]

The guy clearly has a strong background in the area of IR, however the language he used was very strong. Imagine the uproar if Howard (or even journalists) began talking about HC judges in the same way. Might be a few libel cases flying around in a hurry.

 

[Contra Mundum]

The guy clearly has a strong background in the area of IR, however the language he used was very strong. Imagine the uproar if Howard (or even journalists) began talking about HC judges in the same way. Might be a few libel cases flying around in a hurry.

What do you say about the egregious defamation of Kirby by Heffernan. Heffernan is still there and Daryl Williams, a silk who took an oath to be an officer of the Court ,stood by and let it happen without a wimper - even when the allegations were proven to be baseless and false!

What about Ruddock in response to the Kirby comments "He is a "Colourful judge" - he might as well said he was limp wristed and liked show tunes. This Government has pushed the envelope as far as criticism of judges is concerned. I remember only too well the campaign against Tony North during Patricks emanating from that slug Reith's Office.

Ruddock himself was called to the Federal Court bench to explain why he was not in contempt of Court during one of the many immigration matters.


They drew first blood!
I

 

[funkyfreo]

Kirby is the shining light, and constantly impresses me with his insightful comments in a sea of ultra-conservatism.

 

[Ray Nolan]

Kirby J a disgrace? No. Prone to inane waffle in his judgments for the sake of showing off his knowledge? Yes. If only he could write like McHugh J, get to the point man!

 

[agitator]

ps

 

[funkyfreo]

[Silly comment removed at the request of the poster, who should be more careful about he says.]

Agitator you bring a welcome level of insightfulness to this forum.

 

[Tim56]

The country is in safe hands!

 

[Mead]

Kirby J a disgrace? No. Prone to inane waffle in his judgments for the sake of showing off his knowledge? Yes. If only he could write like McHugh J, get to the point man!

Totally agree.
A lot of extreme right people are anti-Kirby for frankly no other reason than they don't like the idea of a gay judge with presumably a gay agenda on the high court.

He is pretty frustrating to read just because he loves to throw in 50 pages or obiter for no good reason, but other than that his judgments aren't all that bad. Likes international agreements and frequently dissents because of that, but other than that he is actually pretty conservative in certain areas of law.

There's not actually anything wrong with having a frequently dissenting High Court Judge, it just means that both sides of any issue are recorded for future readers- if he wasn't openly gay (and thus apparently an evil lefty judge) 90% of his critics wouldn't even know who he was.

Bagging McHugh is utterly ridiculous- imo he's the most logical and consistent person in the high court, besides being a boon to law students everywhere because he actually gets to the bloody point. He'd be the ideal next CJ.

 

[Contra Mundum]

[as above]

I will be sending this to his e mail - tell me what is the address for service of the writ?

By the way he has been with the same partner fof 35 years

 

[Contra Mundum]

Totally agree.
A lot of extreme right people are anti-Kirby for frankly no other reason than they don't like the idea of a gay judge with presumably a gay agenda on the high court.

He is pretty frustrating to read just because he loves to throw in 50 pages or obiter for no good reason, but other than that his judgments aren't all that bad. Likes international agreements and frequently dissents because of that, but other than that he is actually pretty conservative in certain areas of law.

There's not actually anything wrong with having a frequently dissenting High Court Judge, it just means that both sides of any issue are recorded for future readers- if he wasn't openly gay (and thus apparently an evil lefty judge) 90% of his critics wouldn't even know who he was.

Bagging McHugh is utterly ridiculous- imo he's the most logical and consistent person in the high court, besides being a boon to law students everywhere because he actually gets to the bloody point. He'd be the ideal next CJ.

What about Gummow for god's sake every judgement with him you get a history lesson of the developments in the law over the last three hundred years.

Has Callinan written a judgement beyond saying "I have had the benefit of reading the decision of the Chief Justice and I concur with it"

 

[Mead]

What about Gummow for god's sake every judgement with him you get a history lesson of the developments in the law over the last three hundred years.

Has Callinan written a judgement beyond saying "I have had the benefit of reading the decision of the Chief Justice and I concur with it"

You have to admire him- he's drawing an enormous wage for typing 'what he said' a couple of dozen times every year. I have a sneaking suspicion that when Callinan's wife asks him for some nookie, he calls up whoever the current CJ is, and asks him around to do the deed for him.

'I have had the benefit of watching the esteemed Chief Justice pound your quivering love mound... '

 

[Minka Beaver]

Judging by the Mills & Boon style fiction that Callinan used to write for a hobby when he was a silk in Brisbane, I doubt he needs help thinking of ideas for the bedroom.