New appointments to the High Court of Australia announced by the Prime Minister and Attorney-General mark the end of the nation’s first-ever female majority bench.
After Chief Justice Susan Kiefel announced her retirement from the High Court of Australia in June, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced her replacement as new Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice Stephen Gageler.
The appointment of Justice Gageler as Chief Justice of the High Court, as well as the appointment of Justice Robert Beech-Jones to fill the vacant position on the bench, means the female majority High Court bench will no longer exist.
In a joint statement, the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General said they were pleased with the new appointments, which will come into effect from November 6 upon Chief Justice Susan Kiefel’s retirement.
“Justice Gageler has an outstanding reputation as a jurist. He is highly respected for his leadership abilities and deep knowledge and understanding of constitutional law,” a statement reads.
“The Government consulted extensively in the lead-up to this decision.
“On behalf of the Government and the Australian people, we congratulate Justice Gageler and Justice Beech-Jones on their appointments, and wish Chief Justice Kiefel all the very best for the future.”
The High Court of Australia bench reached a female majority last September upon Justice Jayne Jagot’s appointment. It was the first time the Court had majority women Justices ruling.
Justice Susan Kiefel was sworn in as Australia’s first female Chief Justice of the High Court in January 2017 after a decade of serving on the bench.
Her appointment as Chief Justice came 30 years after the first female justice of the High Court, Mary Gaudron, was selected to serve on the bench in 1987.
Australia’s High Court currently has four female Justices, including Justice Kiefel, out of the seven who sit on the Court. But nationwide, men are still dominating in the gender makeup of judicial officers in Australia.
According to statistics from June 2022, 43.1 per cent of judicial officers – judges and magistrates – in courts of all jurisdictions and hierarchy in Australia are female. Although this figure has increased by 2.5 per cent in the last year, and 10.2 per cent in the last decade, gender parity is still yet to be reached.
Female participation in the legal and judicial systems is on the rise. Data from 2019 shows more than 55 per cent of Australian university law undergraduates are women. What’s more, women make up 64 per cent of students completing practical legal training (PLT) after graduating from university.
According to the NSW Law Society’s 2022 Annual Profile of Solicitors, women make up just over half – 54 per cent – of solicitors in the state, the sixth consecutive year that female solicitors have outnumbered male.