In a speech delivered by the Honourable Chief Justice, His Honour welcomed the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly who returned a portrait of the Hon. TJ Byrnes to the Court after what was described as a “serendipitous saga”. His Honour also spoke of the prospect of a new Courthouse for the Supreme and District Courts, the re-hanging of Sir Harry Gibbs’ GCMG banner and the Society of Notaries. To download a copy of the speech made by the Honourable Chief Justice, CLICK HERE.

The Association was represented at the ceremony by the President, whose speech is reproduced below.

“The Bar has significant interest in each of the four topics specifically mentioned by Your Honour the Chief Justice this morning. Standing here, as we do, in regalia which itself preserves hundreds of years of history, we are very pleased to see the presentation by the Society of Notaries of their historical records for safe keeping by the Supreme Court Library. It is not merely a gesture — it is a public sign of the depth and strength of the confidence in, and affection for, this Court which is shared by the profession in this State.

We also respectfully associate ourselves with Your Honour’s observations about the prospect of a new Court House for Brisbane. We can speak with some authority on the subject, given that this is our professional home. This building has served us well, but its time has well and truly come and gone. The Courts of our State deserve better; and so do the people of Queensland.

The other two matters have, of course, a personal connection for the Bar. Thomas Joseph Byrnes, who was born in Spring Hill in 1860, read for the Bar with Mr Patrick Real (later a judge of this Court for nearly 20 years). It is said that Byrnes was quickly successful as a barrister, and within a few years was making a large income (we are speaking of barristers a long time ago!).

After only five years at the Bar, he was appointed Solicitor-General by Sir Samuel Griffith. Only a few years later, he stood for the Legislative Assembly, was elected, and was appointed Attorney-General. He died of pneumonia at the age of 38 — a life of so much achievement, and so much expectation, cut tragically short.

Sir Harry Gibbs, known to many in this courtroom, was a modern-day icon for the Queensland Bar. A past president and life member of the Bar Association of Queensland, Sir Harry held the highest judicial office in the land, and served the country with great distinction. We are honoured to witness the re-hanging here of his GCMG banner.

But back to the present. 2006 has been a busy year for the Bar Association, which now has more than 1,100 members, more than 850 of whom are in private practice. Much of the Association’s work these days is directed towards its functions as a regulatory body under the Legal Profession Act, and to the provision of important member services, such as a comprehensive Continuing Professional Development program. Yet we remain, as we have always been, an independent body of independent professionals.

We are most fortunate to enjoy a strong collegiate professional relationship with our new Attorney-General, the Hon Kerry Shine, as we did with his predecessor, the Hon Linda Lavarch, and we wish him well in his pivotal leadership role in the administration of justice in this State. It is more than a little regrettable that the occasional disagreements which will inevitably occur under our democratic system, and which I might also add are handled with utmost professional courtesy, tend to receive more airplay than the vast bulk of the good work between us, which is done with tremendous good faith and cooperation.

Only in the last week, for example, I have, on behalf of the Bar Association, subscribed to the Fremantle Declaration, to which the Attorney-General was a signatory, affirming our support for fundamental rights of accused persons on the fifth anniversary of the detention of David Hicks. I also acknowledge with gratitude the co-operation of all officers of the Department, led by example, as they have been, by Ms Rachel Hunter and now Mr Jim McGowan.

Barristers and solicitors work hand in glove every day in these Courts for the benefit of the people in Queensland. I am pleased to report that relations between the Bar Association and the Queensland Law Society are at an all time high, resulting in high levels of co-operation on matters affecting the profession and the administration of justice generally. Again, that is due in no small part to the positive and co-operative leadership of my friend Mr Pinder, and his recent predecessors Mr Davis and Mr Ferguson, who continues to serve on the Executive of the Law Council of Australia.

Finally, we acknowledge with gratitude the respect which the Courts of this State have shown us over the last twelve months. We serve the Courts willingly, and appreciate the interest and concern which the judges collectively and individually have for us. Just one example of the way in which the Courts and the profession have collaborated over the last twelve months is the promulgation by each of the Courts of Practice Directions concerning direct access briefs. Regulation of this relatively recent phenomenon, whilst covered by the Bar Rules, needed some positive reinforcement with the authority of the Courts, and each of the Courts responded by working with us to formulate appropriate Practice Directions – all of which, of course, is ultimately for the benefit of those who come to the Courts utilizing the services of counsel to seek justice.

It remains only for us to extend to the judges and staff of this Court, and all the Courts and tribunals before which we have the honour to appear, our sincere best wishes for this Christmas season and for the year which lies ahead.”

Martin Daubney S.C . President , Bar Association of Queensland

“Even a cursory perusal of Your Honour’s curriculum vitae reveals the depth of legal acumen and breadth of experience which so eminently equip you for the important office you have assumed today.

The Honourable the Attorney-General has already mentioned most of the defining events which have marked Your Honour’s professional career to date, from your time working in the Public Defender’s Office through your career at the private Bar, and I won’t go over them again at length. But a couple of matters are worthy of a little emphasis.

When Your Honour took silk in 2003, you were already widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent criminal appellate counsel n this State. You had appeared in a large number of significant appeals in the Court of Appeal and in the High Court, including Robinson’s Case1 , Gilbert’s Case2 Doggett’s Case3 , Harwood’s Case4 , and Murray’s Case5. Your abilities were widely known through the profession, your services highly valued by your clients, and your skills as an advocate highly respected by the Courts. Your Honour mastered the detail of every brief, marshalled the relevant law, and knew how to present them most persuasively and effectively. Perhaps most importantly for your status as a barrister, the Courts had implicit trust in you as an advocate. In the course of argument in Doggett’s Case in the High Court, McHugh J. observed of you:

Mr Rafter, you are living proof that candour is not only an obligation but it is a weapon.

That would have to be one of the greatest compliments a barrister could receive.

Your Honour’s flourishing career in your chosen fields of criminal and disciplinary work after taking silk was, however, rudely interrupted from November 2004 to June 2005, when Your Honour was engaged in the vital service of restoring public confidence in the thoroughbred racing industry in this State. Those present will forgive me the indulgence of observing that it is a matter of great personal pride for me to have been associated with you in that endeavour. The significant benefit of Your Honour’s appointment to that Inquiry, of course, was that it meant someone on the team actually knew something about horse racing. Apart from your family, who indisputably hold the position of pre-eminence in Your Honour’s life, your extra-curricular activities over the years have in large part been devoted to matters equine, not always with great fiscal success but always with great enthusiasm.

However, in the course of the Racing Inquiry, I did uncover a little known fact about Your Honour, namely that you are bilingual. In the early stages of the Inquiry, we received evidence in closed session from a large number of racing identities. The evidence, of course, remains confidential, but there is an aspect of those hearings which I can safely reveal. We were visited by a succession of gentlemen, dressed almost uniformly in pork pie hats, loud check sports coats, and with cigarettes glued to their bottom lips. When they opened their mouths to speak, it appeared to me at least as if they were suffering some form of glossolalia — the words from their lips sounded like English, but no language that I had ever heard before. I felt as if I had been dropped into the middle of a Damon Runyon story. What disturbed me greatly was the fact that, not only could Your Honour understand them, you could converse freely with them in their native tongue!

The other things I learned about you during the course of the Inquiry are things your family and friends already knew — that your modesty hides a razor sharp eye and memory for detail, that you are constitutionally incapable of discourtesy, that you are loyal and have an unerring sense of fairness, that you are never too busy to have a chat and a laugh, that you are a man of dignity, and honesty and integrity. Were one to compile a catalogue of personal attributes for judicial office, this list would be a good place to start.

Your Honour has given freely of your time to the profession over the years, including by having served as a director of Barristers Services. It is only regrettable that your appointment cuts short your tenure on the Board of Legal Aid Queensland and as Chair of the Nursing Tribunal.

We have already mentioned Your Honour’s family. Your wife Fiona, herself a senior and highly respected solicitor, your sons William, Harold and George, and your parents can be justifiably proud of you, and we would presume to associate ourselves with that sentiment.

I have the privilege, on behalf of the Bar, to extend our warmest congratulations to Your Honour on your appointment to this Court. It goes without saying that you, like every other judicial officer in this State will enjoy the support and confidence of the Bar in the discharge of your duties of office.”

Martin Daubney SC President Bar Association of Queensland

1 Robinson v The Queen (1999) 197 CLR 162  2 Gilbert v The Queen (2000) 201 CLR 414 3 Doggett v The Queen (2001) 208 CLR 343 4 Harwood v The Queen (2002) 188 ALR 296 5 Murray v The Queen (2002) 211 CLR 193

I make no apologies for that. As I said at the Exchange of Christmas Greetings on 13 December, despite the growth in our numbers and the shifting of the Association’s role to a regulatory body, we remain an independent body of independent professionals. One of the prime hallmarks of our profession is its intensely collegiate nature. That unity of purpose manifests itself in our common dealings with one another as colleagues in the law, in the common respect we have for the Courts, in our common dedication to serving our clients’ interests according to the highest professional and ethical standards we can achieve, and in our common resolve as an Association to preserve and maintain the administration of justice.

Our independence means that, when required, we can and should speak as a body collegiate on issues of public importance.

One example of that is the Fremantle Declaration, to which I subscribed with the support of the Bar Council. In another declaration, made in another time in another place, a group of people subscribed to a list of truths which they held “to be self evident”.

One can only wonder why the truths set out in the Fremantle Declaration are not similarly regarded by some as “self-evident”.

You will also have seen the letter I wrote on our behalf to the Fiji Law Society. It seems to me unarguable that we have a collegiate responsibility to support our colleagues in that country, with which we have such close professional connections, as they stand against the incursion against democracy.

Many of us will now enjoy a well-deserved break with our families and friends. Others might only have a few days off before returning to keep our wheels of justice turning.

However you spend your time over the weeks ahead, please accept my sincere best wishes for the Christmas Season and my thanks for your support of the Bar Council this year. I look forward to an active, successful and collegiate 2007 for the Bar Association.

Martin Daubney S.C. President, Bar Association of Queensland