The Penfold affair and the Supreme Court
Jan 13th, 2008 by Rebecca
The fallout is still ongoing from the Stanhope Labor government’s bizarre decision last month to appoint Hilary Penfold, Q.C. to the ACT Supreme Court. Penfold is currently the Secretary of the federal Department of Parliamentary Services, and a Howard government appointee whose reign there has been very controversial to say the least, where she was accused of politicising the services given to members.
I thought that it was an odd appointment when it was announced. While the ACT Supreme Court is (to my knowledge) the last court in the country never to have had a woman on its benches, which is an absolute disgrace, the ACT has the further problem of a massive glass ceiling in the law which means we have all of three female barristers, raising the issue of who the government could actually appoint to end that drought. Nevertheless, the appointment of a controversial right-wing bureaucrat seemed like a particularly bizarre choice, especially from a Labor government.
Over the last few days, the story has deepened a bit. The Bar Association and the Chief Justice have both complained that they were not consulted about the Penfold appointment. Attorney-General Corbell has been fobbing off questions from the press about why this was the case. The Bar Association, in particular, is claiming that Penfold has no relevant criminal or civil trial experience. So why on earth is a progressive Labor government fighting tooth and nail to appoint a right-wing bureaucrat who appears to be unqualified to the territory’s highest court? It simply doesn’t add up.
Penfold was and is a terrible choice for the Supreme Court. If the government is serious about appointing the court’s first female judge, they should be approaching someone of the ilk of high-profile city barrister Pamela Coward. Failing that, they should settle for finding another competent appointee, as they’ve done with the other current vacancy, set to be filled by respected Director of Public Prosecutions Richard Refshauge. On the other hand, stonewalling and pushing ahead with the Penfold appointment is making the territory government look ridiculous in an election year. They’ve got another month before Penfold actually takes her seat on the court - perhaps now would be a good time to do a mea culpa and start looking for a qualified replacement.