Speeches
Monday, 20 January 2025
Reception for the Supreme, Federal & New Zealand Senior Courts Conference
Rod and I warmly welcome you to Government House.
I especially welcome those of you who have travelled from interstate and New Zealand to attend this conference.
I hope you are enjoying your experience of an Adelaide summer and trust you are making the most of what our region has to offer this time of year, such as your lunch at Yalumba Winery in the Barossa Valley yesterday.
I also hope some of you will have time for the Tour Down Under, currently underway, and that some of you may even return for the Adelaide Festival, Australia’s international festival, in the first half of March.
From the outset I will state my deep admiration for those who are the custodians of the body of law which affects so profoundly the functioning of our society, and for the role of the independent judiciary as one of the pillars of our democracy.
In a speech last year to the Law Society of South Australia, Chris Kourakis gave what one might call an insider’s perspective on this when he said:
“Nothing is more satisfying or challenging than a career in the law because no pursuit is more noble than to provide our society with the closest approximation possible to what its members most value, justice”
If I may introduce a personal note to this evening’s gathering, it is perhaps natural as one progresses through a career, to reflect on the road not travelled.
Such a road was my early inclination to study law, but it was with a Bachelor of Economics, my degree certificate signed by the distinguished jurist and former Governor the Honourable Dame Roma Mitchell as Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, that I left for Canberra to join the diplomatic service. Also, I might add, a satisfying and challenging career!
Of course, as Governor I do perform a constitutional and legal role in giving Royal Assent, and retain the reserve powers and the prerogative of mercy, so perhaps I am not so far removed from my original aspiration.
As some of you know, the honour to serve the law fell instead to my sister the Hon Justice Christine Adamson of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of NSW.
Through Christine, I have some inkling of your heavy workloads; the discipline involved in keeping up with your judgments, the mental health challenges of emotionally taxing cases; and the constant need to protect judicial independence.
You have a profound role in ensuring public trust and confidence in our institutions against the backdrop of strident voices which increasingly challenge them.
These might include the sovereign citizen movement, which has a ready platform for agitation often without the benefit of research or understanding.
Your first lecture tomorrow morning, on the ideology, impacts and judicial responses to the sovereign citizen movement, will no doubt be a useful and enlightening session.
From the letters I receive and the people I meet, I know the public views the office of Governor as a repository of trust in public life.
This is something to be encouraged and welcomed, and I view the maintenance and strengthening of that perception as a key part of my role.
Within proper bounds, I want the role of Governor to be seen as integral to the public life of the state and to strengthen the sense of transparency and probity in public institutional life.
I note on Wednesday afternoon you will hear from adventurer and environmental advocate Tim Jarvis, who was 2024 Australian of the Year for South Australia.
I had the pleasure of hosting a public conversation with Tim here in the ballroom last year, where he shared a range of insights on leadership, resilience and problem solving.
I trust you will enjoy hearing from him.
I also note your session tomorrow afternoon on the importance of indigenous arts to nation policy and identity, and the tensions and opportunities of presenting this work to contemporary audiences and markets.
After these formalities you are welcome to explore the public rooms of Government House, throughout which there are a number of paintings by First Nations artists in conversation with prominent South Australian painters of the past and present.
I welcome your thoughts on our collection, generously on loan from the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Friends,
Conferences such as this are a valuable opportunity to share experience and perspectives, to speak frankly to those who share similar challenges, to reflect and, perhaps even to let the ‘judicial hair’ down a little!
I wish you all a productive and insightful conference and trust you will return to your courts refreshed, invigorated and appreciative of each other, as Australians are of you.