The Judicial College warmly welcomes the announcement of Justice Stephen Gageler AC as the fourteenth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and the announcement of Justice Robert Beech-Jones as the next Justice of the High Court of Australia.
Justice Gageler will succeed Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC upon her retirement on 6 November 2023 and Justice Beech-Jones fills the vacancy created.
Justice Gageler is a highly respected jurist with a deep knowledge of constitutional law. He has served with distinction on the High Court since 2012 and is the most senior puisne Justice. Justice Beech-Jones has served on the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 2012, and was appointed Chief Judge of the Common Law Division in 2021.
We congratulate Justice Gageler and Justice Beech-Jones on their appointments, and wish Chief Justice Kiefel all the very best for the future.
For those interested in learning more about the role of the judiciary in a democracy, we recommend reading the paper "Judicial Legitimacy" by Justice Gageler, which was recently published in the Australian Law Journal. The paper is an excellent example of Justice Gageler's scholarship and his deep understanding of both the practical and philosophical foundations of judicial independence and judicial legitimacy, and the emerging threats to judicial legitimacy in modern democracies.