The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) has commissioned a detailed report examining the current status and future prospects of judicial diversity in Australia. The report has been developed by Professors Brian Opeskin and Sharyn Roach Anleu, who took a critical look at the existing approaches to gathering judicial gender statistics.
Acknowledging the evolving understanding of gender and the broader dimensions of diversity, the report suggests the existing data collection methodology needs updating. The authors propose a shift towards a self-identification system for judicial officers to record their diversity characteristics through a well-designed survey, promoting more accurate data representation.
While underscoring the importance of diversity in maintaining public confidence in the justice system, the report makes 20 recommendations addressing several core issues, including:
- The extension of data collection to include other jurisdictions possibly reaching to the Asia-Pacific region.
- Whether to involve members of tribunals, specialist courts, or appellate courts.
- The inclusion of other diversity characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and Indigenous status, alongside gender.
The full report provides a roadmap for future data collection, aiming to uphold high data integrity standards to inform policy decisions effectively.