CONDOLENCES

Mr SOON (Banks) (12:54): Like so many in this place and around our great country, I was incredibly saddened to hear of Justice Mary Gaudron's passing. While I never had the opportunity to meet Justice Gaudron, she was a constant presence in my life during my university days as I read through her judgements and discerned her insights while admiring her legal wisdom.

Justice Mary Gaudron left a considerable mark on Australia's legal profession and paved the way for generations of women to embark on careers in the law, including ones that involved sitting on the bench of the highest court in this land. A daughter of regional Australia, Justice Gaudron grew up in Moree. While many know the famous story of her receiving a copy of the Constitution from HV Evatt and her declaration that she would one day be a lawyer, it is also important to recognise that her experiences and background enabled her to develop an understanding of inequality and injustice that would go on to define her time as both a legal practitioner and a justice of the High Court of Australia.

Justice Gaudron's achievements in legal practice deserve considerable recognition, and even more so in many instances where she was the first woman or amongst the first women to achieve these many milestones. She was the second woman to be awarded the University Medal in Law at Sydney University. She was the first woman appointed to the New South Wales Bar Council.

In 1974 she became the youngest person at that time to ever serve as a Federal Court judge. Justice Gaudron was the first woman to be appointed a Queen's Counsel in New South Wales and, of course, the first woman to sit as a justice of the High Court, as well as its fourth youngest. What makes many of these achievements even more remarkable is the way in which she blazed her own trail to reach them.

She was denied clerkships. She was denied the opportunity of a room in barristers chambers, and even service in a bar, on the basis of being a woman. And, in accordance with the regulations of the time, she had to give up her job in the Public Service when she got married.

Justice Gaudron was involved in many of the most important cases in our nation's legal history. During her time on the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, she was involved in the case which laid down award standards, allowing for a year's unpaid leave for full- and part-time workers—the foundation on which maternity leave and paid parental leave have now been built.

She also argued landmark equal pay cases in 1972 which determined that women should receive equal pay for equal work. As a result, the pay for work was assessed on the basis of the contribution to the workplace or industry rather than the resemblance to traditionally male roles. She was a High Court justice when the historic Mabo decision, which established native title and overturned terra nullius, was heard.

Justice Gaudron was part of the majority that acknowledged, alongside Justice Deane, that historical treatment of Indigenous peoples was 'the darkest aspect of the history of this nation' and that 'the nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is acknowledgement of, and retreat from, those past injustices'. In judgements for the case of Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills, as those opposite have mentioned, Justice Gaudron stated that a free society governed by the principles of representative parliamentary democracy may entail freedom of movement, freedom of association and freedom of speech, affirming the implied freedom of political communication.

Justice Gaudron was perhaps most noted for her contributions to criminal law and jurisprudence. She was an unmoving champion of the right to a fair trial, describing it as 'fundamental to our system of criminal justice'. In Dietrich v The Queen, a judgement highlighted that the expression 'fair trial according to law' is 'not a tautology', recognising that fairness in the courtroom is not necessarily one and the same with legality or strict compliance with procedure—a principle that applies to the work we do in this place, as well.

A legacy like that left by Justice Gaudron is one that most people could only ever aspire to leave behind. Such is the remarkable nature of Justice Mary Gaudron's life and service to our country. She was an individual who firmly believed in the power of the law to improve people's lives, something that should inspire all of us in this place.

I thank Justice Gaudron for paving the way for legal students across the country and for future generations of women looking to embark on legal careers. I send my sincere condolences to Mary's family and loved ones. May Justice Mary Gaudron rest in peace.