AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail
Opinion: Tim Carmody’s child protection credentials make him right man for Chief Justice role
HETTY JOHNSTON THE COURIER-MAIL JUNE 18, 2015
JUSTICE Peter McClellan AM, chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, stated in his very first public speech in the role that he thought he knew about child sexual assault. That was, however, before he was assigned to his current post, where he quickly realised how much he didn’t know or understand and the impact this crime has on victims, families and entire communities.
He pledged that all judges would be trained so they, too, could garner a better understanding.
In Queensland, Chief Justice Tim Carmody knows more about child protection than any other judge in the state because, like McClellan, he has dealt at close quarters with the victims and their families. This is why he is so valuable, and why his appointment is so widely supported – except by a few disgruntled peers.
He knows what some of his detractors do not, understands what they don’t – even if they think they do. He is a grassroots operator who can mend the divide between the courts and the people. He can rebuild confidence. He is an innovative reformist with a brilliant legal mind and extensive broadscale experience, and that is exactly what Queensland needs right now.
Carmody has served his community as a police officer, public defender, barrister, legal officer and special prosecutor in the Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption.
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