Blurred lines: appointing sitting judges to commissions of inquiry

In Queensland too, from the 1960s onwards, few sitting justices have chaired commissions of inquiry. Rather, most chairs were senior legal counsel or retired judges. Tony Fitzgerald who chaired the famous 1987 commission into police corruption was at that time a Queen's Counsel, not a sitting justice,

Other commissions of inquiry appointed by the Palaszczuk Government such as those into Queensland's anti-corruption body (January 2022) and the DNA testing issues (June 2022), are chaired by retired judges.

One of the few exceptions to this long-standing practice in Queensland prior to the recent domestic violence inquiry, was the Bligh Government's appointment of Catherine Holmes, a sitting member of the Supreme Court, to lead the 2011 Queensland Flood Commission of Inquiry.

Conclusions

Thus, it seems that that the Palaszczuk Government's appointment of a sitting judge to chair the current inquiry into Queensland Police and family violence is contrary to past practice in this state, including its own recent actions, and current trends around Australia.

It is a step backwards.