Law and justice in Australia: A dream of improvement

I have known these things for a long time. When I was growing up, my grandmother remarried. She married a communist. For our family, the Communist Party Case was not only a gigantic decision defensive of the rule of law under the Australian Constitution. It was a case that closely affected one of us, in his person, his dignity and rights. You do not forget the lessons that you learn at the age of 11.

And as a member of a sexual minority, I have tasted discrimination and irrational hatred. It is less visible today. Amongst young lawyers it has, for the most part, disappeared. But elsewhere it still exists. It still affects people's legal rights. These things make one sensitive to injustice. They stimulate dreams of days that will come where there is no inequality in things that should be the same.

Many of us are a member of some minority or other, or of some disadvantaged group. I dream that Australia's law, in keeping with the times, will be truly committed to equal justice for claims that are equal. Most particularly, it is my dream that young lawyers, who will soon take their place in the Australian legal profession, will have a real commitment to the principle of “equal protection under the law”. I hope their eyes will be freed from the prejudices and attitudes of the past and vigilant to wrongs, wherever they appear in law's discipline.

Law’s aspiration

Law is a vocation committed to justice. It is fundamentally dedicated to the principles of human dignity and human rights. We cannot always deliver on the promissory note to that effect. Sometimes, indeed, the cheque of justice is dishonoured by Australian law. But as lawyers and citizens we have choices. And when it is possible and lawful to do so, we should take the path of justice and equality. Then we can say, with Martin Luther King:

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black … and white … Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Such freedoms do not come from hoping for them. They do not arise solely from dreams and aspirations. They come about through growing social awareness and prudent action. Sometimes the law has a part today in encouraging greater freedoms. Usually that law will be made by Parliament. But sometimes it will be expressed by the courts.   And then judges and lawyers have a vital part to play in building the dream and turning it to reality.