There is currently no real accountability process for judges at the federal level — although that may change in 2023.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the things judges used to do,” says Geoffrey Watson SC. “If I told you, you would say: ‘no, you’re lying!’. It was just appalling.”
The eminent silk — formerly counsel assisting the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), these days a director of the Centre for Public Integrity – was reflecting on the little dependence that could be placed on meeting civility in NSW state courts, especially the District Court, during the stormy days of the 1980s.
One judge, he said, was a “notorious drunk”, others simply thundered abuse at the parties or insulted counsel on a regular basis. Time seemed to stretch, he recalled, the occasion another climbed up onto the bench and, pointing his finger at Watson’s opponent, roared: “Shut up, you!”
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