WEST Australian Robert French will replace Murray Gleeson as Chief Justice of the High Court, the federal Government announced today.
Justice French, 61, who will be sworn in on September 1, is the 12th chief justice since the court was formed in 1903.
He is the first not to come from NSW, Queensland or Victoria and only the third West Australian to serve on the court after John Toohey and Sir Ronald Wilson.
Justice French, who has served on the Federal Court since 1986, released a statement this afternoon on the "great honour" and thanking the Government "for its confidence in me".
"The honour of the appointment carries with it great responsibility, which I willingly accept," he said.
Justice French was appointed to the Federal Court by the Hawke government in 1986 when he was only 39.
He founded the West Australian Aboriginal Legal Service, was the first president of the National Native Title Tribunal and the 1998 West Australian of the Year.
He has also served on almost every legal board of any significance in the past 20 years.
Widely regarded as its finest judge, he has sat on virtually every Federal Court appeal of significance in the past 10 years - even if he disappointed some by siding with the Howard government in the Tampa case.
Justice French's statement this afternoon acknowledged the "immense service to the community and the law given by the Honourable Murray Gleeson".
"I thank the Chief Justice and judges, past and present, of the Federal Court, for their friendship and support during the 22 enjoyable years I have served on that court," he said.
"I look forward now to joining with the judges of the High Court in its important work."
Justice French headed the Liberal Club of University of Western Australia in Perth and stood against Kim Beazley Sr for the federal seat of Fremantle in 1969 at 22. He suffered a 3.5 per cent swing as he fell to a predictable defeat in the safe Labor seat.
Yet he showed flair on the hustings. He used a rock band, The Timepiece, for campaign events and his slogan was ``pop politics in the swinging seat''.
Earlier this year he gave a speech to a constitutional law conference on the topic Judicial Activism: Mythical Monsters'.
``I have been a judge for 21 years. The voices have kept at me and at me. Mellifluous, strident, sad, cool, persuasive, angry - voices demanding justice - voices insisting upon the law - some voices wanting both.''
In a recent speech to the Future of Federalism conference in Brisbane he spoke on co-operative federalism.
He said it may come to ``overshadow expansive interpretation of commonwealth power under the Constitution'' - as has been the case in the past decade. But he warns against ``an overall tendency to define as national that which was once local''.
``That may in turn be used in future argument favouring commonwealth control and accountability in respect of such matters. If the states are not perceived by electors as adequately discharging their constitutional responsibilities then such perceptions will feed into the legitimisation of national control. A shrinking federation will continue to shrink. The logical outcome is the singular state of a unitary federation.
``That is the federation you have when you do not have a federation.''
He suggested that Gough Whitlam's idea in the 1970s of provincial governments to replace state governments ``does not seem so radical now''.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland described Justice French as a leading jurist and lawyer of great expertise.
``He is widely published on a number of topics, he is regarded as a constitutional law expert, he is regarded highly in his expertise to administrative law,'' Mr McClelland told reporters.
``His experience in native title, he has served the broader legal community in a number of categories, including the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales and he serves currently as a part-time member of the Australian Law Reform Commission.''
Justice French maintained a passion for the development of the law, Mr McClelland said.
``He is regarded universally as a fair-minded judge,'' he said. ``We are confident that he will provide outstanding leadership to the High Court of Australia.''
