Skye Kakoschke-Moore (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 156 standing in my name to incorporate paragraph (d).

Leave granted.

I, and also on behalf of Senators Waters, Moore and Watt, move:

That the Senate—

(a) congratulates the Honourable Justice Kiefel on her appointment as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia;

(b) notes that:

  (i) Justice Kiefel became the first woman in Queensland to be appointed Queen's Counsel in 1987,

  (ii) Justice Kiefel is the first female appointed to the highest judicial office in Australia,

  (iii) Justice Kiefel's legal career serves as an inspiration to aspiring women lawyers across Australia,

  (iv) the gender profile of the legal profession is becoming more gender balanced with female solicitors making up 48.5 per cent of the profession on the most recent figures from the National Profile of Solicitors 2014,

  (v) more females are entering the profession with an increase of 19.3 per cent on previous 2011 figures,

  (vi) whilst women are entering the profession in greater numbers than men, the gender profile of the profession overall remains weighted towards male lawyers, particularly in senior positions, and

  (vii) data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, from August 2015, reveals that women are under-represented in the judiciary with 65.4 per cent of Commonwealth judges and magistrates being men; and

(c) calls on the Government to continue to develop strategies to promote women in leadership roles, including the legal profession.

(d) the Senate acknowledges the exemplary work over the past eight years of Chief Justice French, who leaves a legacy of important contributions to the law, notably his commitment to Indigenous justice.

Question agreed to.