Program

Speakers

Julian Burnside QC

Julian Burnside is a barrister based in Melbourne. He specialises in commercial litigation. He joined the Bar in 1976 and took silk in 1989.

He acted for the Ok Tedi natives against BHP, for Alan Bond in fraud trials, for Rose Porteous in numerous actions against Gina Rinehart, and for the Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 waterfront dispute against Patrick Stevedores. He was Senior Counsel assisting the Australian Broadcasting Authority in the "Cash for Comment" inquiry and was senior counsel for Liberty Victoria in the Tampa litigation.

He is President of Liberty Victoria, and has acted pro bono in many human rights cases, in particular concerning the treatment of refugees.
He is passionately involved in the arts. He collects contemporary paintings and sculptures and regularly commissions music. He is Chair of Fortyfive Downstairs and Chair of the Mietta Foundation.

He is the author of a book of essays on language and etymology, Wordwatching (Scribe, 2004) and Watching Brief, (Scribe, 2007) a collection of his essays and speeches about the justice system and human rights. He compiled a book of letters written by asylum seekers held in Australia's detention camps. The book, From Nothing to Zero was published in 2003 by Lonely Planet. He also wrote Matilda and the Dragon a children's book published by Allen & Unwin in 1991.
In 2004 he was elected as a Living National Treasure.

Dr Ray Cleary

Dr Ray Cleary

Canon Dr Ray Cleary is Chief Executive Officer of Anglicare Victoria. He has a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Melbourne College of Divinity on the subject of Welfare and Justice. With over 38 years in public Ministry he is a regular writer and commentator on social issues and recently chaired the Victorian Government's Homelessness Strategy. He is a Canon of St Paul's Anglican Cathedral Melbourne, Chairman of Anglicare Australia and past Chairman of General Synod's Public Affairs Commission. He is currently a member of the Victorian Government's Children's Council. Dr Cleary was awarded an AM for his contribution to the community and to the Anglican Church of Australia in the 2008 Queens Birthday Honours List.

Mr Bernie Geary

Mr Bernie Geary

Bernie Geary has been working over the last 33 years with vulnerable children, young people and their families. He began his career as Victoria's first outreach youth worker in Melbourne's West Heidelberg area, and worked for 17 years at Jesuit Social Services, where he was the CEO from 2001 to 2005. In his early years with Jesuit Social Services, Bernie managed the Brosnan Centre, assisting young people upon their release from prison. Jesuit Social Services is one of the State's leading Non-Government Organisations, providing services to marginal communities, and playing a prominent role in social research and advocacy.

Bernie served on the Victorian Youth Parole Board for 17 years from 1988 - 2005 and was a member of the initial Premier's Drug Advisory Council in 1999 (under the Kennett Government) and the subsequent Premier's Drug Advisory Council in 2001 (under the Bracks Government) both chaired by Professor David Penington. Until recently Bernie was a member of the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council. He is currently a member of the Victorian Children's Council.

Bernie received the Order of Australia in 2002 for services to young people, a Centenary Medal in 2000, and has an honorary Masters Degree in Social Work.

Bernie is always keen to share he has 5 children and 9 grandchildren. He has been the Child Safety Commissioner since the role was established in 2005.

Whilst Bernie's stated role is a specific response to the safety and wellbeing of Victoria's Children, he has been a constant advocate for carers and their critical role. In his three years as Child Safety Commissioner, he and those in his office have been strong supporters of FCAV and its principles.

Honourable Justice Lowell Goddard

Honourable Justice Lowell Goddard

The Hon Justice Lowell Goddard was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of New Zealand in 1995 and as a member of the Criminal Division of the New Zealand Court of Appeal.

She is currently appointed as Chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority for a term of 5 years.

Following her admission as a barrister and solicitor in 1975 she practiced first as a defence counsel and later as a Crown prosecutor. In 1988 she was appointed Queen's Counsel and in 1989 became Deputy Solicitor-General for New Zealand. In that role she undertook responsibility for the oversight of all indictable trials in New Zealand and all criminal appeals in the New Zealand Court of Appeal and Privy Council. She has defended and prosecuted in a number of homicide and other serious criminal trials and has acted as counsel assisting tribunals and Commissions of Inquiry.

Professor Karthigasen Govender

Prof. Karthigasen Govender is a Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission and a Professor of law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

He graduated from the University of London (LLB Upper second class) in 1981 and the University of Natal (Summa Cum Laude) in 1986. In 1986, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and studied at the University of Michigan. In 2002, he was awarded the Colenso scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge. He obtained his LLM from Michigan University in 1988 where he also taught on occasion.

Professionally, Prof. Govender is an advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa and ascended to the South African National Bar in 1993.

Karthy Govender was acting head of Department of Public Law at the University of Natal from January 1995 to January 1999 and for two years was chairman of the Management Committee of the Faculty of Law. As such he is a member of the senate of the University of Natal and a member of the Senate Merger Steering Committee. He teaches Constitutional law and Administrative law both to undergraduate and post-graduate students. He has initiated and substantially changed courses to reflect the changes in the legal system in South Africa. He has planned and mounted courses on the Constitution for practising advocates and attorneys. Since 1994, he has been presenting courses on Constitutional Litigation and Human Rights practice for candidate attorneys on behalf of the School for Legal Practice. In January 1998 and again in 1999, 2001 and 2002, he co-taught a constitutional law course at the University of Michigan in the USA.

On the 21st March 1996, Prof. Govender was sworn in as one of eleven Human Rights Commissioners for South Africa. His nomination was approved by an all-Party parliamentary committee, sanctioned by the full Parliament and ratified by President Mandela. His contribution to the commission has been primarily as a lawyer as he write judgements, provide opinions and mediate human rights issues on behalf of the South African Human Rights Commission. In addition he deliver seminars on the constitution to a variety of audiences. Prof. Govender was re-appointed to the Commission by President Mbeki in 2002 for a second term.

As a professional, Prof. Govender is an associate member of the Durban bar and as such practice law with a pronounced emphasis on Constitutional Law. He has appeared in four cases before the Constitutional Court as junior counsel and has been involved in other constitutional matters before lower courts and tribunals. Prof. Govender is presently also a senior arbitrator with the South African Local Government Bargaining Council and also serves as the Chairperson of the South African Film and Publication Review Board.

Dr Clive Harfield

Clive Harfield is a UK police officer on a career break until 2009, currently engaged as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia, where he teaches criminal law and is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention (http://ctcp.uow.edu.au/). He has an operational background in uniform policing, criminal investigation, police intelligence and covert operations and has served with the National Crime Squad (NCS) and National Hi-Tech Crime Unit prior to their merger into the Serious Organised Crime Agency. He has represented UK law enforcement on the G8 Hi-tech Crime Sub-Group and is a member of the International Policing Assessment and Planning Group which advises the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office on international policing issues. His research interests include mutual legal assistance, international law enforcement co-operation, transnational criminal investigation and police intelligence through each of which arena runs the common theme of human rights compliance. His publications include:

COVERT INVESTIGATION (Oxford University Press 2005, second edition forthcoming December 2008); INTELLIGENCE: INVESTIGATION, COMMUNITY AND PARTNERSHIP (Oxford University Press, 2008), both co-authored with Karen Harfield; and C Harfield et al (eds) THE HANDBOOK OF INTELLIGENT POLICING (Oxford University Press 2008).

Mr Al Hutchinson

Mr Al Hutchinson

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Assistant Commissioner (retired) Al Hutchinson was the Northern Ireland Policing Oversight Commissioner from January 2004 until June 2007, the end of the mandate. This was a position established in 2000 to oversee changes to policing in Northern Ireland. Al then accepted a 7-year appointment as the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and commenced his position on 6th November 2007, succeeding Dame Nuala O'Loan. Originally from Canada, and now a resident of Northern Ireland, Mr Hutchinson is a graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa and of Queen's University in Belfast, where he obtained an MBA in 2003.

The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland was established under Part VII of the Police (NI) Act 1998. The primary statutory duty of the Police Ombudsman is to exercise his powers as appears to him to be best calculated to secure the efficiency, effectiveness and independence of the police complaints system and the confidence of the public and the police in that system. The Office operates in Belfast, Northern Ireland with a staff of 150 and investigates all police complaints, including all criminal matters involving police.

Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer

President, New Zealand Law Commission

Sir Geoffrey is President of the New Zealand Law Commission. Sir Geoffrey has had a long career in the law, as an academic lawyer, a politician, and a law practitioner. Educated at the Victoria University of Wellington where he graduated BA in political science and LLB, he was awarded a British Commonwealth Fellowship at the University of Chicago where he graduated Doctor of Law cum laude in 1967.

Between 1984-1989 he was Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. He was from 1984-1987 Leader of the House of Representatives as well. After the 1987 election, he became Minister for the Environment, a post he held until 1990. In 1989-1990 he was Prime Minister of New Zealand. He was the promoter of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

He has been a Professor of Law at the Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Iowa. He started New Zealand's first public law firm, Chen Palmer.

Mr Dirk Ryneveld QC

Police Complaint Commissioner

BC Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld was the Director of Major Crime Prosecutions for Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. He conducted numerous significant high-profile trials and acted as counsel on a regular basis at the BC Court of Appeal and occasionally at the Supreme Court of Canada. He was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 1990.

In March of 1999 he took a leave of absence from Crown Counsel to become Senior Prosecuting Trial Attorney with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, Netherlands. While there, Mr. Ryneveld was the lead counsel in a number of significant war crimes trials. The first was a case out of Bosnia that led to the precedent-setting declaration by the Court of the Tribunal that rape, sexual assault and sexual enslavement of women by soldiers are war crimes. That case was followed by the Keraterm detention camp case, in which the camp commander and shift leaders were convicted of persecution as a crime against humanity. Thereafter, Mr. Ryneveld was the lead counsel in the Kosovo component of the Slobodan Milosevic trial, which has been described by the media as the most significant war crimes trial since the Nuremberg trials.
Mr. Ryneveld was sworn in as British Columbia’s Police Complaint Commissioner on 13 February 2003. Mr. Ryneveld has been a strong advocate for reform of the police complaint process in British Columbia. His efforts in this regard can be found on the BC Police Complaint Commissioner’s website at www.opcc.bc.ca under “Reports”.

Mr. Ryneveld served as President of the Canadian Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (CACOLE) for two terms in 2004 and 2005. In the role of CACOLE Past President, Mr. Ryneveld continues to be CACOLE’s representative on the steering committee spearheading the creation of an International Network for Independent Oversight of Policing – (INIOP).

Dr Helen Szoke

Dr Helen Szoke

Helen Szoke is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Conciliator of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and has held this position since December 2004.

She has previously held positions relating to management, community development, organizational development and regulation in the education and health sectors.

Helen is currently a member of the National Health and Medical Research Licensing Committee, Director of the Adult Migrant Education Services and Director of the Melbourne High School Foundation.

She was a local councilor in 1982 in the then City of Preston.

Michael Strong

Michael Strong

DIRECTOR, POLICE INTEGRITY
Michael Strong was appointed Director, Police Integrity, Victoria, on 1 May 2008. He had been a Judge of the County Court of Victoria since 1988 and for part of that time was a Vice President of the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal. Mr Strong was a barrister from 1975 to 1978 and a Prosecutor for the Queen between 1980 and 1984. He was a board member of Berry Street, Victoria's largest independent child and family welfare organisation, from 1991 until 2007 and was President for 4 years.