In the nearly five years since this masthead revealed that former High Court judge Dyson Heydon sexually harassed six young female associates according to an independent inquiry conducted by the court, the prominent retired jurist has kept a low profile. Heydon categorically denies the allegations.
But despite no longer practising as a barrister, Heydon has been busy writing. In January, the former judge released Heydon on Contract: Particular Contracts, a follow-up to his 2019 tome.
Justice Michael Kirby, photographed in 2007, has written a foreword to Dyson Heydon’s new book.Credit: Archive
Thomson Reuters, publisher of that previous work, reviewed its relationship with the former judge after the court’s investigation became public in 2020, and the book no longer appears on its website.
The latest book is released by “Sumner Publications”, a business name registered to one John Dyson Heydon. The former judge is self-publishing, in other words.
Anyway, the new book is already becoming a litmus test of Heydon’s reputation within the legal community. We hear Abbey’s bookshop in the Sydney CBD is set to hold an invite-only launch. The bookshop didn’t respond to this column’s questions, though we hear a few judges might show up.
One prominent legal figure who has proudly gone into bat for Heydon is the judge’s former High Court colleague Michael Kirby, something of a hero to progressives and first-year law students around the country.
In a glowing foreword, Kirby calls Heydon’s book an “important work of legal exposition”, “an intellectual masterpiece” and a “magnum opus”.
But the former judge had less to say when contacted by CBD about his support for Heydon on Monday.
“If you want to talk about the book I’m happy to talk about the book. If you want to talk about other things, I’m not,” he said.
When offered the opportunity to discuss the book itself, Kirby refused, accusing CBD of having no interest in it, and not having read the $250 tome.
Sure, we haven’t read Heydon’s latest work of dusty legal scholarship. But we have read the accounts of female associates and other women in the legal profession, outlining the former judge’s alleged predatory behaviour. And we have read the statement by former Chief Justice Susan Kiefel on the independent report into Heydon’s behaviour towards associates.
“The findings are of extreme concern to me, my fellow Justices, our chief executive and the staff of the court. We’re ashamed that this could have happened at the High Court of Australia,” Kiefel wrote.
“We have made a sincere apology to the six women whose complaints were borne out. We know it would have been difficult to come forward. Their accounts of their experiences at the time have been believed.”
Rowdy in Reid
John-Paul Baladi, the 25-year-old Liberal mayor of Strathfield who wields a gavel in council meetings, has picked a fight with Labor member for Reid Sally Sitou over an International Women’s Day speech, accusing the MP of “politicisation”.
“Ms Sitou gave an address which lasted almost 20 minutes and significantly focused on her political party’s achievements and ambitions,” Baladi said in a media release bearing the council’s letterhead.
“The language and tone used was highly self-promotional and political,” Baladi thundered, accusing the local member of treating the event like a campaign stop.
Politics? On International Women’s Day? The horror. Anyway, CBD got a look at the speech, which was about 10 minutes long, not 20, a fair chunk of which involved Sitou talking about her maternal grandma.
And while there were a few references to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and the government’s work on women’s health, there was no mention of Peter Dutton, or the Liberal Party, or the kind of fiery campaign rhetoric we might expect from a first-term backbencher trying to hold a key marginal seat.
When contacted by CBD, Sitou hit back at the mayor.
“It’s disappointing that, on International Women’s Day, the mayor of Strathfield has chosen to attack me for speaking from the heart about the women who inspire me,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the mayor of Strathfield has a history of attempting to silence women, including preventing a female councillor from dialling into a council meeting while she was in hospital.”
That would be a reference to Baladi blocking his predecessor, Labor’s Karen Pensabene, from joining the council’s first meeting via video call from hospital.
Shattered glass
Good news, everyone! Women in the medical profession no longer face barriers to their career.
At least, that’s the view of one female doctor highlighted by the Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP) as part of a flurry of social media activity to mark International Women’s Day. That is, before the comment section was overrun by women who disagreed and the post was swiftly taken down.
CBD tracked down a copy of the since-deleted post and, while your scribes would never suggest a woman isn’t allowed to have a controversial opinion – on IWD, no less – the particular choice of words was certainly eyebrow-raising.
“Don’t worry about the glass ceiling in medicine,” read the quote from Adelaide doctor Beata Byok in large sans serif font. “It’s not a thing any more!”
Except only 38 per cent of chief medical or health officers are women, just 39 per cent of private hospital CEOs are female and 45 per cent of all public hospital chairs are women, according to Monash University.
An RACP spokesperson told us: “We posted a well-intentioned quote from one of our respected senior female fellows, which didn’t resonate well with other members. We promptly pulled the quote down after six comments were made in disagreement.”
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