An exiled Perth magistrate who unsuccessfully pursued a lawsuit against the state government over her forced relocation from the Children’s Court has lost her appeal bid.
In a decision handed down on Tuesday, chief justice Debra Mortimer and justices Michael O’Bryan and Angus Stewart dismissed Magistrate Catherine Crawford’s bid to overturn a ruling which concluded Children’s Court president Hylton Quail had the power to shift her without her consent.
Perth Magistrate Catherine Crawford (inset).
Crawford dragged the WA government to the Federal Court in 2022, challenging new laws it passed allowing Quail to shift her to another court for four days a week, and then permanently.
The state had successfully argued its decision was just and that the new laws were aimed at alleviating workload issues by facilitating the allocation of work across two courts that shared a single magistrate.
But Crawford pursued an appeal in April, with her lawyer Patricia Cahill, SC, claiming the state had unduly empowered the president to make a decision that should have been left to the governor and which placed the impartiality of magistrates at risk.
The bitter row centred around two notices Quail penned informing Crawford that her exclusive, full-time position in the Children’s Court would be reduced to one day per week and then to none, and she would be moved to the Perth Magistrates Court.
Crawford had claimed the laws may not be constitutional because they impaired magistrates’ independence, concerns echoed by the WA Law Society, and argued the fresh laws that allowed Quail to issue a binding, de-facto suspension were unconstitutional.
The state maintained Crawford was one of 57 magistrates appointed full-time to both courts, and it was up to the judicial arm of government to determine how that workload was best distributed.
Since her appointment in 2012, Crawford had been sitting almost exclusively in the Children’s Court as part of a swap between a Magistrates Court judge.
But in late 2020 she was informed her position would cease the following year, and she would be transferred to Perth Magistrates Court, but she refused.
Quail had sought the counsel of the attorney-general and solicitor general before executing the proposal, requesting the appointment of a new magistrate to move Crawford on.
The parties managed to broker a peace deal midway through the October 2021 trial which allowed Crawford to continue as a full-time Children’s Court magistrate in Fremantle, but that expired in May 2022.
Crawford was handed the first notice two days later.
The Federal Court ordered the parties to attempt to come to an agreement as to who should foot the bill for the proceedings by March 11.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.