‘Cruel’ judge Guy Andrew who abused his position moved from Townsville

A judge whose ‘cruel, rude’ behaviour prompted a retrial has been moved from his north Queensland role.

Federal Circuit Court judge Guy Andrew will be temporarily transferred to Brisbane and will have his sittings monitored.

A judge found to have abused his position, and whose “cruel” and “rude” behaviour prompted a retrial of a family law dispute involving a seven-year-old girl, has been moved from his north Queensland role.

Federal Circuit Court judge Guy Andrew, appointed by the Coalition last year as the court’s sole judge in Townsville, will be temporarily transferred to Brisbane and will have his sittings monitored. 

He will also receive “further judicial training specifically on appropriate behaviour in court”.

The judge was already receiving mentoring and counselling for his behaviour.

The steps to manage Judge Andrew’s behaviour come after the full Family Court found that in the case involving the seven-year-old girl, known as “Adacot & Sowle”, he had been “hectoring, insulting, belittling, sarcastic and rude” towards the lawyers for the girl’s father.

The behaviour had “amounted to an abuse of the power of his position” and warranted a retrial of the dispute, the appeal court said.

The Australian understands Judge Andrew has been the subject of two complaints and that his behaviour has caused distress to practitioners and litigants in a number of cases.

In one telephone hearing, The Australian understands he became so frustrated he hung up on the parties.

In its decision in Adacot & Sowle, published on Tuesday, the appeal judges said: “The tone, nature and ferocity of his Honour’s comments could never be seen as justified, and in our view resulted in the father not receiving a fair trial and raised the identified apprehended bias, that no matter what the father’s case was as presented, it would be rejected.”

Judge Andrew had attacked the father’s barrister, Brisbane silk Graeme Page QC, over his appearance, his apparent failure to bow and accused him, multiple times and without justification, of lying or providing false information.

He also interrupted Mr Page so often he was unable to utter more than three sentences at a time on the first day of trial, and variously described his performance as “garbage”, “disgraceful”, “pathetic” and “like a really bad Monty Python skit”.

The appeal judges said there was “no basis” for the judge to have impugned Mr Page’s professionalism.

After the barrister withdrew, the attacks continued on the man’s solicitor.

“If possible, his Honour’s conduct worsened”, the appeal judges said.

“The primary judge’s treatment of and conduct towards the father’s solicitor was such that it could bear no description other than taking inappropriate advantage of the undoubted power imbalance that exists between the judge and the lawyer and, indeed, counsel for the mother conceded during oral argument on the appeal that it amounted to bullying by the judge,” they said.

In a bizarre exchange, the judge chastised the solicitor for using the word “just”, then criticised him for using the word “all”, and for “looking away”, and said he had a “cognition problem”.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Circuit Court said all matters listed in Townsville between now and Christmas would still be heard face-to-face where appropriate, by two “extremely experienced” judges in the Townsville Registry. 

Judge Michael Jarrett will hear cases there from September 7 to 19, while Judge Grant Riethmuller would take over from September 21 until the end of the year.

She said a decision would be made before Christmas as to whether Judge Andrew would return to Townsville or another judge would be assigned. 

“Of utmost importance and priority to the Court is that the families of Townsville and the region of North Queensland that need the services of the Court have their family law dispute dealt with in a respectful manner,” she said.

The case prompted fresh calls from Law Council of Australia president Pauline Wright on Wednesday for a judicial commission to handle complaints about federal judges.

Former Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses SC told The Australian on Thursday there was “no place in our justice system for arrogant or abusive behaviour by judges towards parties or lawyers who appear before them”.

“It is the complete opposite of what is expected of judges, who are expected to exercise the duties of their office with humility, patience and civility,” he said.

The case was another example of why a federal judicial commission was needed, he said.

“Being a judge is a privilege,” he said. “At its heart it involves the administration of justice on behalf of the community that the judges serve. The community does not approve of judges misusing their office to behave in an abusive or arrogant manner by making unacceptable remarks to belittle citizens or the lawyers who act for them. Any judge who takes a different view is not worthy of the high office she or he holds.”

Former Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts said a judicial commission was “absolutely” needed for federal and Queensland judges.

He said an appeal was an expensive and unsatisfactory way to deal with such issues; the litigants involved in Adacot & Sowle not only had to endure the judge’s behaviour but the delay and emotional trauma of another trial.

“Some judges use the bench as a bully pulpit and the concern is that while the appeal courts are there to make sure those things are corrected the reality is justice has failed to be done in a fair way,” he said.

He said a judicial commission should not only have a role in disciplining judges on the rare occasions they fell short, but in helping to select appropriate candidates on merit.

They could also help to counsel and educate judges, he said.

Federal Circuit Court Chief Judge Will Alstergren said on Wednesday that all court users “should rightly expect to be treated with respect when they come to court”.

He said Judge Andrew, who was appointed in March last year, had been relatively new when the case was heard last September, and he had been sitting in a single-judge registry, which could “present a number of challenges”.

Taxpayers will be forced to pay the legal fees for both the mother and father associated with the appeal and a second trial; the full Family Court took the unusual step of issuing a certificate that said in their opinion it would be appropriate for the Attorney-General to authorise payments to the pair to cover their costs of the appeal and retrial.

Two other Federal Circuit Court judges appointed by the Coalition have also received mentoring for their conduct on the bench, Sal Vasta and Sandy Street. Other judges have been the subject of complaints because of lengthy delays in making decisions.

The body representing judges, the Judicial Conference of Australia, and academics have also called for the creation of a federal judicial commission to handle complaints about federal judges.

Before his appointment, Judge Andrew was an experienced family law barrister and had also worked as a solicitor for Legal Aid Queensland.