Inquiry finds Dyson Heydon sexually harassed associates
Dyson Heydon faces civil legal claims and a possible criminal investigation after an independent inquiry found he sexually harassed six female associates.
Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon faces civil legal claims and a possible criminal investigation in the wake of an independent inquiry that found he sexually harassed six female associates during his decade on the bench.
The publicly disclosed findings of alleged predatory behaviour towards court staff by one of Australia’s most eminent jurists rocked the nation’s legal fraternity on Monday, prompting Chief Justice Susan Kiefel to issue a statement that she and her seven-member bench were “ashamed” such behaviour could have occurred at the highest court in the land.
Chief Justice Kiefel confirmed the court had apologised to six women who had made complaints that led to an inquiry conducted by Australia’s former inspector-general of intelligence and security, Vivienne Thom.
She said the findings, which were addressed publicly for the first time and accepted without qualification, were of “extreme concern” to herself, fellow judges and staff of the court.
“We’re ashamed that this could have happened at the High Court in Australia,” Chief Justice Kiefel said. “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.”
She said she had spoken to a number of the women, some of whom had requested confidentiality, and the court was doing all it could to make sure “the experiences of these women will not be repeated”, with confidential means for complaints “if anything like this were to happen again”.
“There is no place for sexual harassment in any workplace,” Chief Justice Kiefel said.
“We have strengthened our policies and training to make clear the importance of a respectful workplace at the court.”
Mr Heydon told The Australian on Monday: “I prefer not to make any comment in the circumstances.”
His solicitors, Speed and Stracey, issued a categorical denial of the allegations on his behalf and said the former judge had informed them that if any conduct had caused offence, the result was “inadvertent and unintended”.
“In respect of the confidential inquiry and its subsequent confidential report, any allegations of predatory behaviour or breaches of the law is categorically denied by our client,” the solicitors said.
“Our client says that if any conduct of his has caused offence, that result was inadvertent and unintended, and he apologises for any offence caused.
“We have asked the High Court to convey that directly to the associate complainants.”
The inquiry began following allegations in March last year by two of the judge’s former colleagues, who notified Chief Justice Kiefel that they had allegedly been sexually harassed by Mr Heydon. The inquiry widened, hearing evidence from other former colleagues following the appointment of Dr Thom.
Of the women willing to confirm their identities, former Heydon associate Rachael Patterson Collins was reported on Monday by Nine newspapers as saying the former judge’s actions had “real and terrible consequences” that had led her to abandon plans to become a barrister.
Another former associate, Chelsea Tabart, said she had left the law after her experience because “the culture was broken from the top down”. She also said she would not be safe “from powerful men like Mr Heydon even if I reported them”.
Dr Thom’s report, which followed interviews with a dozen witnesses, found evidence that “demonstrated a tendency by Mr Heydon to engage in a pattern of conduct of sexual harassment”.
This allegedly included unwelcome touching, attempting to kiss the women and taking them into his bedroom.
Nine also reported a “current judge” saying Mr Heydon had allegedly “indecently assaulted her” and that he knew she was “not consenting”.
The judge, a barrister at the time, said Mr Heydon “slid his hand between her thighs at a professional law dinner not long after he joined the High Court bench”.
She did not complain afterwards because it could have killed the career of a female practitioner, she said.
Mr Heydon is also alleged, according to Nine, to have indecently assaulted the then president of the ACT Law Society, Noor Blumer, at the University of Canberra Ball in April 2013.
He was allegedly removed from the event and returned to his accommodation after a complaint was made on the night.
Ms Blumer is reported as claiming Mr Heydon started “feeling up the side of my leg” at the dinner. On the pretext of discussing adoption law with her, he allegedly took her to an empty room at the event venue where he attempted to forcibly kiss her.
Another lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged to Nine that Mr Heydon as a High Court judge had “put his hands down my pants and kissed me on the mouth” when she was in a car with him after a private dinner.
The lawyer representing some complainants, Melbourne solicitor Josh Bornstein from Maurice Blackburn, tweeted after Chief Justice Kiefel made the inquiry findings public on Monday that he was very proud of his clients and their claims had been “upheld by a High Court investigation”.
The findings by Dr Thom could lead to civil claims by complainants against Mr Heydon, while allegations of non-consensual touching and assault could prompt a police probe.
In separate comments Mr Bornstein made to Nine, he described Mr Heydon as one of the most powerful men in Australia. “As the independent investigation makes clear, he is also a sex pest.
“At the same time as he was dispensing justice in the highest court in Australia’s legal system, he was (engaged) in sexual harassment.”
The alleged events date back to between 2003 and 2013 when Mr Heydon, regarded as one of the nation’s most eminent jurors and known for his black-letter law interpretation of the Constitution, served on the bench until his retirement at the legal maximum age of 70 for a judge.
In 2014, a year after him leaving the bench and returning to practise as a barrister, the Abbott government appointed Mr Heydon to head the royal commission into union governance and corruption, which made numerous findings of union lawlessness and recommended a series of criminal prosecutions.
At one point during proceedings, in August 2015, a month after the Labor leader Bill Shorten had given evidence, Mr Heydon was personally drawn into controversy over his acceptance of an invitation to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser, which he later turned down, saying he had “overlooked” that the Sir Garfield Barwick oration he had been asked to give was connected to the Liberal Party and he did not understand it was “in any sense a fundraiser”.
Mr Bornstein is a prominent Labor-aligned lawyer who often specialises in labour law and has represented many unions in court matters.
He was on the union side during the royal commission headed by Mr Heydon.
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