Large field jostled for high-paying judicial roles on Tasmanian Supreme Court
Two judges recently appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Tasmania were selected from a hotly contested field of candidates, official government documents reveal.
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Two judges recently appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Tasmania were selected from a hotly contested field of candidates, official government documents reveal.
Following the appointment of Chris Shanahan SC as the state’s new Chief Justice, and Kate Cuthbertson SC as a judge of the court, the state’s Justice Department issued a heavily redacted Right to Information release of ministerial correspondence which detailed 17 separate applications for the advertised positions.
According to the ministerial minute sent to Attorney-General Guy Barnett last November from Justice Department acting secretary, Kristy Bourne, the government received expressions of interest were received from 16 hopefuls for the $560,000 judge’s role, with eight applicants seeking to serve as Tasmania’s Chief Justice, which pays $625,000.
Current permanent members of Tasmania’s Supreme Court were not required to submit an application, but were considered for the Chief Justice role, Ms Bourne wrote.
The recent judicial appointments filled the vacancies created by the retirement of Chief Justice Alan Blow AO, and the resignation of former judge Gregory Geason.
While the RTI document listed Ms Bourne as a member of a four-person assessment panel of candidates, the names of the three other panellists were redacted.
One was selected as a “senior member of the judiciary in Australia”, while another was chosen as an “independent member” of the legal profession.
The final panellist was a member of the Tasmanian Bar Association.
Also redacted were the questions asked of those candidates who were selected for a formal interview, which took place in Hobart in the second half of last year.
Chief Justice Shanahan was admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1984, to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1989 and the High Court of Australia in 1990, and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2004.
He was Acting Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia, and a Senior Sessional Member of the State Administrative Appeal Tribunal.
Justice Cuthbertson worked with the Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania for a decade, before joining Malthouse Chambers as a barrister.
In 2024, she was appointed as a Judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
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