Acting Attorney-General
Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
The Government proposes to recommend to His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, that he appoint the Hon Justice Emilios Kyrou AO as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia and as President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
On 16 December 2022 the Australian Government announced it would replace the AAT with a new administrative review body. The appointment of a new President of the AAT is an important step in the Government’s reform of Australia’s system of administrative review.
As President, Justice Kyrou would lead the AAT through this important reform and would be the inaugural president of the new administrative review body, once established, for the remainder of the term of his appointment.
The proposed term of appointment is five years.
Justice Kyrou has been selected though a transparent and merit-based process. His Honour has the experience and capacity to lead a trusted federal administrative review body in a fair, efficient, accessible and independent manner.
The Attorney-General invited all appropriately qualified individuals to apply and also sought nominations from the heads of the Federal Courts and state and territory Supreme Courts, the Law Council of Australia, and the Australian Bar Association and the equivalent state and territory bodies. All applicants were assessed by an independent selection panel comprising the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, the former Chief Justice of the Federal Court the Hon James Allsop AC and former Justice of the Federal Court the Hon Ray Finkelstein AO KC.
Justice Kyrou has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria since 2008 and from 2014 has been a Judge of Appeal within its Court of Appeal.
Justice Kyrou is widely recognised for his integrity, legal excellence, independence and intellectual capacity. He is an experienced leader and administrator, and is an expert in administrative law. On Australia Day this year Justice Kyrou was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia ‘for distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law, to professional associations and to the community.’
On behalf of the Australian Government I congratulate Justice Kyrou on his proposed appointment.
The Government is grateful to all members of the legal profession who provided nominations of candidates for this very important role.
The Government would also like to thank the Hon Justice Susan Kenny AM and the Hon Justice Berna Collier for their service as Acting AAT President in recent months.
Subject to the Governor-General’s approval, Justice Kyrou’s appointment as a Justice of the Federal Court would commence on 8 June 2023 and his appointment as AAT President would commence on 9 June 2023.
BIOGRAPHY
The Hon Justice Emilios Kyrou AO has been a Judge of Appeal in the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court of Victoria since 2014. In this role, Justice Kyrou has written several judgements dealing with administrative law matters. Previously, from 2008 to 2014, Justice Kyrou was a Trial Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, where he was one of the judges in charge of the Supreme Court’s Judicial Review and Appeals List. From 1990 to 2008, Justice Kyrou was a Partner in the Litigation Department at Mallesons Stephen Jaques. He was also the founding editor of the loose-leaf service Victorian Administrative Law in 1985 and served as editor until 1998.
