The Australian Bar Association is concerned by the report in today’s Daily Telegraph criticising the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on travel by High Court judges and their spouses in 2017–18.
President of the ABA, Jennifer Batrouney QC, said, “The High Court of Australia is a national court that sits around Australia, and one of the three arms of government. The High Court is renowned the world over for the quality of its jurisprudence, and it is entirely appropriate that the judges of the Court travel internationally for a variety of official purposes, including conferences and education.”
“The burden of travel is particularly heavy for the Chief Justice”, she continued. “All spouses of High Court judges, including the Chief Justice’s husband, make very significant sacrifices because of the nature of judicial work, and any criticism of their travel costs is entirely without foundation.”
