BENCH AND BOOK,

Courts, Cases, Verdicts, Diaries, Letters Memories by Nicholas Hasluck, first published by Arcadia 2021.ISBN 978-1-922669-12-4

To produce this interesting book Nicholas Hasluck draws upon his diaries in the first two years he spent as a Supreme Court judge in Western Australia: 2000-2001. As well as being a barrister prior to his appointment to the bench he was a well known writer, novelist and poet. During the period covered by the book he continued to serve on the Literature Board and the Australia Council as well as continuing his work in the evenings writing a novel. Hence the duality of his life found within the title Bench and Book. On account of both the legal and literary worlds’ commitment to entertaining each other a more accurate title for book, based upon the diary’s entries would be Bench, Book and Table. The numbers of parties, restaurants, eateries and bars he lists could comprise a formidable index of where to eat and entertain in Perth, Sydney and Canberra.

Hasluck provides a valuable account as what it means to be a busy judge, well worth a read for those considering that calling. By December of 2000 he writes that ‘I have never worked so hard in my entire life.’Not just the writing of judgments but directions to juries, sentencing remarks and verbal rulings along the way. He writes of many late nights getting ready for court the next day, ever conscious and fearful of acerbic and critical remarks by judges on appeal scrutinising his decisions for error.

Hasluck is not without a critical eye himself. While sipping champagne at the marina in Matilda Bay he describes an acquaintance as having ‘..the self-contained quality of an efficient kelpie, rounding up strays, moving things along, making no concessions ….aggrieved that he and ( his wife) have not been invited to join other writers on the trip to Rottnest Island .’

However Hasluck reserves his most trenchant and justified criticism for two judges, former High Court judge Sir Ronald Wilson and Supreme Court of Western Australia and later New South Wales Court of Appeal judge and ICAC Commissioner David Ipp.

His distain for Wilson related to his chairmanship of a report into the ‘stolen generations’ which stated that previous government policies, especially in the assimilation era, amounted to genocide. This finding of ‘genocide’ appeared to be contrary to the evidence and an attempt at grasping a pithy headline. It was also an indirect attack upon Hasluck’s father Paul who in his period as Minister for Territories had within his portfolio Aboriginal Affairs. He points out that Wilson for many years was a Senior Crown Prosecutor in Western Australia but failed to prosecute anyone for the crimes he contends were taking place in his home state. He also points out that  Wilson was a former Moderator of the Uniting Church, and a member of the governing Board of Sister Kate’s hostel for part-Aboriginal children and as such was a collaborator in the policies and practices he condemned .

He recounts David Ipps’ bullying persona on the bench  described thus, “ Ipp turns to me,as counsel for the respondent, and begins bombarding me with this and that, suggesting, by various poutings and wincings and ponderous leanings forward in the course of hurling another brick-bat,that I am either a fool or a charlatan, probably the latter, as the Judge below seems to have been duped into handing down a verdict in my client’s favour.’Even when Hasluck joined the  Western Australian Supreme Court Ipp continued to treat him badly. Somehow Ipp managed a transfer to the NSW court system and generally imposed his ill-temper and pomposity on the Sydney Bar.

Hasluck devotes a chapter (if not his life) to Law and Literature. He correctly asserts that lawyers are assisted by insights into the human condition by the great works of literature. Years ago, I recall reading one of the books written by Lord Denning who advised young barristers to read widely, beyond the law reports and text books, better to understand the language and human nature.

One is struck in these diaries by the extensive range of characters with whom Hasluck rubs shoulders, breaks bread and sips wine. The book could do with a far more extensive index than the rudimentary one it has.

One memorable encounter is with Barry Jones,   parliamentarian and polymath. “Barry refers in passing to the  Graham Freudenberg  summation that Kim Beazley is probably the first Labor leader since Ben Chifley not to have some major personality defect.”

More delights like this are to be found in this wonderful book.

Jeffrey Phillips, SC

Sydney