Retired judges return to Tas Supreme Court bench to help clear backlog

Four retired judges have been appointed acting judges of the Supreme Court of Tasmania to help clear the court’s backlog of cases, the state’s attorney-general has announced. The appointments, however, come as the State Government still refuses to appoint another full-time judge to return the court’s bench to seven members.

Former Supreme Court of Tasmania Justices Pierre Slicer and David Porter, along with former Federal Court judge Shane Marshall and Former Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Martin, are the new acting judges, Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin said. The appointments come after the Supreme Court Amendment (Judges) Bill was passed last year, enabling the government to appoint part-time judges to the Supreme Court.

Slicer was a justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania from 1991 to 2009. Porter retired from his post in January 2016 after nearly eight years as a full-time Supreme Court of Tasmania justice. Martin was a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia from 1999 to 2004 before serving as the chief justice of the Northern Territory from 2004 to 2010. Marshall was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1995 to 2015.