Ok for judges to go at 70: Chief Justice Gleeson

Australian High Court Chief Justice Murray Gleeson believes that there should be a compulsory retirement age for judges of 70 and this would include himself stepping down at that age next year.

Addressing the Australian Legal Convention in Sydney Justice Gleeson said: “I’m still pretty fit but I will have been a chief justice for 20 years by then and I think that is enough. There are plenty of people over the age of 70 who are fully competent ….. there are some people under the age of 70 who perhaps aren’t fully competent.

“The problem about not having a fixed age is that it makes a person a judge in his own cause. He has to decide for himself whether he’s too old, and it’s unfair to put people in that position. I think there are plenty of outlets for retired judges to make themselves useful without having to hang around the house and annoy their wives all day.”

The first current High Court judge to reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 will be Ian Callinan in September this year followed by Justice Gleeson in August next year and Michael Kirby in March, 2009.