Australian Law Report Commission going the way of its sister organisation in NSW … Loss of independence … Staff removed … Integration into the AG’s department … New president a personal favourite of Soapy Brandis 

Changes are afoot under the new ALRC president Sarah Derrington, who was appointed by former attorney general Soapy Brandis just before he slid off the frontbench for a perch at Australia House, London. 

Derrington was dean of the law school at the University of Queensland immediately before her appointment to the commission. As a bonus prize Brandis also made her a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, where she joins her husband Justice Roger Derrington. 

Presumably, the ALRC is now paying her salary at FCA judges’ rates. It’s not as though the new justice wasn’t an effective and well-regarded dean, navigating the UQ law school through a rough patch and getting traction with alumni. 

We understand that Sarah was not the preferred candidate nominated by the selection panel but that didn’t matter as the Derringtons are old Brisbane pals of Soapy. 

However, it is the independence of the commission that is threatened. Since 1975 it has provided independent legal research and recommendations to government under presidents from Michael Kirby to Rosalind Croucher. 

Two weeks ago “Justice” Derrington told her crew that about half the staff, all longstanding devotees, would be made redundant and the commission’s operations would be shifted into the AG’s department. 

The lease on the Sydney headquarters is also coming to an end, so it is expected Derrington will run law reform operations from her base camp in Brisbane. As the organisation merges into just another policy branch of the department it is unlikely the ALRC will get the sort of input and advice it traditionally receives.

It’s own independent media work in relation to its references and reports will also be curtailed.  

The ALRC’s most recent report dealt with Indigenous incarceration – Pathways to Justice – and was packed full of politically unpalatable recommendations. 

Attorney General “Christian” Porter failed to follow it up with any statement, thoughtful or otherwise. He tabled it as part of a job-lot of reports from different parts of his portfolio. 

Apart from “Justice” Derrington, there is one other full-time commissioner, Prof Helen Rhoades, who is running the family law inquiry from Melbourne, all part of the increasing atomisation of the ALRC’s operations. 

Brandis treated the law reform commission with his usual indolence, tabling its reports at a very last moment and then ignoring them. 

Much the same defenestration happened to the NSW Law Reform Commission when most of its staff was annihilated and the tiny remainder packed off to a unit within the attorney general’s department.  

This was described as a “harmonisation of resources”. The NSW commission has to apply to the Justice Department to co-opt staff to work on references, which means it’s possible for the government to have a direct imprint on law reform recommendations. 

The department allocates an executive officer and three staff to “service” the NSWLRC, the Sentencing Council and the Victims Advisory Board. 

The upshot is that there is no dedicated professional staff at the NSW commission who can work on references continuously. The commission as a self-contained functioning entity, dedicated to independent investigation on legal policy issues, is caput.  

You can see the power-point gobbledegook on the NSWLRC’s “integration”, courtesy of the department’s strategy and policy people.  

Rosalind Croucher fought against the government’s pressure to slice and dice the commission, as did her predecessors. The struggle seems to have collapsed under “Justice” Derrington.

The great tradition of independent legal advice to government has fallen prey to bean counters and political plodders.