Justice Stephen Gageler AC has been appointed as the fourteenth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and will start on 6 November 2023 upon the retirement of Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC.
Justice Gageler has served on the High Court since 2012. Before this, he was the Commonwealth Solicitor-General.
Justice Gageler holds a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University and a Master of Laws from Harvard University.
He was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1989 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2000.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC also announced today the appointment of Justice Robert Beech-Jones to the High Court of Australia.
Justice Beech-Jones will fill the vacancy created by Justice Gageler’s appointment and will also start on 6 November.
Justice Beech-Jones has served on the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 2012.
In 2021 he was appointed Chief Judge of the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a Judge of Appeal.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Science from the Australian National University. Justice Beech-Jones was admitted as a Barrister in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1992 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006.
The Federal Government consulted extensively in the lead-up to this decision, including with all state and territory Attorneys-General, the Shadow Attorney-General, the heads of the Federal Courts and state and territory Supreme Courts, state and territory Bar Associations and law societies, National Legal Aid, Australian Women Lawyers, the National Association of Community Legal Centres and deans of law schools across the country.
The Government thanked all those who provided nominations. Justice Gageler and Justice Beech-Jones were strongly supported in the consultation process.
They thanked Chief Justice Kiefel for her exceptional service as Chief Justice of the High Court since 2017, Justice of the High Court since 2007, and as a former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, Supreme Court of Queensland and Supreme Court of Norfolk Island.
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