A former police detective, a former banana farmer, a clock collector, and the daughter of Serbian immigrant were sworn in as the state’s newest magistrates on Friday.
Adam Dwyer, Michael Spearman, Scott Malcolmson and Iris Gajic-Pavlica took their oath of office before Chief Magistrate Janelle Brassington at a ceremony at Brisbane Magistrates Court.
Chief Magistrate Brassington said the four would have no shortage of work, with the court’s workload substantial and growing.
Magistrate Dwyer (pictured below right with QLS President Peter Jolly) will sit in Cairns.
He was admitted as both a barrister and solicitor in 2003, after spending almost two decades with the Queensland Police Service (QPS).
Attaining postgraduate qualifications in law, criminology and business, he built an extensive career in criminal law, which included holding Queensland Law Society Specialist Accreditation, and serving on the QLS Criminal Law Committee and as a Councillor.
He said his time in law enforcement made for a smooth transition into lawyering, and taught him the importance of decency, integrity, dependability and a strong work ethic.
Magistrate Spearman will sit in Bowen. He has more than 15 years of legal experience across criminal, civil and family law.
This has included extensive work as a practitioner with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service across regional and remote communities.
Magistrate Spearman spoke of growing up on a banana farm in Tully, and the influence of his no-nonsense, Irish immigrant father.
He said the now 93-year-old, who was at the ceremony, taught him that “fairness isn’t only something you speak about in court; it starts with how you treat people every day, including when work is hard and nobody’s watching”.
“When I think about how this journey began, I can’t help but smile at the unorthodox path I travelled,” he said.
“My first real job didn’t come with an office, or a desk – it actually came with a cane knife.
“It was about hard work, early mornings and getting stuck in.
“I remember slopping through the banana paddocks of North Queensland during a wet season in Tully, thigh deep in flood water, and a bunch on my shoulder, and learning that steady effort, patience and character matter more than anything you can put on paper.”
Magistrate Malcolmson will sit in Caboolture/Caloundra. He has spent more than 17 years at the bar, practising in criminal, family, administrative, civil and commercial law.
He has worked for both the Commonwealth and Queensland Directors of Public Prosecutions.
As well as clocks, Magistrate Malcolmson collects Royal Doulton mugs, and remarked he was keen to rediscover dormant hobbies after many hectic years as a barrister.
Magistrate Gajic-Pavlica will sit in Brisbane. She has expertise in criminal law, family and guardianship law, child protection, domestic violence, human rights and administrative law.
Before joining the bar in 2019, she spent more than a decade serving as a government lawyer, including as a senior lawyer with the Office of the Director of Child Protection Litigation, where she acted on behalf of the State in child protection proceedings.
Magistrate Gajic-Pavlica paid tribute to her single mother, who emigrated from Serbia to New Zealand with a five-year-old Iris in tow as the Yugoslavian war edged closer.
Five years later, the pair moved to Australia, where Magistrate Gajic-Pavlica was inspired by her mother’s strength and resilience in learning English and taking exams as a foreign doctor.
“I’m grateful for the freedom of opportunity I’ve been afforded here, and being surrounded by employers, mentors and colleagues that have valued respect, hard work, good character, humility and dignity,” she said.
Queensland Bar Association President Cate Heyworth-Smith pointed out that the Magistrates Court was the first and often only interface the community had with the judicial system.
“You will all be in your positions for a very long time. You will need resilience, diligence and stamina,” Ms Heyworth-Smith told the new Magistrates.
“The bar association holds the expectation that your Honours’ elevations will see to the efficient conduct of the business of this court and that the government’s faith in you will be exceeded.”
QLS President Peter Jolly said the confidence placed in the newest judicial officers was richly deserved.
“We have every confidence that your Honours will serve with wisdom, integrity and humanity, and will uphold the highest traditions of judicial office in the administration of justice,” Mr Jolly said.
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