Australia Names First Ever Female Chief Justice Of The High Court

Susan Kiefel, 62, will take on the role in January.

Justice Susan Kiefel, who was appointed to the High Court in 2007, has been named Australia's next chief justice, becoming the first woman to take on the role.

Andrew Sheargold / AAPIMAGE

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the 62-year-old former Federal Court judge, who dropped out of high school at 15, would take over as chief justice of the seven-member High Court in January.

"The governor general is appointing Susan Mary Kiefel as the next chief justice, the 13th chief justice of Australia, the first woman to hold that role," Turnbull said.

"She took silk in 1987, the first woman in Queensland to do so. In 1993 she became the first woman to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland.

"She has been one of Australia's most outstanding judicial officers."

Attorney-general George Brandis joined in praising Kiefel, making special mention of the fact she was appointed to the role "on merit".

He said: "One thing that can be said about Justice Kiefel is that every step in her career is a step that was one that she took on merit."

The prime minister also announced that 42-year-old James Edelman would be appointed to the High Court to fill the vacancy left by French.

law.ox.ac.uk

Brandis said Edelman "is one of Australia's greatest legal scholars with an international reputation that has combined his role as a legal scholar with a busy practice at the bar and a successful judicial career in Perth".

Murray Watt @MurrayWatt

Congratulations Susan Kiefel, first woman appointed Chief Justice in High Court's 113 yr history! Also happens to be a #QLDer #nobiggie

10:32 PM - 28 Nov 2016

Lauren Butterly @LYButterly

Great news! Another UWA alumni appointed to the HCA! Congratulations to Justice Edelman. https://t.co/0GhLclhOWY

10:38 PM - 28 Nov 2016