Page 552 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
the General Division of the Order of Australia in 1994, when he received the Centenary Medal in 2003, and when his name was added to the ACT Honour Walk here in Civic in 2016.
This morning, Madam Speaker, on behalf of the ACT government, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Justice Miles’s wife, Patricia; children, Anna and James; grandchildren, Finlay, Oliana and Jackson; and other family members and friends.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (10.04): Madam Speaker, I too rise today to express condolences on behalf of the opposition at the passing of former ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice the Hon Jeffrey Miles AO.
Chief Justice Miles was born in Newcastle in 1935, attending Newcastle Boys High School. The Newcastle Sun of 7 November 1951 reported that a young Jeff Miles spoke at a father and son dinner upon graduation. I imagine with a fair degree of hilarity, he is reported as saying that the departing fifth-year students were not as cooperative as they might have been and examinations were not their highest priority.
Whilst enrolled at the University of Sydney, Justice Miles was a model student, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws before undertaking further study and completing a Master of Laws in 1973.
Justice Miles’s legal career began in Sydney, where he was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1958. After practising as a solicitor for some time in London, Justice Miles returned to Australia and was admitted to the bar in both New South Wales and the Northern Territory in 1965.
Notably, Justice Miles was appointed as the solicitor for the Beatles during their Beatlemania tour in 1966. Whilst his services were not used throughout the tour’s duration, he did meet the world-famous group.
Justice Miles continued to practise as a barrister until 1980, when he was appointed a judge of the National Court of Papua New Guinea. He served in this role for two years, before moving back to Sydney after his appointment as a justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
In 1985 Justice Miles was appointed Chief Justice of the Australian Capital Territory by then Attorney-General and Deputy Prime Minister Lionel Bowen, and was concurrently appointed to the Federal Court of Australia, roles he held for 17 years until his retirement in 2002.
Chief Justice Miles presided over some of the biggest, most complicated and most controversial legal cases that have ever come before the Supreme Court. One of his most notable roles came when he presided over the inquiry into whether David Eastman was fit to stand trial for murder. Another notable case, particularly for our side of politics, was Champion v Canberra World Cup Show Jumping and Carnell, in which Justice Miles awarded $85,000 for injury to the horse that was being ridden
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video