- Judge puts $45,000 in travel on taxpayer tab, then quits
- By Patrick Lion
- The Australian
- 08/03/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 258 articles in 2009 )
TAXPAYERS have been slugged almost $50,000 for a Queensland judge's global education tour only three months before he retired.
The Courier-Mail can reveal the swansong by former court of appeal judge Glen Williams was the most expensive sojourn as the state's judiciary spent at least $1.5 million on overseas travel in the past two years.
While taxpayers battled the economic downturn, secret figures that the Justice Department failed to declare reveal judges spent tens of thousands of dollars at meetings, conferences and court inspections in legal jurisdictions such as Tonga, Italy, Norway, the US, Russia and China.
Mr Williams, who could not be contacted, spent $44,648 on his multi-continent last hurrah travelling through Japan, Canada, Ireland, the UK, the US and Greece in late 2007.
But he pulled the plug on his career in January last year and now uses the knowledge as a member of the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal.
Judges are entitled to the travel under their so-called jurisprudential allowance, including any level of airfares and accommodation and travel for a spouse. But the timing of Mr Williams's trip is a blow to its justification as an educational tool to improve the Queensland judicial system.
The release of the details of the $1.53 million bill comes after The Courier-Mail revealed last month that reports on the annual trips had not been declared since 2006.
Judges and magistrates spent $684,732 during 2006-07, while the bill for 2007-08 came in at $853,016.
But the actual bill is likely to be far higher, as judges can decide whether they declare the travel publicly through Queensland Courts.
Chief Justice Paul de Jersey has defended the expenditure, saying the judiciary had to experience different legal cultures across the globe.
"The purpose of travel by judges utilising the jurisprudential allowance is ... self-education (and) the need for judges to familiarise themselves with current developments in law and judicial practice in a rapidly changing world," he said.
The figures show two judges went to the same World Conference of Advocates and Barristers in Dublin for the same amount of days last June but one spent $6000 more.
District Court Judge David Searles spent $17,405 while District Court Judge Michael Shanahan spent $23,929.
While many of the judicial sojourns hopped across several continents, Court of Appeal Judge Patrick Keane spent $27,594 attending only the Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute in Washing-ton, DC.
A Justice Department spokesman said judges could choose any level of travel they wanted out of the jurisprudential allowance.
"It is a matter for the judge to make their own travel arrangements depending on the funds available in their salary for travel," he said.
The Courier-Mail can reveal the swansong by former court of appeal judge Glen Williams was the most expensive sojourn as the state's judiciary spent at least $1.5 million on overseas travel in the past two years.
While taxpayers battled the economic downturn, secret figures that the Justice Department failed to declare reveal judges spent tens of thousands of dollars at meetings, conferences and court inspections in legal jurisdictions such as Tonga, Italy, Norway, the US, Russia and China.
Mr Williams, who could not be contacted, spent $44,648 on his multi-continent last hurrah travelling through Japan, Canada, Ireland, the UK, the US and Greece in late 2007.
But he pulled the plug on his career in January last year and now uses the knowledge as a member of the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal.
Judges are entitled to the travel under their so-called jurisprudential allowance, including any level of airfares and accommodation and travel for a spouse. But the timing of Mr Williams's trip is a blow to its justification as an educational tool to improve the Queensland judicial system.
The release of the details of the $1.53 million bill comes after The Courier-Mail revealed last month that reports on the annual trips had not been declared since 2006.
Judges and magistrates spent $684,732 during 2006-07, while the bill for 2007-08 came in at $853,016.
But the actual bill is likely to be far higher, as judges can decide whether they declare the travel publicly through Queensland Courts.
Chief Justice Paul de Jersey has defended the expenditure, saying the judiciary had to experience different legal cultures across the globe.
"The purpose of travel by judges utilising the jurisprudential allowance is ... self-education (and) the need for judges to familiarise themselves with current developments in law and judicial practice in a rapidly changing world," he said.
The figures show two judges went to the same World Conference of Advocates and Barristers in Dublin for the same amount of days last June but one spent $6000 more.
District Court Judge David Searles spent $17,405 while District Court Judge Michael Shanahan spent $23,929.
While many of the judicial sojourns hopped across several continents, Court of Appeal Judge Patrick Keane spent $27,594 attending only the Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute in Washing-ton, DC.
A Justice Department spokesman said judges could choose any level of travel they wanted out of the jurisprudential allowance.
"It is a matter for the judge to make their own travel arrangements depending on the funds available in their salary for travel," he said.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,25156867-3102,00.html
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