Duncan Kerr

2025-06-29T21:15:18Z

2A14:5FC0:BB01:22F:8C08:9C24:7B4:F089: /* Law */

{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name = Duncan Kerr
| image = Duncan Kerr.jpg
| constituency_MP = [[Division of Denison|Denison]]
| parliament = Australian
| predecessor = [[Michael Hodgman]]
| successor = [[Andrew Wilkie]]
| term_start = {{start date|1987|07|11|df=y}}
| term_end = {{end date|2010|07|19|df=y}}
| office1 = [[Attorney-General of Australia]]
| primeminister1 = [[Paul Keating]]
| predecessor1 = [[Michael Duffy (Australian politician)|Michael Duffy]]
| successor1 = [[Michael Lavarch]]
| term_start1 = {{start date|1993|04|01|df=y}}
| term_end1 = {{end date|1993|04|27|df=y}}
| office2 = [[Minister for Justice (Australia)|Minister for Justice]]
| primeminister2 = [[Paul Keating]]
| predecessor2 = [[Michael Tate]]
| successor2 = [[Daryl Williams (politician)|Daryl Williams]]
| term_start2 = {{start date|1993|03|24|df=y}}
| term_end2 = {{end date|1996|03|11|df=y}}
| office3 = [[Federal Court of Australia|Judge of the Federal Court of Australia]]
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| term_start3 = {{start date|2012|05|10|df=y}}
| term_end3 = {{end date|2022|02|25|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1952|2|26}}
| birth_place = [[Hobart, Tasmania]]
| nationality = [[Australian citizenship]]
| spouse =
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[University of Tasmania]]
| occupation = Judge
| profession = [[Barrister]], [[Politician]], [[Judge]]
| religion =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|FAAL|SC|size=100%}}
}}

'''Duncan James Colquhoun Kerr''' (born 26 February 1952<ref name="parlinfo">{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=RH4 |title=The Hon Duncan Kerr SC, MP |work=Senators and Members |publisher=[[Parliament of Australia]] |year=2010 |accessdate=16 July 2013 }}</ref>) is a barrister. He is a former judge of the [[Federal Court of Australia]]. He also served as President of the [[Administrative Appeals Tribunal]] from 2012 to 2017.

Kerr was previously a politician, as the [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] member for [[Division of Denison|Denison]] in the [[Australian House of Representatives]], serving between 1987 and 2010. He was [[Minister for Justice (Australia)|Minister for Justice]] between 1993 and 1996, and in 1993 briefly also [[Attorney-General of Australia]].

==Early life and education==

Born in [[Hobart]], [[Tasmania]], Kerr was educated at the [[University of Tasmania]], where at one stage he was President of the [[Tasmania University Union]]. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree, and later with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work.

==Career==

===Politics===

Kerr was the Labor candidate in the [[Division of Braddon]] in the [[1977 Australian federal election]], losing to future [[Premier of Tasmania]] [[Ray Groom]]. In the Australian federal election in 1987, Kerr defeated the sitting Liberal member, [[Michael Hodgman]] [[Queen's Counsel|QC]], for the Hobart-based seat of Denison to become the first Labor member elected from Tasmania since the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975.

Kerr served in the [[Australian House of Representatives]] as Member for [[Division of Denison|Denison]] from 11 July 1987 to 19 July 2010. Prior to entering politics, Kerr acted as [[Crown Counsel]] in the Tasmanian Solicitor-General's Department, as lecturer in constitutional law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the [[University of Papua New Guinea]], and as Principal Solicitor for the [[Aboriginal Legal Service of New South Wales]].

Kerr served as [[Minister for Justice (Australia)|Minister for Justice]] from 1993 to 1996, and briefly also as [[Attorney-General of Australia|Attorney-General]] in 1993. Prime Minister [[Paul Keating]]'s original choice for Attorney-General in 1993 had been [[Michael Lavarch]], but Lavarch's re-election was delayed by the death of an opposing candidate for the seat of [[Division of Dickson|Dickson]]; Kerr held the portfolio in the interim until Lavarch won the resulting supplementary election. Kerr served as Attorney-General for 26 days.

Kerr was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1996 to 2001. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs in the Rudd Ministry in 2007.

Prior to his appointment to the [[First Rudd Ministry]], Kerr was Co-Convenor of the Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform, a cross-party group that advocates harm minimisation as being more effective, more cost-efficient and less harmful than zero-tolerance when it comes to dealing with drug use.

On 14 December 2009, Kerr resigned his appointment as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs and indicated he intended to return to legal practice. Kerr retired from politics at the [[2010 Australian federal election|2010 election]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26053696-5013871,00.html |title=Duncan Kerr to retire from politics: The Australian 10/9/2009 |access-date=10 September 2009 |archive-date=11 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911184602/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26053696-5013871,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Upon Kerr's retirement, the previously safe Labor seat of Denison was won by [[Andrew Wilkie]], an independent.

===Law===

Kerr is the author of ''Annotated Constitution of Papua New Guinea'' (1985), ''Essays on the Constitution'' (1985), ''Reinventing Socialism'' (1992) and ''Elect the Ambassador; Building Democracy in a Globalised World'' (2001).

Kerr was leading counsel in the [[High Court of Australia]] case ''[[Plaintiff S157 v The Commonwealth]]'', which concerned a [[privative clause]] in the ''[[Migration Act 1958]]'' (Cth) and the availability of [[judicial review]] under [[section 75 of the Constitution of Australia]]. In 2010, [[Michael Kirby (judge)|Michael Kirby]] described the decision as "one of the most important in recent years for its affirmation of the centrality in [Australian] constitutional law of the [[rule of law]]."<ref>{{cite speech
|first=Michael|last=Kirby|author-link=Michael Kirby (judge)
|title=Formal opening of Michael Kirby Chambers
|url=http://www.michaelkirbychambers.com/opening-of-chambers/
|date=3 February 2010}}
Quoted in {{cite speech
|title=Ceremonial Sitting of the Tribunal for the Swearing In and Welcome of the Honourable Justice Kerr
|date=16 May 2012
|url=http://www.aat.gov.au/about-the-aat/engagement/speeches-and-papers/the-honourable-justice-duncan-kerr-chev-lh-presid/ceremonial-sitting-of-the-tribunal-for-the-swearin
|first=Mark|last=Dreyfus|author-link=Mark Dreyfus}}</ref>

Kerr was appointed a [[senior counsel]] in 2004, and as adjunct professor of law, Faculty of Law, [[Queensland University of Technology]] in 2007. Kerr has acted as counsel in the [[High Court of Australia]], the [[Federal Court of Australia]], the [[Family Court of Australia]], the [[Supreme Court of Tasmania]], the [[District Court of New South Wales]], the [[Supreme Court of New South Wales]], and the [[Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea]].

In 2010, Kerr became a founding member of Michael Kirby Chambers in Hobart where he practised as a barrister specialising in public, constitutional, administrative, refugee and human rights law, and appellate work.

On 12 April 2012, he was appointed to the [[Federal Court of Australia]], taking his seat on the bench on 10 May 2012. In 2015, with the consent of the Australian Government, he was appointed by [[Papua New Guinea]] as its nominee as an arbitrator in a proceeding in the [[International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes]] (ICSID). Concurrently with his judicial duties, from 2012 to 2017 he served as President of the [[Administrative Appeals Tribunal]]. He was Chair of the Council of Australasian Tribunals (COAT) from 2014 to 2017. He is one of six former federal politicians to have served on the Federal Court, along with [[Robert Ellicott]], [[Nigel Bowen]], [[Tony Whitlam]], [[Merv Everett]] and [[John Reeves (judge)|John Reeves]].

Kerr ceased to serve as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia on 25 February 2022 upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 70.

He chairs the National Appeals and Review Panel for Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd.

In 2023–2024 he undertook a 20 Year Review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.

==Honours==

On 23 August 2011, Kerr was conferred with the insignia of [[Legion of Honour|Chevalier of the Legion of Honour]] by the Ambassador of France, M. [[Michel Filhol]] for defending values dear to France and for his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs in enhancing friendly ties between Australia and France.<ref>[http://www.ambafrance-au.org/The-Hon-Duncan-Kerr-Knight-in-the Embassy of France in Canberra]</ref>

Kerr is a fellow of the [[Australian Academy of Law]] (FAAL). He was appointed [[Order of Australia|Officer of the Order of Australia]] (AO) in the [[2025 Australia Day Honours]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Honourable Duncan James KERR |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/3044620 |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}</ref>

==See also==

*[[List of judges of the Federal Court of Australia]]

{{reflist}}
5. Transcript of the ceremonial sitting of the Federal Court of Australia 25 February 2022 on Kerr's retirement from the Court.

==External links==
*[http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=RH4 Parliament House webpage]

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{{succession box | title=[[Minister for Justice (Australia)|Minister for Justice]] | before=[[Michael Tate]] | after=[[Daryl Williams (politician)|Daryl Williams]] | years=1993–1996}}
{{succession box | title=[[Attorney-General of Australia]] | before=[[Michael Duffy (Australian politician)|Michael Duffy]] | after=[[Michael Lavarch]] | years=1993}}
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{{succession box | title=Member for [[Division of Denison|Denison]] | before=[[Michael Hodgman]] | after=[[Andrew Wilkie]] | years=1987–2010}}
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{{s-ttl |title= [[List of judges of the Federal Court of Australia|Judge of the Federal Court of Australia]] |years= 2012–2022 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Duncan}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia]]
[[Category:Labor Left politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Denison]]
[[Category:Attorneys-general of Australia]]
[[Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Australian Senior Counsel]]
[[Category:University of Tasmania alumni]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Australia]]
[[Category:Judges of the Federal Court of Australia]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Queensland University of Technology]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Papua New Guinea]]
[[Category:People from Hobart]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 1987–1990]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 1990–1993]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 1993–1996]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 1996–1998]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 1998–2001]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 2001–2004]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 2004–2007]]
[[Category:Australian MPs 2007–2010]]
[[Category:Ministers for justice of Australia]]

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Duncan Kerr