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COAT NSW Newsletter
May 2024
In this edition:
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COAT MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
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2024 WHITMORE LECTURE – 12 JUNE
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2024 COAT NSW AGM - 17 JUNE
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2023 COAT NSW CONFERENCE REPORT
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2024 COAT NATIONAL CONFERENCE, 6-7 JUNE
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2024 COAT NSW CONFERENCE,11 OCTOBER – REGISTRATIONS OPEN!
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Convenor’s message
Welcome to COATs first newsletter for 2024. My warm thanks to Jason Cabarrus and Alisa Kelley for curating this newsletter.
The COAT 2023 Conference was a well-attended success. Opened by the NSW Attorney-General the Hon. Michael Daley MP, it featured a keynote address by the new President of the AAT, Justice E. Kyrou AO on the attributes of a good tribunal member.
On June 12th 2024 we hold the Annual Whitmore Lecture, which is one of COAT’s major events for the year. This year we are honoured to welcome Her Honour, Justice Julie Ward, President of the Court of Appeal in NSW to deliver the lecture. More details are set out below, members are encouraged to attend what will be an interesting and lively lecture.
Being a COAT member means that you are automatically invited to this event. If you have not renewed your COAT NSW membership, you can do so through the COAT website.
We also set out below details of the 2024 Sydney Conference; planning is well underway led by Belinda Cassidy of the Personal Injury Commission. Please keep 11 October 2024 free in your diaries for the conference .
We look forward to welcoming you to the various COAT events during 2024.
Judge Gerard Phillips
COAT Convenor
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COAT Membership Renewal
If you haven’t yet renewed your COAT membership for 2024, there is still time to do so and access great benefits like free admission to the Whitmore Lecture, discounted rates on conference registration, and access to training opportunities facilitated by COAT.
You can renew your membership online (or check your membership status if you’ve previously renewed online) here: https://coat.asn.au/join-renew/
Alternatively, if you haven’t renewed online before, you can check your membership status by emailing: nswchapter@coat.asn.au.
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2024 Whitmore lecture – 12 June
The 2024 Whitmore Lecture will be delivered by The Honourable Justice Julie Ward, President of the NSW Court of Appeal.
The lecture will be held on Wednesday 12 June 2024 at Court 18C, Queens Square Law Courts Building, 184 Phillip Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Please join us at 5.00pm for 5.30pm start. Light refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the lecture. The lecture will also be available online.
Please register by 10 June : https://coat.asn.au/events/2024-whitmore-lecture/
Justice Ward studied arts/law at the University of Sydney, graduating in law in 1982 with First Class Honours and the University Medal. Her Honour was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1982.
Following graduation, Justice Ward worked for a year as the associate to Sir Nigel Bowen, the first Chief Justice of the Federal Court. Justice Ward worked for Stephen Jaques Stone James (now King & Wood Mallesons) for two years, then completed a BCL with first class honours at Oxford University, having won a post-graduate scholarship from Sydney University.
Justice Ward was made a partner of Mallesons in 1988. At that time she was the youngest female partner to be appointed at that firm. Her Honour was appointed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in September 2008. She was the first female solicitor directly appointed to the Supreme Court bench. She sat in the Equity Division of the Court, until her appointment to the Court of Appeal in November 2012. She was appointed Chief Judge in Equity in March 2017 and appointed President of the Court of Appeal on 6 March 2022.
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2024 COAT NSW AGM
COAT NSW Chapter’s AGM will be held on Monday 17th June 2024 at 4.30pm.
The AGM will be held by Microsoft Teams and details will be distributed shortly.
If you need to check your membership status, please contact Kathryn McKenzie, Secretariat, at nswchapter@coat.asn.au. If you need to renew your membership, please visit the COAT website: Home - Council of Australian Tribunals Inc (https://coat.asn.au/ ), click on the JOIN/RENEW MEMBERSHIP button and follow the steps to renew your membership.
Thank you for your continuing support of COAT NSW. We look forward to seeing you at the AGM.
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2023 Conference Report
The 2023 COAT NSW Conference took place on 24 November 2023. Around 125 people participated in the conference with delegates across Australia and New Zealand.
The theme for the 2023 conference was ‘Tribunals in challenging times: Justice, equity, and quality’. The conference opened with a moving Welcome to Country given by Michael West (Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council). The keynote speaker was The Hon Michael Daley (NSW Attorney General). The Hon Justice Emilios Kyrou (President, Administrative Appeals Tribunal) also gave a plenary lecture on the attributes of a good tribunal member. Presentations were also given by Jacqueline Phillips (Deputy CEO, Australian Council of Social Service), on the experience of disadvantaged Australians; and by Jason Symons (Partner, Cyber Risk and Insurance, Mills Oakley) on how to manage cyber risk.
In keeping with the conference themes, the conference also featured a number of excellent panel discussions on the topics of:
• Making Tribunals Accessible for Disadvantaged Australians – featuring Sabine Thode (Principal Member, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal), Alisa Kelley (Registrar, NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal), Matt Levy (Solicitor, Legal Aid NSW) and Natalie Ross (Principal Solicitor, Welfare Rights Centre);
• Trauma-informed Tribunal Craft – Communicating with Awareness – featuring Vanessa Edwige (Head of Social and Emotional Wellbeing, Coxinall Ridgeway) and Josh Brock (Barrister and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law and Justice, UNSW);
• Innovations in Tribunals – featuring Marianne Christmann (Principal Registrar, NSW Personal Injury Commission), Katrina Harry (National Registrar and Chief Legal Counsel, Veterans’ Review Board) and Professor Lyria Bennett Moses (Director, UNSW Allens Hub for Technology, Law & Innovation);
• Tips for a Healthy Brain and Healthy Mind across the Lifespan – featuring Professor Frini Karayanidis (School of Psychological Sciences, University of Newcastle) and Justin Toohey (Director, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Administrative Appeals Tribunal); and
• Exercising Discretions in Tribunal Decision-Making – Principles and Practice – featuring Deputy President Anne Britton (Division Head, Guardianship Division, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal), Richard Cogswell SC (Adjunct Professor, UNSW and Honorary Professor, University of Wollongong) and Damien O’Donovan (Senior Member, Administrative Appeals Tribunal).
It was a delight to gather, learn and share ideas with such a diverse group of colleagues working in the tribunals sphere. The program was well-received by the attendees, with positive feedback received in relation to all aspects of the conference, including the quality of the content and the speakers.
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2024 COAT National Conference
This year’s COAT National Conference will be held on Thursday 6 – Friday 7 June 2024 at the Stamford Plaza Hotel Brisbane and online. The theme for the conference is “That’s a good tip…..I can use that” and it aims to provide delegates with practical ideas that will help them discharge their day-to-day functions.
The keynote address will be delivered by the Hon Helen Bowskill, Chief Justice of Queensland. Other sessions include:
• Communicating with First Nations People
• The ART of Merits Review: Significant changes to member provisions in the Administrative Review Bill (Commonwealth), including commentary from a New Zealand tribunal member
• AI beyond the hype: The good, the bad, and the practical, and a values-oriented guide to the use of AI in tribunals
• Working with Interpreters
• Dealing with Vexatious and/or Querulent Litigants
• Guardianship Masterclass: Balancing Risk and Rights in a Protective Jurisdiction
• Masterclass: Making Credit Findings
• Compensation Masterclass: The complexities of psychological disorders in compensation cases
• Masterclass: How to spot a collateral challenge in the wild and how to wrangle it
The program is available here: https://coatconference.com.au/program. You can register to attend here: https://coatconference.com.au/registration.
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2024 COAT NSW Conference,11 October – REGISTRATIONS OPEN!
This year’s COAT NSW Conference will be held as an in-person event only on Friday 11 October 2024 at the Pullman Hotel on Hyde Park in Sydney. The conference is themed ‘Back Together – Back to Basics’ and will involve a mix of topics designed to enhance the knowledge and skills relevant to anyone working in tribunals. The program will include sessions designed for newly appointed members as well as sessions of interest to non-legal members of tribunals and those in management roles.
Commissioner the Honourable Paul Brereton will be our keynote speaker and will tell us about the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Justice Brian Preston of the NSW Land and Environment Court will present on the topic of decision writing and Justice Kristina Stern of the NSW Supreme Court has agreed to deliver a paper on procedural fairness.
Visit the conference website for further details and to register: https://conferences.com.au/2024-coat-nsw/ Early bird rates available untl 30 August.
Further details about the program and invited speakers will be available soon.
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