Dear Colleagues,

It is possible you have seen the email distributed by Bruce McClintock SC about the Bar
Council election. If not the email is readily available on the Internet because, unsurprisingly
in light of its tone and content, it has now been picked up by the media.
The McClintock email is lengthy, but accuses the Political Neutrality ticket of distributing
propaganda and asserts that David Bennett QC is both the leader of a hard right wing
faction and an extremist. The email expresses support for other candidates in this
election.
It seems necessary to make a brief comment about this.
The literature distributed in support of the Political Neutrality ticket is not propaganda.
Every assertion about the public statements and policy positions of the Bar Council has
been fully referenced, and the minutes of Bar Council (which are accessible through In
Brief) demonstrate that none of these policies or media releases were ratified by meetings
of the Bar Council.
Whether it is appropriate for the Bar Association to conduct itself in an overtly political
fashion is something about which minds differ. That is why the role of the Bar Association
is an issue in this election. My personal view is that the Bar Association has no business
commenting on climate change, children in detention, and other idiosyncratic issues.
Instead there should be an impartial focus on serving its membership.
It is not right wing (or left wing for that matter) to take this view about the role of the Bar
Association.
The references in the McClintock email to the Political Neutrality ticket as a hard right wing
faction are quite bizarre. Our goal is to put ideology to one side. For this reason, and with
one or two exceptions, I have no idea what political parties the members of our ticket
would generally vote for in Federal, State and Local elections or what opinions they have
about matters unrelated to the Bar Association.
It is not correct that Bennett QC or John Hyde Page (or anybody else) is seeking to foist a
particular set of post-nominals on the Inner Bar. We believe post-nominals should be a
matter of personal choice. This position has already been adopted in a number of other
jurisdictions, and this position has been preserved by a Labor government in Victoria. It
cannot be accurately described as hard right wing or extreme. Nor is there any proposal
for the Attorney General to be given the power to appoint senior counsel, as McClintock
SC suggests.
Sincerely,
Jeff Phillips SC