Michael Kirby to present Michael Whincop Memorial lecture

Michael Kirby.
The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG.

Against the backdrop of the successful Irish Referendum in May 2015, the Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG will discuss the issue of same-sex marriage in an Australian legal context, at the Michael Whincop Memorial Lecture at the State Library of Queensland on Thursday, September 10.

In The ACT Marriage Equality Case in the High Court: The Final Death of Originalism, Mr Kirby will discuss the constitutional interpretation of the landmark 2013 High Court decision which ruled against same-sex marriage.

Mr Kirby was Australia’s longest-serving judge from 1996 to 2009. Following his judicial retirement, he was elected President of the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediations Australia from 2009 to 2010. He was appointed to the Australian Panel of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment disputes (World Bank) in 2010.

He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Laws of Australia and in 2010 was awarded the Gruber Justice Prize.

In March 2011, Mr Kirby was appointed to the Advisory Council of Transparency International, based in Berlin. In 2013, he was appointed Chair for the UN commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in North Korea. He was also appointed in 2013 as a commissioner of the UNAIDS Commission on moving from AIDS to the Right to Health (2013-2014).

The Michael Whincop Memorial Lecture was established in 2004 to honour the contribution the late Professor Michael Whincop made to the development of legal scholarship.

WHAT: The Michael Whincop Memorial Lecture – The ACT Marriage Equality Case in the High Court: The Final Death of Originalism?

WHEN:Thursday, September 10 2015, 6pm-7pm

WHERE: State Library of Queensland