JUDICIAL OFFICERS —
GENDER EQUALITY
779. Ms J.J. SHAW to the Attorney General:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to gender equality and its ongoing efforts to
boost the participation of women in all facets of public life. Can the Attorney
General update the house on this government's efforts to increase the
representation of women among the judiciary?
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY replied:
I thank the member for Swan Hills
for the question. When this government came to office in March 2017, the
representation of women as presiding and judicial officers in the various Western
Australian jurisdictions was not high. Of
the six jurisdictions—the Supreme Court, Family Court of Western Australia,
State Administrative Tribunal, District Court, Magistrates and Children's
Court, and Coroner's Court—women made up 38 per cent of those
roles compared with 62 per cent for men. This was despite there being more
women in the legal profession than men in every
state and territory of Australia. Nationally, 53 per cent of solicitors are
women. The rate of growth of solicitors joining the profession in the
decade to 2020 was 67 per cent for women, compared with 26 per cent for men.
This government introduced the
justice pipeline model to facilitate planning for how to increase the number of
judicial officers on a supply–demand model. As a result, under this
government, the number of judicial officers has risen from 135 to 167. In
filling these new judicial positions and replacing retiring judicial officers,
I have tried to correct the gender imbalance that I inherited. Of the 90 judicial
appointments I have made as Attorney General, 57 have been women—so
almost two-thirds. These efforts have had a historic effect. I am pleased to
announce that after recent appointments, the proportion of women in judicial
roles in Western Australia is now slightly higher than men—51.5 per cent,
against 48.5 per cent for men. This equates to 86 women and 81 men amongst the
167 jurists. This is the first time in Western Australia's history that
women have outnumbered men on the bench. This
has been driven by an increased number of women on the Magistrates and Children's
Court, up from 19 to 33; the District Court, up from seven to 17; the
State Administrative Tribunal, up from 11 women to 19; and the Supreme Court, which
has doubled from three to six women. I further note that of the six
jurisdictions, four—the Family
Court, Coroner's Court, District Court and SAT—have women as
head of jurisdiction. The Magistrates Court and Supreme Court have men
as head of jurisdiction.
Additionally,
in recognition of the role of women as primary family carers, this government,
for the first time, recently appointed two female magistrates part time—one
is on two days a week and one is on three days a week. I am not aware of any other
jurisdiction in Australia in which gender equality has been achieved on the
judicial benches. I wish to thank the Premier and cabinet for the solidarity
they have shown in achieving this historic milestone in Western Australia.