Welcome to The Honourable Justice Jack Rush RFD

If the Court pleases. The Victorian Bar is truly delighted at Your Honour's appointment to this Court. Your Honour comes to the Court after 37 years as a barrister, including 21 years as Queen's Counsel.

Your Honour is a former Chairman of the Victorian Bar, a giant of the common law, a captain of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve, and a true leader of our profession.

You attended Xavier College. You are one of an extraordinary generation who came to the Bar all at school within a few years of each other. Those now in Court are Justice Simon Whelan of the Court of Appeal, Justices Jack and Terry Forrest, and Tim Ginnane, Justice Ginnane, all your brother Judges on the Trial Division.

It is said that at school as a cricketer, and as a footballer, Your Honour made a marvellous captain of debating. Not surprisingly you were named the 1969 best debater in the Victorian Independent Schools.

After school you played for the Xavier Old Boys and for some years you served on the Board and for two years as President.  Whilst you were there you recruited a number of ring-ins to try and get the club out of D Grade.

Interestingly, Your Honour's football career has been the subject of comments in the media. In an article entitled, "The fire within Jack Rush, QC," Peter Gordon, Your Honour's instructor and close friend who is in Court today, says, "He used to play football for them," being the Xavier Old Boys, "and depending upon who you believe it was either a bodgie knee or a tragic lack of ability that brought his career to a close. He claims it was the knee."

I have had a number of stories told to me from your colleagues for inclusion in this speech

Some of them actually do mention Your Honour.  One of them is a witness who's come forward, a colleague and former team mate, to give an account of the cruel incident that brought Your Honour's magnificent career with the Sherrin to a premature end

You were playing at Fawkner in the seconds in the centre half forward. The ball came down and you swept on it like Nicky Winmar, scooping up the ball, dashing around your bewildered opponent, and you were about to give a magnificent stab pass to the full forward for a certain goal and a win of the match when, all of a sudden, Your Honour fell to the ground clutching your knee. It turned out that the groundsman had failed to cover a drain and Your Honour had torn your ACL

The ring-in full forward was none other than Simon “Fossil” Wilson, placed in the gold square so he didn't have to move at all. He indicated his significant concern for Your Honour's injury by yelling at the top of his voice, "Get up you fool, kick it to me."

Your Honour went to Monash and graduated in 1972. After Articles, you came straight to the Bar. Your Honour read with the great Brian Bourke, a legend of our Bar, who has been in practice for 60 years, over 50 of those years at the Bar. I am delighted to say Brian is in Court today.

When Your Honour asked to read with him, “Bourkie”, as he's referred to fondly, was not all that sure.  He had just finished his third reader and was reluctant to begin another. "I'm not sure, Jack," he said, "Give us couple of days to think about it. Look, Jack, I don't know any law. You won't learn any law from me."

Your Honour persisted and “Bourkie” agreed to take you on. The two of you went out to lunch to celebrate.  Over lunch, you asked him whether he had an interest in politics. "Oh, yeah, I ran for pre-selection for the Labor Party in the seat of Monash in 1964." Without thinking, Your Honour responded, "Well, that's very interesting, Brian, I ran against Clyde Holding for the Liberal Party, and my slogan was ‘Rush for Richmond’.  I got a 3 per cent swing.( “Bourkie” just looked at you, paused, and then he said, (Marvellous! If I had known that I would never have taken you on as my reader." However, you've been the best of friends ever since.

Starting in the Magistrates' Court, you did a variety of cases and got junior briefs with people like Ron Meldrum QC, Charles Francis, QC, and Les Ross, QC, in higher courts. You did the Warrnambool and Hamilton circuits.

Your Honour appeared with David Ashley, QC, and Dick Stanley, QC in a number of monumental cases. To name a few, in 1987 and 1988, Your Honour appeared with David Ashley in the Wally Simpson Wittenoom Asbestos Case in the Western Australian Supreme Court; and in a similar further case with Dick Stanley in the Victorian Supreme Court which resulted in the first award for exemplary damages against an employer.

In 1990, you appeared with Dick Stanley in the PQ v Australian Red Cross Society, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and Alfred Hospital. The plaintiff in that case had contracted HIV AIDS virus from contaminated blood plasma. PQ was a hard-fought, angry and hotly contested case. The defence counsel were: Sher, QC and Wodak, Barnard, QC and Ruskin, Gillies, QC and Jack Forrest.  It was one of the longest civil jury cases in Victoria.

Stanley gave you the cross-examination task of a Swiss professor. One of your first questions to the Professor was, "Who paid your fare to come to Australia?" The astonishing response was, "You did."  You responded, "I did not." He said, "Yes, you did, you're Mr Forrest."

The Professor is not the only one who had a problem identifying Your Honour.  Last week, after Your Honour's appointment was announced, Jack Forrest was in the Essoign Club and was being warmly congratulated on being appointed.

In PQ, counsel sat in rows and, with a view of Your Honour's back, Forrest described the occasional rising angry redness in the back of Your Honour's neck as a Rushometer of the heat of the case.

This was also the case in which Geoff Sher, QC, angered by an interruption by Your Honour, hissed at your leader Stanley, "Put a muzzle on your junior." Stanley leapt up in your defence and said, "Mr Rush is not a dog." He went on to tell the Court about earlier jibes by Sher. "On the 3rd of April, Your Honour, he described my junior as 'nipping at the heels of a Swiss expert,' and then two weeks later, 'jumping up and down barking objections’ and ‘coming back and back to the same point like a Terrier’.  Your Honour, Mr Rush is not a dog; he is Counsel of good standing." Coincidentally, Your Honour's first case as a Judge of this Court is an appeal from a Magistrates' Court order that a dog of prescribed dangerous breed be put down. If Sher's perception of Your Honour's affinity has any basis, the dog may have lucked out.

Dick Stanley gave Your Honour a red bag for your work in PQ. Your Honour took silk in 1992. On the day that your letters patent were announced, you were before Justice Ashley.  He gave you his silk gown, which Your Honour has worn up until the date of your appointment.

You were joined at the Bar by your late brother, Michael, who went on to be a highly respected criminal barrister. Your brother-in-law Tony Kiel, who's in the jury box, also came to the Bar. Your nephew, Michael Rush Junior, signed the Bar Roll in 2006, is a former High Court Associate, has a doctorate from Oxford, and has already established a fine practice at the Bar.

For years the Victorian Bar has been working on equal opportunity for women of our Bar, and the Chief Justice helped the Bar launch the Quantum Leap Project two weeks ago.

Without fanfare Your Honour has quietly gone about being an outstanding mentor for talented women barristers, including Denise Weybury, now a Deputy Registrar of the High Court, and Rachel Doyle who had then been at the Bar only 3 years when she was invited to be Your Honour's junior in the formidable team of Tom Hughes, QC, Your Honour, and Jack Forrest, QC.

In the Stolen Generation case, Your Honour led Mark Dreyfus and Melinda Richards. Melinda Richards was also your Counsel Assisting in your Police Inquiry, and of course in the Bushfires Royal Commission. Your Honour assembled a team of Rachel Doyle, Melinda Richards, Stephen Donaghue, Peter Rozen and Lisa Nichols.

Your Honour's juniors speak of you having given them substantial responsibility, often more responsibility than they quite felt ready for, but you always were there beside them quietly and unobtrusively supporting them.

Rachel Doyle describes Your Honour in the Bushfires Commission this way: "Every time one of us was leading a tricky witness, Jack would appear with his own work at his arms and silently slide into the seat next to you while you were on your feet. He wouldn't say a word unless you sought help or seemed to be floundering, and then he would assist with a word or a note, maybe a nod of encouragement or a quick smile."

And those whom Your Honour has had as your juniors have flourished. Mark Dreyfus took silk during the Stolen Generation case and went on to become Commonwealth Attorney-General. Rachel Doyle took silk during the Bushfire Commission, and Stephen Donaghue and Melinda Richards are now silk.

Your Honour, has recently appeared in the Sunland Waterfront litigation involving Matthew Joyce and others. Your success in that case, with others, has had international ramifications for those individuals previously incarcerated in Dubai.

Your Honour also led the legal team for the Essendon Football Club during the drug scandal involving the AFL. You led James Nixon, and were instructed by the formidable solicitor, Tony Hargreaves.

As an Officer of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve, Your Honour has appeared in Courts Martial and Inquiries. A small example of the ones you've appeared in include the 2005 Inquiry into the RAN Sea King Helicopter Crash in Indonesia; the 2007 Inquiry into a crash of the Black Hawk Helicopter on HMAS Kanimbla; and, in 2008, the Cole inquiry into the 1941 loss of HMAS Sydney that ran for about a year.

Amongst distinguished guests today from the Navy sitting behind are Captain Kath Richards, who is in Court today and is the highest ranking officer in Victoria, and also the commanding officer of HMAS Cerberus. She is here today with Captain Scott Ritchie, representing the Navy, and Lieutenant Commander Joe Lindsay.

Your Honour received a commendation from the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Griggs, last month. The commendation is rarely given. The commendation reads in part, "Your contribution to the Navy legal profession for over 30 years has been exceptional. You have mentored, guided and supported a generation of Navy legal officers, and in doing so have played a key role in ensuring the best possible legal advice is available to Navy commanders. Your achievement embraces Navy's core values and signature behaviours are of the highest order and in the finest traditions of the Royal Australian Navy."

Despite Your Honour's great uncle, Bob Rush, being a Collingwood great, and there being a Rush Stand, Your Honour barracks for St Kilda. Your Honour was made a Director of that club last year and you were even suggested as a future President.  It has been pointed out to me that since Your Honour has become a Director, the CEO has resigned, the assistant coaches have resigned, the head coach has been sacked, the club has lost some of its star players, and the club has finished 16th on the ladder. The St Kilda Football Club welcomes Your Honour's appointment to this Court.

Your Honour's service to the community and the Bar has been substantial and outstanding. You have served a remarkable 13 years on the Bar Council, 10 of those years on the Executive Committee and a year as Chairman. You have also served on a number of significant Bar committees, including the Ethics Committee.

Justice Anna Katzmann of the Federal Court, who was Your Honour's junior in a notable New South Wales Court of Appeal case, has characterised Your Honour's outstanding quality as an advocate this way. She identifies you as having a magical ability to seduce the Bench.

The combination of that with Your Honour's thorough preparation, your utter integrity, your commitment to the fundamental principle that a lawyer's obligation is always to the Court and to the administration of justice, made you a most formidable advocate. Those same qualities will no doubt also be a foundation of service as a Judge of the highest order and distinction.

On behalf of the Victorian Bar, I wish Your Honour joy in your appointment and distinguished service on this