Privacy Victoria

Events

Privacy Victoria Oration by the Hon. Michael Kirby - 1 September 2009

On 1 September 2009 the inaugural Privacy Victoria Oration was held at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image at Melbourne’s Federation Square. 1 September is the date that the Information Privacy Act came into force in 2001. The audio transcript is available (MP3, 16Mb) and runs for 68 minutes. The transcript in text form, without introductory remarks, is also available (PDF, 114Kb).

The speaker was Michael Kirby AC CMG. A promotional flyer was available (PDF, 155Kb).

Michael Kirby was, until 2 February 2009, one of the seven Justices of Australia's highest constitutional and appellate court, the High Court of Australia. He served there from his appointment on 6 February 1996. At the end of that service he was Australia's longest serving judicial officer having been:

- A deputy president of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission 1975-1983;
- Inaugural chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission 1975-1984;
- A judge of the Federal Court of Australia 1983-1984;
- President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal 1984-1996;
- President of the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands 1995-1996;
- A justice of the High Court of Australia 1996-2009.

In addition to these posts, Michael Kirby has served in many international and United Nations positions including two expert groups of the OECD, Paris, many bodies of the Commonwealth Secretariat, London and positions in the ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNODC, WHO Global Commission on AIDS, and UNAIDS.

He was President of the International Commission of Jurists 1995-1998 and served as Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia 1993-1996.

He has been a member of the governing body of three Australian universities, ultimately being elected as Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney 1984-1993.

He holds honorary degrees of Doctor of Letters, Doctor of Laws and Doctor of the University from twelve Australian and foreign universities and various other appointments.

In 2008 Michael Kirby was awarded the inaugural Australian Privacy Medal from the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner.

At that time Karen Curtis, Federal Privacy Commissioner said:

"Justice Kirby has made an invaluable contribution over many years to enhancing not only Australians’ privacy rights, but also those of citizens across the globe. Having chaired the OECD Expert Group on the Protection of Privacy, Justice Kirby led the development of the 1980 OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and the Transborder Flows of Personal Data.

Those Guidelines are still the basis for privacy laws, not only in Australia, but in most developed nations in the world. Justice Kirby also chaired the OECD Expert Group on Security of Information Systems, whose work produced the 1992 OECD Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems.

In his capacity as chair of the Australian Law Reform Commission, Justice Kirby produced two reports on privacy, which, with the OECD Guidelines, were critical to the development of the Australian Privacy Act. Subsequently, he has written and spoken about privacy, and continues to articulate privacy as an important right."

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