2025 Conference - Perth

The 35th national conference of The Samuel Griffith Society was held over the weekend of Friday 22 to Sunday 24 August 2025 at The Ritz-Carlton in Perth.

Key speakers included two current and two former Justices of the High Court of Australia, a former Premier of Western Australia, and a former Attorney-General of Australia.

The conference featured:

  • The Fifteenth Sir Harry Gibbs Memorial Oration, delivered by The Honourable Justice Simon Steward AC, Justice of the High Court of Australia

  • An In Memoriam in honour of the late John Stone AO, featuring Hugh Morgan AO, Professor David Flint AM, Morgan Begg and Stuart Wood AM, KC

Other speakers included:

  • Allan Myers AC, KC, 22nd Chancellor of the University of Melbourne

  • The Honourable Ian Callinan AC, KC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

  • The Honourable Richard Court AC, 26th Premier of Western Australia

  • The Honourable Christian Porter, 37th Attorney-General of Australia

  • The Honourable Nicholas Hasluck AM, KC, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia

  • The Honourable Dyson Heydon KC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia

  • The Honourable Justice John Snaden, Justice of the Federal Court of Australia

  • The Honourable Justice Paul Howard, Justice of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1)

  • The Honourable Amanda Stoker MP, Assistant Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training of Queensland

  • Professor James Allan, Garrick Professor of Law at the University of Queensland’s TC Beirne School of Law

  • Xavier Boffa, Executive Director of The Samuel Griffith Society

  • Henry Davis, Research Fellow at The Samuel Griffith Society

  • Katherine Deves, Solicitor at Pryor Tzannes & Wallis

  • Justin McGovern, Inaugural Dr Nancy Stone Fellow

  • Mia Schlicht, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs

The full conference program can be accessed here.

The following papers were presented at the conference:

The Honourable Justice Simon Steward AC
The Long March of Ch III of the Constitution

The Honourable Richard Court AC
Putting Relations Back Into Industrial Relations

The Honourable Christian Porter
Reflections upon a Return to the Profession

The Honourable Amanda Stoker MP
The Doctrine of Precedential Patience: How Time Has Vindicated the Wisdom of the Judicial Contributions of Justice Callinan

Xavier Boffa
The Appointment of Judges in Australia and the Next Justice Callinan

The Honourable Nicholas Hasluck AM, KC
Ian Callinan: A Voice for Law and Literature

The Honourable Dyson Heydon KC
Homage to Justice Callinan

The Honourable Justice Paul Howard
Fifty Years of the Family Court of Australia

Professor James Allan
Staying in Your Own Lane

The Honourable Justice John Snaden
Build the Man a Statue! Remembering the Other Architect of Chapter III

Justin McGovern
NZYQ and the Bounds of Judicial Power

Allan Myers, AC, KC
Concluding Remarks

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The Society was pleased to partner with Business Events Perth to deliver our 2025 Conference in Western Australia as our destination sponsor.

Western Australia, with majestic landscapes for big sky thinking, a place where delegates can experience otherworldly phenomena and dreamlike experiences with supernatural contrasts of colour and texture, awe-inspiring wilderness and boundless natural adventures.