| Post: | Chief Justice |
| Body: | Australia |
| Insigniasize: | 110px |
| Insigniacaption: | Coat of Arms of Australia |
| Incumbent: | Stephen Gageler |
| Incumbentsince: | 6 November 2023 |
| Style: | The Honourable |
| Appointer: | Governor-General on the advice of the attorney-general[1] |
| Termlength: | No set term, though retirement is mandatory at age 70 |
| Inaugural: | Sir Samuel Griffith |
| Formation: | 5 October 1903 |
| Salary: | $584,520[2] |
| Website: | www.hcourt.gov.au |
The chief justice of Australia is the presiding justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia. The incumbent is Stephen Gageler, since 6 November 2023.
The office of chief justice is established under section 71 of the Constitution of Australia, which establishes the High Court as consisting of a chief justice and at least two other justices. The court was constituted by, and its first members were appointed under, the Judiciary Act 1903, with the first appointments to the High Court commencing on 5 October 1903.
The chief justice is first among equals among the justices of the High Court, and the position differs little from that of the other justices. All Justices, including the chief justice, are appointed by the governor-general of Australia, on the advice of the federal government. They can be removed only by the governor-general, on a request from both houses of the federal parliament, although this has never been done. Since 1977, an appointment has been until the mandatory retirement age of seventy (before 1977, appointment was for life).[3] The one substantial difference between a chief justice and the other justices of the court is that, where opinion on the court is evenly divided, ordinarily the side of the question that is supported by the chief justice prevails.[4]
The chief justice often acts as the governor-general's deputy, especially at ceremonies such as the opening of Parliament after an election. Chief Justice Samuel Griffith was several times consulted by governors-general on the exercise of the reserve powers.[5] However, Chief Justice Garfield Barwick created controversy during the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis[6] when he advised Governor-General Sir John Kerr on the constitutional legality of dismissing a prime ministerespecially as the prime minister, Gough Whitlam, had refused Kerr's request for permission to consult Barwick or to act on any advice except Whitlam's own.
The chief justice also administers the oath of allegiance and the oath of office to the governor-general-designate when they take up their appointment.
There is a strong tradition of appointing new chief justices from within the existing ranks of the High Court. Out of the fourteen chief justices, eight were incumbent puisne justices on the High Court. Others have included incumbent chief justices of states (Samuel Griffith and Murray Gleeson) and incumbent attorneys-general (John Latham and Garfield Barwick). Uniquely, Robert French was appointed directly to the chief justiceship from a lower federal court, while Adrian Knox was appointed as a barrister in private practice with no judicial experience.
| No. | Image | Chief Justice | Tenure | Nominating Prime Minister | State | Previous Post | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sir Samuel Griffith (1845–1920) | Alfred Deakin | Chief Justice of Queensland (1893–1903) | ||||
| 2 | Sir Adrian Knox (1863–1932) | 18 October 1919 – 31 March 1930 | Billy Hughes | Barrister in private practice | |||
| 3 | Sir Isaac Isaacs (1855–1948) | 2 April 1930 – 21 January 1931 | Justice of the High Court (1906–1930) | ||||
| 4 | Sir Frank Gavan Duffy (1852–1936) | 22 January 1931 – 1 October 1935 | James Scullin | Justice of the High Court (1913–1931) | |||
| 5 | Sir John Latham (1877–1964) | 11 October 1935 – 7 April 1952 | Attorney-General of Australia (1932–1934) | ||||
| 6 | Sir Owen Dixon (1886–1972) | 18 April 1952 – 13 April 1964 | Sir Robert Menzies | Justice of the High Court (1929–1952) | |||
| 7 | Sir Garfield Barwick (1903–1997) | 27 April 1964 – 11 February 1981 | Sir Robert Menzies | Attorney-General of Australia (1958–1964) | |||
| 8 | Sir Harry Gibbs (1917–2005) | 12 February 1981 – 5 February 1987 | Malcolm Fraser | Justice of the High Court (1970–1981) | |||
| 9 | Sir Anthony Mason (born 1925) | 6 February 1987 – 20 April 1995 | Bob Hawke | Justice of the High Court (1972–1987) | |||
| 10 | Sir Gerard Brennan (1928–2022) | 21 April 1995 – 21 May 1998 | Paul Keating | Justice of the High Court (1981–1995) | |||
| 11 | Murray Gleeson (born 1938) | 22 May 1998 – 29 August 2008 | John Howard | Chief Justice of New South Wales (1988–1998) | |||
| 12 | Robert French (born 1947) | 1 September 2008 – 29 January 2017 | Kevin Rudd | Judge of the Federal Court of Australia (1986–2008) | |||
| 13 | Susan Kiefel (born 1954) | 30 January 2017 – 5 November 2023 | Malcolm Turnbull | Justice of the High Court (2007–2017) | |||
| 14 | Stephen Gageler (born 1958) | 6 November 2023 – present | Anthony Albanese | Justice of the High Court (2012–2023) |
Chief Justice Sir John Latham took a leave of absence from the office from 1940 to 1941 to serve as Australia's first ambassador to Japan. Sir George Rich was Acting Chief Justice in his absence.[7]