Janine Pritchard

Janine Pritchard is a justice with the Supreme Court of Western Australia. She is an alumnus of both Australian National University and the University of London.[1]

The Honourable Justice

Janine Pritchard
Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia
Assumed office
11 June 2010
Personal details
NationalityAustralian
EducationAustralian National University
University of London
OccupationJudge, barrister

Controversy

In 2013, Justice Pritchard dismissed a West Australian Stolen Generations compensation claim.[2]

This was after the official apology on 13th of February 2008 by the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to Australia’s Indigenous people’s on behalf of the Australian government, when he said:

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians…For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

It was also after Australia had legislated in 2002 to make genocide a crime in Australia under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which includes the definition "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group".

Justice Pritchard said in her 410-page judgement dismissing the case, while she felt for the family, its case was not established:[3]

The application of the applicable legal principles to the facts established on the balance of probabilities by the evidence leads to the conclusion that the state was not, and is not, subject to the fiduciary duties alleged by the plaintiffs. Even if the state was subject to those duties, the plaintiffs did not establish that the state breached those duties, other than in relation to a decision which was made in November 1959 not to return Ellen to Don and Sylvia's care. Furthermore, the plaintiffs have no right of action against the state because they did not comply with the requirements of the Crown Suits Act.[3]

gollark: Say most/many people like a thing, but the unfathomable mechanisms of culture™ have decided that it's bad/shameful/whatever. In our society, as long as it isn't something which a plurality of people *really* dislike, you can probably get it anyway since you don't need everyone's buy-in. And over time the thing might become more widely accepted by unfathomable mechanisms of culture™.
gollark: I also think that if you decide what to produce via social things instead of the current financial mechanisms, you would probably have less innovation (if you have a cool new thing™, you have to convince a lot of people it's a good idea, rather than just convincing a few specialized people that it's good enough to get some investment) and could get stuck in weird signalling loops.
gollark: So it's possible to be somewhat insulated from whatever bizarre trends are sweeping things.
gollark: In a capitalistic system, people don't have to like me as long as I can throw money at them, see.
gollark: ...

References
  1. "The Hon. Justice Janine Pritchard". Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  2. "WA Supreme Court in an unbelievable decision dismisses Stolen Generations compensation claim". Sovereign Union - First Nations Asserting Sovereignty. The Stringer. 29 December 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019
  3. "WA Supreme Court dismisses Stolen Generation compensation claim launched by Collard family". ABC News. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2019


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