Sandy Street

Commander Alexander Whistler Street, SC, known as "Sandy", is a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and a Royal Australian Navy Reserve officer.[1] He is the fifth-consecutive generation of the Street family to serve in Australian public life and the fourth-consecutive generation to serve as a magistrate of the Australian judiciary.

The Honourable Commander

Alexander Whistler Street

SC
Judge of the Federal Circuit Court
Assumed office
1 January 2015
Personal details
BornSydney, New South Wales
Nationality Australia
MotherSusan (née Watt)
FatherSir Laurence Street
RelativesStreet family
Military service
AllegianceCommonwealth of Australia
Branch/serviceRoyal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Naval Reserve
RankCommander

Background

Alexander Whistler Street is the son of Colonel Sir Laurence Whistler Street and Susan Gai (née Watt), who was Lady Street at the time of his birth. He is the grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Kenneth Whistler Street and Jessie Mary Grey, Lady Street. Street's sister, Sylvia Emmett (née Street), is a fellow judge of the Federal Circuit Court and naval officer. His brother-in-law, Justice Arthur Emmett, is also a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. His other siblings by Sir Laurence and Lady (Susan) Street are Kenneth Street, a businessman, and Sarah Farley (née Street), a lawyer and businesswoman. He has a half-sister by Sir Laurence’s second marriage to Lady (Penelope; née Ferguson) Street, namely Jessie Street, who is also a lawyer. He has four children: Charles Street, a barrister; Jack Street, a lawyer; Lucy Street and Heidi Street.

Career

Street was appointed to the Federal Circuit Court in January 2015 by Australian Attorney-General George Brandis.[2] Street has since come under scrutiny by the Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia over a case in which he dismissed a cerebral palsy sufferer's claim of discrimination after an airline refused to allow his guide dog on the flight.[2] He has also received criticism from the Full Bench in two successful appeals of his decisions in which he was found to have denied litigants procedural fairness.[3] Street has been subject to a number of apprehended bias applications, known as ALA15. Statistics were filed in court which revealed Judge Street had heard 256 migration matters between January and June 2017, and had found in favour of the immigration minister in 254 cases.[4] A report from September 2018 stated that Sandy Street was found by the full Federal Court to have dismissed an asylum-seeker’s case without properly engaging with his arguments and to have denied the man procedural fairness. Two weeks later, the full Federal Court found he failed to give proper reasons in a case involving an Afghan asylum-seeker, effectively forcing a rehearing.[5] In March 2019, the Federal Court criticised Street for taking 75 days to provide written reasons in a case where an asylum seeker had 21 days to appeal and refusing to respond to attempts at contact, holding that he had behaved with "a disheartening degree of professional discourtesy" and stating: "What happened in this case should never have happened but it is not the role of this court to discipline the judges of the Federal Circuit Court".[6] Further overturned judgements in 2019 amounted to over 70 judgements overturned in less than five years.[7]

gollark: No you didn't, you just flipped your chirality and caused a ΞK event in the power supply.
gollark: It harvests power from the universe it has in there, you don't need to provide any.
gollark: It doesn't.
gollark: ...
gollark: Ah. You turned it *ou*. Turn it on instead.

References
  1. Hall, Louise (15 June 2014). "Alexander 'Sandy' Street being sued by former mother-in-law". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  2. "Judge accused of bias now has airline guide dog ruling overturned". ABC News. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  3. "Federal Circuit Court judge accused of bias after rejecting hundreds of migration cases". ABC News. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  4. "Judge Street refuses to step aside from migration hearing". ABC News. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  5. Berkovic, Nicola (27 September 2018). "Judge Street under fire — again — as full court attacks rulings". The Australian. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  6. "Judge Sandy Street criticised for 'professional discourtesy' in asylum seeker case". The Guardian. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  7. Berkovic, Nicola (17 July 2019). "Judge Sandy Street's three rulings axed in three days". The Australian. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
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