PERTH, WA: February 8, 1990
Registered by Australia Post Publication No. WAR 0202
Number 2674
POST ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Northbridge, 6000 W.A. LOCATION: 26 John St, Northbridge (east off Fitzgerald St). PRICE 600 TELEPHONE: (09) 328 1388 FAX (09) 328 7307
Royal 'blue' at Ballajura Right: First pupil to arrive Paul Jones of grade two with friend Mark Palmer. Left Jamie Barnett, year one and Kylie Falkingham, year one are all smiles on their first day at school.
... or when a nun is called a princess Few school principals are mistaken for royalty by their students but that's not the case at the Ballajura Catholic Primary School where Sister Margaret O'Sullivan welcomed over one hundred "pioneer" children to a brand new school last week. During a formal welcome ceremony the parish priest Father John Jegorow was asked by the principal to put down his video camera and pin bright coloured name tags on all the children. Father Jegorow first asked the children if anyone knew the name of their principal.
Young Guiseppe Graneri of year two jumped up and confidently announced. "That's Princess Margaret." Mums and dads burst into laughter perhaps hiding anxious feelings of leaving their precious charges in the care of teachers. Just to record the magic moment on video tape, Guiseppe was asked to repeat his claim, which he did even more confidently. Despite encouragement from Father Jegorow, Guiseppe would not agree that the parish priest be called "King John".
Price of just'Ce .T111:EIP'
SYDNEY: Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson has questioned increasing links between the legal profession and whether justice is being priced beyond those who are neither very poor nor very rich. The bishop raised the questions at the annual 'Red' Mass in St Mary's Cathedral to mark the first law term of the year and named because of the colour of the legal robes worn. Listening to the bishop were the Federal and NSW attorney-general Lionel Bowen, the NSW Chief Justice Murray Gleeson and a large
number of Supreme and District Court judges, magistrates and lawyers.
Bishop Robinson said: "As a society changes, so must there be change in the role that law plays within that society, and it is a duty of lawyers constantly to question the conventions and assumptions on which their practice of the law is based. "MayIthis morning ask you some of the hard questions which I feel will need to be faced during the 1990s? "Is there cause for concern in the apparent increase in the links between the legal profession and big business?
"In the world of business it is often true that 'might is right' and it is the strongest and fittest who survive there, but does this always occur according to justice, truth, freedom and human dignity?
"Has the cost of litigation become a factor in commercial decisions, with the cost eventually being paid by the consumer? "Is the law itself being used as a weapon in the armoury of power as some businesses seek to economic gain advantage? "Because of the praiseworthy system of legal aid, some of the very poor
By Ron F. Robinson and Anthony Morgan in The Catholic Weekly have access to the courts, and so of course do the very rich who can write a blank cheque for the costs, but is the legal profession in danger of pricing justice out of the reach of all those who are neither very poor nor very rich? "Is the prestige of a legal practice to be judged by the importance and size of its clients, or by its commitment to do justice for the poor, the dispossessed, the vulnerable and those who suffer injustice?" Expressing his concern about Australia's lawsuit
mentality Bishop Robinson asked: "Are we becoming a litigious society? What part do lawyers play in fostering the spread of this mentality? "It is obviously the responsibility of government to set up sufficient courts to overcome the delays that deny justice, but are the present courts used as well as they should be? "Are the delays sometimes the responsibility of lawyers? "Are some of the procedures and work practices now in place designed to
suit the convenience of practitioners rather than that of clients? "Ibelieve that you could easily add to the list of concerns I have expressed, andI suppose that one could summarise these questions by asking: In the 1990s will the legal profession be presented to young lawyers as a vocation or as a job? "I would add a final question: Is jurisprudence a serious subject in our universities? If not, is there not the danger that lawyers will lack the ability to question the assumptions, conventions and work practices of their own profession? "Will they be equipped to carry on the continu-
ing examination of the role that law should play in a changing society?"
Bishop Robinson concluded by reminding the congregation: "Do not rely on your own efforts, but practise your profession in partnership with the God who 'does not judge by appearances, who gives no verdict on hearsay. but judges the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land'. "It is God who will empower you with this Spirit to do justice, to promote freedom, to serve truth and to proclaim the inalienable dignity of every human being"