Gillian Triggs

Emeritus Professor
Gillian Triggs

Triggs in 2006
President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
Assumed office
30 July 2012 (2012-07-30)
Appointed by Attorney-General of Australia
Preceded by Catherine Branson QC
Personal details
Born (1945-10-30) 30 October 1945
Citizenship Australian
Spouse(s) Alan Brown AM
Children 3 (1 deceased)[1]
Alma mater University of Melbourne
Southern Methodist University
Occupation Academic
Profession Public international lawyer
Academic

Gillian Doreen Triggs (born 30 October 1945) is an Australian academic specialising in public international law with publications on World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes resolution, energy and resources law, law of the sea, territorial sovereignty, jurisdiction and immunity, international criminal law, international environmental law and human rights.[2] Triggs is the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission and was Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner from 30 July 2012 to 19 August 2013.[3] She is an emeritus professor at the University of Sydney, where she was Dean of the Sydney Law School between 2007 and 2012.[4]

Education

Triggs attended University High School and the University of Melbourne, where she was awarded "Miss University 1966".[5] She earned a Bachelor of Laws in 1967 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1982.[6] After her admission to the Supreme Court of Victoria as a barrister and solicitor, Triggs worked as a tutor at Monash University.

Triggs also earned a Master of Laws from Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, a suburb of Dallas in 1972,[7] whilst working with the Dallas Police Department, serving as Legal Advisory to the Chief of Police on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[8]

Career

Triggs speaking at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2006.

Academic and other positions

In 1987, Triggs joined Mallesons Stephen Jaques, where she worked as a consultant on international law.[9]

From 1996 to 2005, Triggs was a full-time Professor at Melbourne Law School.

Triggs was also a consultant on international law to the Indonesian law firm Kartini Muljadi and Rekan.[10]

Triggs was the Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law from July 2005 to September 2007. Before taking up her appointment, she was the Director of the Institute for Comparative and International Law at the University of Melbourne, where she held a Chair in Law.

Triggs returned to Australia in 2007, to become the Dean of the University of Sydney Law School and Challis Professor of International Law. She took up this role in October 2007.[11]

Triggs was admitted to the Victorian bar,[12] and from 2009 to 2011, she was an honourary member at Sydney barristers' chambers Seven Wentworth Chambers.[13][14] However, it is unclear how long, or to what extent, she actually practiced as a barrister. A search of the Australian legal database AustLII returns only one proceeding in which a person identified by her name apparently appeared,[15] in the Industrial Relations Commission.[16]

Human Rights Commission

On 27 July 2012, Triggs retired as Dean of the Sydney Law School[4] to take up her appointment as the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, for a period of five years commencing 30 July 2012. Following the resignation of Helen Szoke, she was Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner from January to August 2013, until Tim Soutphommasane was appointed to the role.[3][17]

On 3 February 2014 Triggs launched the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014, to "investigate the ways in which life in immigration detention affects the health, well-being and development of children."[18]

Since late in 2014 and following the release of the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014 there was an increase in tensions between the Australian Government under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Office of the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Government Ministers subsequently called for Triggs to step down from the presidency of the Australian Human Rights Commission. They alleged that the report was politically motivated and that Triggs' decision not to conduct a review during the term of the previous Labor government was evidence of this.

In October 2016, it was alleged by Liberal Senator Ian MacDonald and others that Triggs had mislead the Senate by stating that a journalist had misquoted comments made by Triggs about several Australian politicians.[19] Triggs had been reported in a profile piece by the Saturday Paper as saying: "I knew I could have responded and destroyed them", with reference to a Senate Committee. Triggs asserted that these comments had been added by a "subeditor", however Triggs subsequently said that, "upon further reflection" she accepted that the article was "an accurate excerpt from a longer interview" and that she had "no intention of questioning The Saturday Paper's journalistic integrity."[19]

On 16 November 2016, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the Government would not renew Triggs' commission when it expires in 2017.[20]

Personal life

Triggs resides in Sydney, and is married to former Australian diplomat Alan Brown AM. Triggs was previously married to Melbourne law professor Sandy Clark, with whom she had three children.[3]

Their third child, a daughter named Victoria, was born in 1984, profoundly disabled and with a short life expectancy.

"Her condition usually results in the death of the baby before or shortly after birth. In fact, the doctors kept saying, 'Just leave her in the corner and she'll die.' So, it sounds terrible, but I'd look at Victoria and think, 'Well, you're going to die, so I'm not going to invest too much in you.' But she didn't die. She had this inner rod of determination, and she simply refused to die."

At about six months of age, Triggs and Clark took Victoria home, and, with the help of the Uniting Church, found a family who took over her primary care. Victoria died at the age of 21. When asked if this arrangement bothered Triggs her, she said: "Yes, because you have child and you expect to look after her. But in the end I simply made the judgement that I would rather put my time into my other children and family, because I also never believed she would live to that age." [21]

In addition to her native English, Triggs speaks some French.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Mezrani, Leanne (23 August 2012). "Legal Leaders: Best of both worlds". Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Faculty - University of Virginia School of Law: Gillian D. Triggs". University of Virginia School of Law.
  3. 1 2 3 "President - Professor Gillian Triggs". Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 Sherington, Greg (27 July 2012). "Professor Gillian Triggs bids farewell to the Law School". Sydney Law School. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Farrago, the Melbourne University student newspapers, on 24 May 1965.
  6. ↑ Curriculum Vitae Gillian D Triggs - United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney pdf
  7. ↑ Gillian Triggs - Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law
  8. ↑ Whealing, Justin; Quine, Stephanie (22 October 2012). "Shaping minds and defending rights". Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  9. 1 2 "The Sydney Law School Reports" (pdf). Sydney Law School. 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "Gillian Triggs CV" (pdf). Sydney University.
  11. ↑ "New Dean for Law School". University of Sydney. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  12. ↑ "Professor Gillian Triggs - Sydney Law School - The University of Sydney". 2009-10-30. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  13. ↑ "Seven Wentworth Barristers' Chambers". 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  14. ↑ "Seven Wentworth Barristers' Chambers". 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  15. ↑ "AustLII Results - "G D Triggs" or "G. D. Triggs" or "G Triggs" or "G. Triggs"". www.austlii.edu.au. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  16. ↑ Integrated Maintenance Services Pty Ltd v Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia, Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union and Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (FEDFA) - PR927317, 4 February 2003, retrieved 2016-12-01
  17. ↑ admin. "President & Commissioners". www.humanrights.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  18. ↑ "National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014". Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  19. 1 2 Koziol, Michael (2016-10-20). "'It is not looking good for her': Coalition rounds on Gillian Triggs after she admits misleading Senate". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  20. ↑ Koziol, Michael (2016-11-17). "Gillian Triggs' contract with the Human Rights Commission won't be renewed: Malcolm Turnbull". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  21. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/meet-gillian-triggs-the-woman-taking-on-immigration-minister-scott-morrison-20140801-3cy82.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Legal offices
Preceded by
Catherine Branson QC		 President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
2012–present 		Incumbent
  1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gillian-Triggs-for-Australian-of-the-Year/918093988247479
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