Page 2660 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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In October 2001 he was invited by the United Nations to attend a conference in Ottawa to draw up guidelines for restorative justice programs worldwide. He represented the Australian Capital Territory on a national panel developing uniform standards for the education and training of legal practitioners, and he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory on 31 January 2003. This period was continually marked by his politeness and compassion. The legal profession talks of him as bringing a freshness of approach and legal acuity.
Pursuing his early interests in court governance, Justice Connolly served as Chair of the ACT Joint Rules Advisory Committee, overseeing uniform rules for civil procedure. The completion of the uniform rules is of enduring value—a testament to his energy and leadership. He was also the regional convenor for the National Judicial College of Australia and served as ACT President of the Medico-Legal Society and president of the ACT Chapter of the International Commission of Jurists.
During his time on the bench, he added his learned voice to the body of our decisional law, shaping the law in a number of different and important ways. He was generous with his knowledge and an alert and good listener. He led by example, always encouraging the profession to do better. It is not surprising that His Honour Justice Connolly was extremely well liked and greatly respected.
It is hard to believe that this great Labor man—reformer, minister and judge—has now gone. We have all benefited through his life’s work. To his wife, Helen—Dr Helen Watchirs—to his children, Lara and Maddy, to your extended family, friends and colleagues, I pay my most sincere sympathies and respects to you.
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo): I would also like to echo the sentiments of a great many Canberrans and members of this place in expressing my shock at the passing of Justice Terry Connolly, as well as extending my heartfelt sympathies and those of my wife and children to the Connolly family. I would especially like to pass on and state my appreciation of the record of Justice Connolly and his contributions to Canberra and convey my sincere condolences to his wife, Helen, and their daughters, Lara and Maddy.
It was only Sunday that we had our last conversation when we were at a barbecue recognising the contributions of our children to sport at St Clare’s, where one of the Connolly children and my own were participants in netball championships. Terry was doing what he thoroughly enjoyed, and that was being with his family and recognising that achievement. We chatted about one of his keen interests, which was Australian Rules Football and his love of Port Adelaide, and his anticipation for the events of this coming weekend.
I had known Terry Connolly for some 15 years. I dealt with him in my former career when he was Attorney-General. I have said many times before this occasion that he was one of the most reasonable and balanced ministers of any party, state or federal level, with whom I had dealt throughout my political career. He approached policy and administrative matters with a strong commitment to integrity and fairness and reasonableness, and that was my abiding memory of my dealings with him through that period in the 1990s when he was Attorney-General.
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