Page 1462 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 July 2020
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and she is sorely missed. My thoughts are with her family, many friends and godchildren at this sad time.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (10.26): On behalf of the ACT Greens, I join my Assembly colleagues in expressing my condolences at the death of the former judge and acting justice, Linda Ashford, who, sadly, died in late June.
Justice Ashford was first appointed as an acting justice in the ACT Supreme Court in 2014. As has been noted, she had previously been a retired judge of the District Court of New South Wales. Over a long and successful career, Justice Ashford held several other judicial appointments, including judge of the Compensation Court of New South Wales, Judge of the Dust Diseases Tribunal, and commissioner of the Compensation Court of New South Wales. As Mr Coe stated, the ACT Chief Justice, Justice Murrell, described her as an industrious and compassionate judge who took great interest in all whom she encountered.
Her death was sudden, and I know that it was felt very keenly by the ACT legal community, who were working with her up to the point at which she passed, with further trials scheduled in her name the following week. It was one of those deaths that people did not see coming and for that reason has particularly resonated through our legal community.
I would like to acknowledge the contributions Justice Ashford has made to the ACT as an acting justice—it is an important role that helps the judiciary fulfil its functions here in the ACT—as well as her work across many other areas of legal practice which have been highlighted through the course of the discussion today.
On behalf of the ACT Greens, I offer my condolences to her family, her colleagues at the Supreme Court, and her many friends in the broader judiciary and legal community.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (10.28): I am honoured to rise today to offer my condolences on the passing of Acting Justice Linda Ashford, who had a very distinguished career and brought a wealth of experience to her role as an acting judge of the ACT Supreme Court. As Minister Rattenbury has just noted, the suddenness of her passing has impacted people in a particular way, especially her colleagues in the Supreme Court, who are unable to be with us today because of the COVID restrictions. I acknowledge that they are watching this condolence motion at the Supreme Court this morning.
I will not repeat the facts of Her Honour’s distinguished curriculum vitae that have already been shared. But I will note that Acting Justice Ashford was highly qualified in areas beyond the law, which gave her particular insight in many cases where she represented people or over which she presided. Not only was she legally trained; she was also a qualified obstetrics nurse and, in addition to that, a qualified mediator. These three skill sets came together when she slightly famously oversaw a case in the New South Wales Court of Appeal in 2012, where justice was delivered for a dying
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