Gillian Doreen TriggsAC (born 30 October 1945) is an Australian and British public international lawyer, specialising in human rights and trade and commercial law. She is also an academic, barrister, and director. She became widely known in Australia after her appointment as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission for a five-year term in 2012.
Gillian Doreen Triggs was born in London, England, on 30 October 1945[1] In north London, she attended a local convent school, and studied ballet. Her father was a major in the British Army, and her mother a WREN (member of the Women's Royal Navy Service). In 1958, aged 12, she migrated at the age of 12 with her family to Melbourne, Australia.[2]
Returning to Australia, in 1975 she was appointed lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the university (later Melbourne Law School), becoming senior lecturer in 1984.[6]
She undertook a Doctor of Philosophy in territorial sovereignty at the University of Melbourne, which was awarded in 1982.[6] She then travelled to the Antarctic under the auspices of the Antarctic Science Advisory Council and spent two months there.[2]
Career in law and academia (1987–2011)
Triggs in 2006
In 1987[7] or 1988,[6] Triggs joined Mallesons Stephen Jaques, where she worked as a consultant on international law[7] continuing to provide consultation until 2005, including in Singapore, Paris, and Melbourne.[6]
In 1996 Triggs was appointed professorial fellow at Melbourne Law School, a position she held until 2007. From 2000 until 2004 she was associate dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and also held a number of other roles within the Faculty of Law during this time.[6] She was also director of both the Institute for Comparative and International Law and the Centre for Energy & Resources Law at the university.[2] She was the director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law from July 2005 to September 2007.[2][6]
On 27 July 2012, Triggs ended her term as dean of the Sydney Law School[9] taking 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 30 July 2012 to 19 August 2013, until Tim Soutphommasane was appointed to the role.[13][14]
On 3 February 2014, almost two years after her appointment as the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, 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".[15][16] The report was published in November 2014 as "The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention".[17] From this time, there was an increase in tensions between the Australian Government under Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Office of the President of the HRC. Some government ministers 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.[18] However, Triggs criticised both Labor and Coalition governments for ignoring their commitments and legal obligations to protect children under their care and protection.[19] She received significant public support, and a censure motion was passed in the Senate against Attorney-General George Brandis over his attacks on her as the president of the HRC.[2] Triggs said in 2015 that her critics often make personal attacks, to divert attention from issues she is raising, and that she would welcome a discussion with the ministers on important issues; "they never attack me on the law".[20]
The review led to most of the children eventually being released from mandatory and indefinite detention, with the review confirmed by the government's Moss Review and the United Nations,[20] as well as being supported by the High Court of Australia and the international legal community.[21]
Tony Morris, the lawyer who represented the students, claimed that Triggs was to blame for the case making it to court after 14 months.[22] The HRC did not contact the students about the complaint, instead leaving that task to QUT.[24] Triggs said that 11 months of the delay were due to a request by the complainant and QUT not to notify the students.[29] An article by two authors affiliated with the Liberal Party and a PhD student, published in The Conversation, questioned why the AHRC did not initially reject the complaints. The authors suggested that the decision not to reject the complaints may have given the complainant false hope that the case had merit.[24]
In November 2016, Triggs supported a proposal to change Section 18C. At the time, it was unlawful to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" on the basis of race.[25][30] Triggs said removing "offend" and "insult" and inserting "vilify" would be a strengthening of the laws but did not advocate for this.[30] In February 2017, Triggs told a Senate committee that the HRC did not see a case to change 18C but recommended reforms requiring that respondents be notified of complaints and allowing the president greater powers to reject complaints.[29]
Political critics
In October 2016, Liberal Senator Ian MacDonald alleged that Triggs had misled the Senate by stating that a journalist had misquoted comments made by her about several Australian politicians in a profile piece by The Saturday Paper. She later said that she accepted that the article was "an accurate excerpt from a longer interview".[31] In November 2016, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the government would not renew Triggs' commission when it expired in July 2017.[32]
In March 2017, Triggs defended her engagement to speak at a fundraising event for the Bob Brown Foundation, after Liberal Senator Eric Abetz criticised her appearance there, as the foundation conducts overtly political activist campaigns. Other senior members of government, including Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, called for her resignation.[33]
Triggs is also author of two editions of International Law: Contemporary Principles and Practices (2006, 2011),[47] and has co-written, written, or edited a number of books and numerous book chapters and articles. She has been editor of the journals International and Comparative Law Quarterly and Australian Mining and Petroleum Law Association Journal.[6]
Apart from the countries mentioned above, Triggs has also worked in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Germany, and Iran.[50]
Personal life
Triggs first married Melbourne law professor Sandy Clark, with whom she had two daughters and a son in close succession. Their third child, Victoria, was profoundly disabled,[50][20] being born with a rare chromosomal abnormality called Edwards syndrome, and was not expected to live. Clark and Triggs took her home when she was six months old, but,[51] with two toddlers at home, found it very difficult to care for all three properly, so, reluctantly,[20] they found a family who would become her primary carers. Victoria died around 2008 at the age of 21. Triggs' marriage to Clark ended in 1989.[51]
She later married former Australian diplomat Alan Brown AM.[14][20]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Loane, Marina; Halonkin, Larissa (15 November 2016). "Gillian Doreen Triggs". Australian Women Lawyers as Active Citizens. Australian Women's Archives Project. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
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