Sandy Street

Last updated

The Honourable
Alexander Whistler Street
SC
Judge of the Federal Circuit Court
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 January 2015
Personal details
Born Sydney, New South Wales
Parent Sir Laurence Street
Relatives Street family
Military service
Allegiance Commonwealth of Australia
Branch/service Royal Australian Navy Reserve
Rank Commander

Alexander "Sandy" Whistler Street, SC is an Australian federal judge and naval commander, and a scion of the Street family. His father Sir Laurence Whistler Street, grandfather Sir Kenneth Whistler Street and great-grandfather Sir Philip Whistler Street each served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. His sister Sylvia and brother-in-law Arthur Emmett also served as federal judges.

Contents

Family

Alexander Street was born in Sydney to Commander Sir Laurence Whistler Street and Susan Gai (née Watt), formerly Lady Street, the first female chair of the Eastern Sydney Health Service. His grandmother, Lady "Red Jessie" Street, was Australia's first female delegate to the United Nations. He descends from the Australian politicians John Street, John Watt, George Holden, Edward Ogilvie and William Lawson. His sister, Sylvia Emmett (née Street), is a former federal judge and reserve naval commander. His brother-in-law, Arthur Emmett, is a former federal judge and Challis Lecturer in Roman Law at Sydney Law School. His other siblings by his father’s first marriage are Kenneth Street, a businessman, and Sarah Farley (née Street), a businesswoman. His half-sister by his father's second marriage to Penelope (née Ferguson), Lady Street, is Jessie Street, a lawyer. He has four children: Charles Street, a barrister; Jack Street, a lawyer; Lucy Street and Heidi Street. [1]

Career

On 1January 2015, Street was appointed to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, now the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, by the Attorney-General George Brandis. [2] His term there is due to expire in 2028. [3]

Controversy

In 2015, one of Street's rulings was overturned by the full Federal Court on appeal after he dismissed a cerebral palsy sufferer's claim of discrimination and pursuit of damages against Virgin Australia for refusing to allow his guide dog on a flight. [2]

In late 2015, statistics were filed in court which revealed Street had heard 254 migration appeals between January and June 2015, and had found in favour of the immigration minister in 252 cases (i.e., in 99.21% of cases). [4] [5] In that same period, Street disposed of 286 cases while his eight judicial colleagues disposed of a combined 357 cases. [6] Street was accused of lacking procedural fairness and over 80 of his rulings were subsequently overturned in five years. [7] Similarly, many of his judgements were delivered ex tempore (literally, “on the spot”) without taking further time to consider cases more deeply. [2]

In a case report from September 2018, he was found by the full Federal Court to have dismissed an Afghan asylum seeker's case without sufficient reasoning. [8] In another case report from 2019, after an ex tempore decision, he took 75 days to provide written reasoning for his dismissal of an Iranian asylum seeker's application to review a visa rejection, when the litigant had only 21 days to appeal. [9] [4] The case was later ordered for retrial by a different judge due to procedural unfairness. [10]

In 2022, Street was also criticised for displaying bias in a bankruptcy dispute. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ "The Honourable Sir Laurence Whistler Street". www.supremecourt.justice.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Judge accused of bias now has airline guide dog ruling overturned". ABC News. 11 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Judge Sandy Street". Australian Government Directory.
  4. 1 2 "Who watches over our judges?". ABC listen. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  5. ↑ "'Silver Spoon' Judge Rejects Over 99% of Immigration Applications | NSW Courts". NSW Courts | New South Wales Courts. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  6. ↑ "Federal Circuit Court judge accused of bias after rejecting hundreds of migration cases". ABC News. 10 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "Judge Street refuses to step aside from migration hearing". ABC News. 22 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Berkovic, Nicola (17 July 2019). "Judge Sandy Street's three rulings axed in three days". The Australian . Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Judge Sandy Street criticised for 'professional discourtesy' in asylum seeker case". The Guardian. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  10. ↑ Davidson, Helen (22 August 2019). "Asylum case rejected by controversial judge Sandy Street will be reheard". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  11. ↑ "Judge blasted for bias after taking over case". Australian Financial Review. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
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