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- Title
CONDOLENCES
Hon. Sir Nigel Hubert Bowen AC, KBE
- Database
Senate Hansard
- Date
10-10-1994
- Source
Senate
- Parl No.
37
- Electorate
VIC
- Interjector
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT
- Page
1312
- Party
ALP
- Presenter
- Status
- Question No.
- Questioner
- Responder
- Speaker
Senator GARETH EVANS
- Stage
- Type
- Context
Miscellaneous
- System Id
chamber/hansards/1994-10-10/0023
Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document
Table Of Contents

Previous Fragment Next Fragment
-
Hansard
- Start of Business
- PRESIDENT: ABSENCE
- MINISTERIAL ARRANGEMENTS
- SHADOW MINISTRY
-
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
-
Balance of Payments
(Senator HILL, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Iraq: Kuwait
(Senator JONES, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Prime Minister: Private Residence
(Senator MICHAEL BAUME, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Drought
(Senator BURNS, Senator COLLINS) -
East Timor
(Senator KERNOT, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Bougainville
(Senator LOOSLEY, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Cambodia
(Senator TEAGUE, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Bougainville
(Senator MARGETTS, Senator GARETH EVANS) -
Telephone Services
(Senator TIERNEY, Senator McMULLAN) -
Defence Force: AIDS
(Senator WEST, Senator ROBERT RAY) -
Drought
(Senator BROWNHILL, Senator COLLINS) -
Fruit Juice
(Senator SPINDLER, Senator McMULLAN)
-
Balance of Payments
- TAXATION LEGISLATION
-
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
- Prime Minister: Private Residence
- Prime Minister: Private Residence
- Prime Minister: Private Residence
- Balance of Payments
- Balance of Payments
- CONDOLENCES
- PETITIONS
-
NOTICES OF MOTION
- Mining in National Parks
- Republic of China
- Mrs Mary Maina
-
Regulations and Ordinances Committee
- Intention to Withdraw
- Drought
- Student Assistance
- Drought
- Women
- Port Hinchinbrook Development Project
- Marine Environment
- Human Rights
- ORDER OF BUSINESS
-
COMMITTEES
- Community Standards Committee
- Regulations and Ordinances Committee
- INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS DAY
- MATTERS OF URGENCY
-
COMMITTEES
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
- LAW AND JUSTICE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1994
- MIGRATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 4) 1994
-
ABORIGINAL COUNCILS AND ASSOCIATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 1994 ATSIC AMENDMENT (INDIGENOUS LAND CORPORATION AND LAND FUND) BILL 1994
- Report of Finance and Public Administration Committee
-
COMMITTEES
-
Estimates Committee D
- Additional Information
-
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee: Joint
- Report
-
National Crime Authority Committee
- Report
-
Estimates Committee D
- ASSENT TO LAWS
-
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND ENERGY LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No. 2) 1994 WINE GRAPES LEVY AMENDMENT BILL 1994 PRIMARY INDUSTRIES LEVIES AND CHARGES (WINE GRAPES) COLLECTION AMENDMENT BILL 1994 NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY ADMINISTRATION (MEAT CHICKENS) AMENDMENT BILL 1994
- First Reading
- Second Reading
-
COMMITTEES
-
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee: Joint
- Report
-
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee: Joint
- BILLS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- INDEXED LISTS OF DEPARTMENTAL FILES
-
COMMITTEES
-
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee: Joint
- Report
-
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee: Joint
- TAXATION LAWS AMENDMENT BILL (No. 3) 1994
-
ADJOURNMENT
- Yeend, Sir Geoffrey: Death
- Destruction of Documents
- Health Care for Aged
- DOCUMENTS
- PROCLAMATIONS
-
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
-
Minister for Communications: Trade Delegation to Asia
(Senator Alston, Senator McMullan) -
Housing, Local Government and Community Services: Conference Facilities
(Senator Calvert, Senator Bolkus) -
Export Markets Development Grants Scheme
(Senator Parer, Senator McMullan) -
Attorney-General's Department: T-shirts
(Senator Calvert, Senator Bolkus) -
Communications and the Arts: Forms and Publications
(Senator Reid, Senator McMullan) -
Spectrum Management Agency
(Senator Alston, Senator McMullan) -
ABC: Video Production Service
(Senator Alston, Senator McMullan) -
Defence
(Senator Margetts, Senator Robert Ray) -
Education: Overseas Students
(Senator Tierney, Senator Schacht) -
Israel: Papua New Guinea
(Senator Margetts, Senator Robert Ray) -
Defence: Grants to Trade Unions and Community Groups
(Senator Short, Senator Robert Ray) -
Osteoporosis
(Senator Knowles, Senator Crowley) -
Prime Minister and Cabinet: Assertiveness Training Courses
(Senator Newman, Senator Bolkus) -
Industry, Science and Technology: Assertiveness Training Courses
(Senator Newman, Senator Cook) -
Employment, Education and Training: Assertiveness Training Courses
(Senator Newman, Senator Schacht) -
Communications and the Arts: Assertiveness Training Courses
(Senator Newman, Senator McMullan) -
Immigration Review Tribunal
(Senator Short, Senator Bolkus) -
Hon. R.J.L. Hawke
(Senator Calvert, Senator McMullan) -
Transport: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
(Senator Margetts, Senator Collins) -
Indonesia: Defence Force
(Senator Margetts, Senator Robert Ray)
-
Minister for Communications: Trade Delegation to Asia
Content Window
Monday, 10 October 1994
Page: 1312
Page: 1312
Senator GARETH EVANS (Leader of the Government in the Senate)
—I move:
That the Senate expresses its deep regret at the death, on Tuesday, 27 September 1994, of the Hon. Sir Nigel Hubert Bowen AC, KBE, member of the House of Representatives for the division of Parramatta from 1964 to 1973, Attorney-General from 1966 to 1969 and in 1971, Minister for Education and Science from 1969 to 1971, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1971 to 1972, and former Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia from 1976 to 1990, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.
Nigel Hubert Bowen was born on 26 May 1911 at Summerland, British Columbia. He came to Australia as a young boy, was educated at King's School, Parramatta, and studied law at St Paul's College, Sydney University. He was admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1936 and later to the Victorian bar. With the advent of World War II he enlisted in the Australian Military Forces in 1941, before transferring to the Second AIF in 1942. He served in the South Pacific region for two years, then transferred to the Reserves in 1946 with the rank of captain. Sir Nigel resumed his legal career and took silk in 1953. He spent some time as President of the New South Wales Bar Council and from 1957 to 1960 held the post of Vice-President of the Law Council of Australia.
In 1963, Sir Nigel stood for, and won, the seat of Parramatta, which had been vacated by the resignation of Sir Garfield Barwick. In 1966, building on his already distinguished and successful legal career, he was appointed Attorney-General in the Holt ministry. He served in this portfolio in successive ministries until November 1969, making a brief return to the portfolio in 1971. From 1969 to 1971 he was Minister for Education and Science and from 1971 to 1972 he was Foreign Minister in the McMahon government. His parliamentary record shows that he also led numerous delegations on visits within Australia and overseas.
Sir Nigel left the parliament in 1973 to take up an appointment as Chief Judge in Equity in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. This was followed by his appointment in 1976 as the first Chief Judge—later Chief Justice—of the then newly created Federal Court of Australia, a position he held with distinction until his retirement in 1990.
It was in that capacity as Chief Judge of the Federal Court that I had a great deal, personally, to do with Sir Nigel when I was Attorney-General in 1983-84. I have to say that I have nothing but the fondest memories of those encounters. He was a tough advocate for his court, as he had been for his clients at the bar, but he was always a charming, gentlemanly and wholly constructive person to deal with, never losing sight of the public policy goals that we were mutually trying to achieve in judicial administration at that time.
His appointment to set up and head the new Federal Court was a particularly appropriate culmination to Sir Nigel's public career, as he had long perceived the need for the establishment of a Commonwealth superior court below the High Court. Indeed, it was Sir Nigel who as Attorney-General in 1968 first introduced a bill for the establishment of such a court. Although that bill was not proceeded with, it provided much of the foundation for the Federal Court of Australia Act that was eventually passed in 1976.
In setting up the Federal Court, Sir Nigel was responsible for much of the procedural innovation for which the court is still highly regarded. He also played a significant part in developing the court's approach to the Commonwealth's administrative law jurisdiction, an area of the law in which Sir Nigel had a great interest. As Attorney-General in 1968, he had initiated the inquiry undertaken by the Commonwealth Administrative Review Committee. That committee's report in 1971 formed the basis for the many remarkable developments in administrative law that took place later in the decade: the establishment of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal; the setting up of the Commonwealth Ombudsman; and the passage of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act. A true Australian, it was also Sir Nigel who, with the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968, began the process of making the High Court the final court of appeal in Australia.
Sir Nigel will also be remembered for his chairing of the Committee of Inquiry concerning Public Duty and Private Interest which was established in February 1978 and reported in July 1979. The Bowen committee's report was an extremely thorough piece of work, reflecting Sir Nigel's very sound judgment. Over the years the report has become an authoritative source for dealing with the various ethics and conflict of interest issues which parliamentarians, judicial and statutory office-holders and public servants have to address from time to time.
Sir Nigel Bowen was a hard working and dedicated man who served the Australian people outstandingly well in both his legal and political careers. In recognition of his great service to Australia, he received a knighthood in 1976 and in 1988 was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, one of Australia's highest awards, for his services to the law. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him and who admired his contribution to Australian public life. On behalf of the government, I extend to his wife Ermyn and his family our most sincere sympathy in their bereavement.