THE Hunter Region is once again represented on the High Court bench with the appointment of Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler, SC, yesterday.
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Mr Gageler, the son of a small businessman and hairdresser from Sandy Hollow in the Upper Hunter, will replace Justice Bill Gummow in October, seven years after Novocastrian Michael McHugh, QC, retired from the High Court bench.
Mr Gageler, 54, grew up on a four-hectare property where the family’s sawmill, C Gageler and Son, was also located.
He was schooled at Giants Creek Primary and Muswellbrook High School.
Mr Gageler studied law and economics at the Australian National University, later obtaining his Master of Laws at Harvard University in the US.
As a young man he served as an associate to former Chief Justice of the High Court Sir Anthony Mason before being called to the Bar in 1989 and taking silk in 2000.
His clients included Prime Minister John Howard, the ACT Government and betting agency Betfair.
Mr Gageler was appointed as the Commonwealth’s Solicitor-General in 2008.
The Solicitor-General is the nation’s second law officer behind the Attorney-General.
As Solicitor-General Mr Gageler led the government’s defence of its Malaysian Solution asylum seeker legislation, and more recently, the government’s victory over tobacco companies that opposed plain packaging.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and her opposite, Senator George Brandis, applauded the appointment yesterday.
Mr Gageler is married with three children and has a black belt in tae kwon do. He is the 49th judge of the court.
