The Federal Government has proposed to recommend to His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, that he appoint the Hon Justice Emilios Kyrou AO as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia and as President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
If appointed, Justice Kyrou will be the first Greek-born Australian judge of the Federal Court of Australia.
On 16 December 2022, the Australian Government announced it would replace the AAT with a new administrative review body. The appointment of a new President of the AAT is an important step in the Government’s reform of Australia’s system of administrative review.
As President, Justice Kyrou would lead the AAT through this important reform and would be the inaugural president of the new administrative review body, once established, for the remainder of the term of his appointment.
The proposed term of appointment is five years.
Justice Kyrou has been selected though a transparent and merit-based process. His Honour has the experience and capacity to lead a trusted federal administrative review body in a fair, efficient, accessible and independent manner.
The Attorney-General invited all appropriately qualified individuals to apply and also sought nominations from the heads of the Federal Courts and state and territory Supreme Courts, the Law Council of Australia, and the Australian Bar Association and the equivalent state and territory bodies.
All applicants were assessed by an independent selection panel comprising the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, the former Chief Justice of the Federal Court the Hon James Allsop AC and former Justice of the Federal Court the Hon Ray Finkelstein AO KC.
Justice Kyrou has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria since 2008 and from 2014 has been a Judge of Appeal within its Court of Appeal.
Justice Kyrou is widely recognised for his integrity, legal excellence, independence and intellectual capacity. He is an experienced leader and administrator, and is an expert in administrative law.
On Australia Day this year, Justice Kyrou was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia ‘for distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law, to professional associations and to the community.’
Subject to the Governor-General’s approval, Justice Kyrou’s appointment as a Justice of the Federal Court would commence on 8 June 2023 and his appointment as AAT President would commence on 9 June 2023.
