Ann Vanstone is an Australian lawyer. She was a crown prosecutor before being appointed as a judge of the

District Court of South Australia The District Court of South Australia is South Australia's principal trial court. It was established as a court of record by the ''District Court Act 1991''. Prior to that the Court had existed since 1969 under the ''Local and District Crimina ...

from 1999 until 2003. She was then appointed to the

Supreme Court of South Australia The Supreme Court of South Australia is the superior court of the Australian state of South Australia. The Supreme Court is the highest South Australian court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in ...

. Vanstone stepped down from the Supreme Court bench in June 2019. On 27 July 2020, Vanstone was announced as the next South Australian Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, to take up the position on 1 September 2020.

Early life and education

Vanstone went to Walford Church of England Girls Grammar School (now Walford Anglican School for Girls), in Adelaide.

Career

Vanstone studied law at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

and following her graduation became a barrister in 1978. Vanstone became the deputy crown prosecutor in 1989 and the associate director of public prosecutions in 1992. Vanstone was appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1994 and was appointed a judge of the District Court in 1999.

Supreme Court of South Australia

Vanstone was appointed to the Supreme Court on 21 August 2003, only the third woman to be appointed after

Dame Roma Mitchell Dame Roma Flinders Mitchell, (2 October 1913 – 5 March 2000) was an Australian lawyer, judge and state governor. She was the first woman to hold a number of positions in Australia – the country's first woman judge, the first woman to be a ...

and

Margaret Nyland Margaret Jean Nyland (1942) is an Australian lawyer, who was a judge of the District Court of South Australia from 1987 until 1993 when she was appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia. Nyland retired in 2012. Early life and educa ...

. By 2005 Robyn Layton had also been appointed to the Supreme Court and Nyland, Vanstone and Layton formed the first all female Court of Criminal Appeal in South Australia. Vanstone has been the judge in numerous high-profile trials. In 2008 the High Court held by a 3:2 majority that Vanstone's directions to the jury in the trial of Jean Eric Gassy lacked neutrality and "merely restated the essential elements of the prosecution case, with barely a reference to the defence case". Following the trial of Eric John Hooper for causing serious harm to Robin Hay, because of Hooper's dangerous driving, Vanstone was critical of the six-year delay between the crash in July 2009 and bringing charges in June 2013. Vanstone sentenced Hooper to five years in prison and disqualified him from driving for ten years. She was also the judge for the trial of Dudley Davey for the murder of Gayle Woodford and in 2017 Vanstone sentenced Davey to life in prison with a non-parole period of 32 years. In 2015 Vanstone was appointed to Chair the Electoral Boundaries Commission which was required to attempt to set the boundaries so that the government is formed by the party that receives more than 50% of the vote. The decision of the Electoral Boundaries Commission was upheld on appeal to the Full bench of the Supreme Court. Vanstone retired from the Supreme Court on 13 June 2019.

Independent Commissioner Against Corruption

On 27 July 2020 Vanstone was selected as the new South Australian Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. She took up the role on 2 September 2020.

Personal life

Vanstone's brother Tony is married to former federal minister

Amanda Vanstone Amanda Eloise Vanstone (née O'Brien; born 7 December 1952) is an Australian former politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanstone, Ann Living people Judges of the Supreme Court of South Australia Australian women judges Australian King's Counsel Year of birth missing (living people) Judges of the District Court of South Australia 20th-century Australian judges 21st-century Australian judges 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges