Debra Sue Mortimer is an Australian judge. She was born in New Zealand but has practised law in Australia. She has been a judge of the
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...
since 2013, having previously been a
Senior Counsel
The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdicti ...
practising at the Victorian Bar in migration
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
,
environmental law
Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...
and
anti-discrimination law
Anti-discrimination law or non-discrimination law refers to legislation designed to prevent discrimination against particular groups of people; these groups are often referred to as protected groups or protected classes. Anti-discrimination laws ...
.
Early life and education
Debra Mortimer was raised outside of
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand. One of her parents worked as a
bookbinder
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...
in Auckland. Mortimer went to school at
Kelston Girls' High School in Auckland, and she spent her final year abroad in Sri Lanka. She studied arts and
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
at the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
before transferring to
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence in 1985 and a Bachelor of Laws with 1st Class Honours in 1987.
Career
Mortimer did her articles at Goldberg and Window Solicitors before becoming an associate to
Sir Gerard Brennan, then a justice of the
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established fol ...
in 1988 and 1989. Mortimer became a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
in 1989 and was appointed as a Senior Counsel in 2003.
It was unusual for women to have a speaking role as advocates before the High Court; however, Mortimer was an exception,
regularly appearing in the High Court from 1998 until her elevation as a judge. Her appearances included for the successful applicants in ''
Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth'', and ''
Plaintiff M70/2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
''Plaintiff M70'' is a decision by the High Court of Australia. The lawsuit concerned an injunction sought by multiple Afghan asylum seekers against immigration minister Chris Bowen. The injunction was to prevent Bowen from deporting the pla ...
''. Mortimer also appeared in environmental cases, including representing
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasman ...
, an
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...
Senator, in a case against
Forestry Tasmania
Sustainable Timber Tasmania (formerly Forestry Tasmania) is a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Government of Tasmania, Australia. It is responsible for the management of public production forest in Tasmania, which is about 80 ...
, concerning the
Wielangta forest
The Wielangta forest is in south-east Tasmania, Australia. It is notable for its role in a 2006 court case that called into question the effectiveness of Australia's cooperative Commonwealth-State forest management regime known as Regional Fores ...
.
As well as an active practice as a barrister, Mortimer was a lecturer in the
Monash University Faculty of Law
Monash University Faculty of Law, or Monash Law School, is the law school of Monash University. Founded in 1963, it is based in Melbourne, Victoria and has campuses in Malaysia and Italy. It is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools i ...
from 1991 to 1994 and at the
University of Melbourne Law School from 2011.
Since her elevation to the Federal Court, Mortimer has been the trial judge in a number of high-profile cases, including ''
Wotton v Queensland (No 5)
''Wotton v Queensland'' (the Palm Island Class Action case) is a class action lawsuit brought against the State of Queensland and the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service on behalf of 447 Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islande ...
'', a case concerning the events following the
2004 death in custody of
Palm Island, Queensland
Palm Island is a locality consisting of an island group of 16 islands, split between the Shire of Hinchinbrook and the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island, in Queensland, Australia. The locality coincides with the geographical entity known as the P ...
resident, Cameron Doomadgee. Mortimer found that members of the Queensland Police Service had contravened the ''
Racial Discrimination Act'', including the way they had investigated the death in custody, that an emergency declaration and the deployment of the
Special Emergency Response Team
The Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) () was an elite police tactical unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The SERT was formed in 1986 to provide a tactical capability to respond to major terrorist incidents throughout Canada. ...
was part of an excessive and disproportionate policing response. Mortimer was the trial judge in a case brought by
Consumer Affairs Victoria Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) is a government agency that protects and promotes the interests of consumers and is based in the Australian state of Victoria. It is responsible for reviewing and advising the Victorian Government on consumer legislat ...
against wellness blogger
Belle Gibson
Annabelle Natalie Gibson (born 8 October 1991) is an Australian convicted scammer and pseudoscience advocate. She is the author of ''The Whole Pantry'' mobile app and its later companion cookbook. Throughout her career as a wellness guru, Gibs ...
and her companies for misleading or deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct contrary to the
Australian Consumer Law
The Australian Consumer Laws (ACL), beinto the ''Competition and Consumer Act 2010'', is uniform legislation for consumer protection, applying as a law of the Commonwealth of Australia and is incorporated into the law of each of Australia's stat ...
. Gibson was required to pay $410,000 in penalties.
Mortimer has also sat as a member of the Full Court of the Federal Court hearing appeals, and was a member of the bench that was critical of the approach of Judge Alexander Street in hearing applications by asylum seekers.
In 2018 Mortimer presided over
an historic judgement resulting in an
Indigenous land use agreement
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
, after a claim brought by
Kaurna
The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...
elders in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
18 years earlier. This was the first claim for a first land use agreement to be agreed to in any Australian capital city.
On 25 November 2021, Justice Mortimer presided over a sitting at the
Federal Court in
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
that awarded of land on the eastern side of
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...
to the
Kuuku Ya'u and
Uutaalnganu peoples, in a
native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
claim that was lodged seven years prior..
See also
*
List of judges of the Federal Court of Australia
Judges who have served on the Federal Court of Australia , are appointed in accordance with Section 72 of the Constitution of Australia, section 72 of the Constitution, which has, since the Court's inception in 1976, been for a term expiring at ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Deborah
Judges of the Federal Court of Australia
Living people
Australian women judges
Year of birth missing (living people)
Monash Law School alumni
Australian Senior Counsel