Murray Rutledge Wilcox, (1937–2018) was an Australian Federal Court Judge, serving from 11 May 1984 until retiring on 2 October 2006. He also served as an additional judge of the

Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory is the highest court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in Civil law (common law), civil matters and hears the most serious Criminal ...

from 23 April 1983 to 30 September 2006, and Chief Justice of the

Industrial Relations Court of Australia The Industrial Relations Court of Australia was a short-lived Chapter III Court whose jurisdiction was transferred from the Federal Court in 1994, and transferred back in 1997.. In the words of former Chief Justice Robert French, "The tide wen ...

between 1994 and his retirement in 2006. (2006 Summer) Bar News: Journal of the NSW Bar Association 93. He may be best remembered for handing down the controversial Noongar Native Title ruling a fortnight before retiring. In October 1993 his book ''An Australian Charter of Rights'' was launched by Michael Kirby.

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

reported a concomitant "attack" on Australia's human rights laws as inadequate to prevent "discrimination" and a potential "international embarrassment". Wilcox was quoted as saying that "Parliaments and the common law renot doing their jobs". In particular, they did not do enough to extirpate racial and sexual discrimination or to protect homosexuals. Kirby agreed that Parliament was "spineless" in such areas. Wilcox was a committed environmentalist, and was President of the

Australian Conservation Foundation The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability. One high-profil ...

1979-1984. In May 2007, Wilcox gave the Blackburn Lecture to the ACT Law Society. In his speech, he claimed that Australia was becoming an "elected dictatorship" as a result of a concentration of power in Canberra and the position of

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

at the hand of

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

. Wilcox was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the

2010 Australia Day Honours The 2010 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2010 by the Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Australia D ...

"for service to the law as a Judge and a Law Reform Commissioner, particularly in the areas of environmental, native title and industrial law". Wilcox died on 8 November 2018.

References

1937 births 2018 deaths Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Federal Court of Australia Officers of the Order of Australia Judges of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia 20th-century Australian judges 21st-century Australian judges Judges of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island {{Australia-law-bio-stub