Gerald Edward "Tony" Fitzgerald (born 26 November 1941) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n judge, who presided over the

Fitzgerald Inquiry The Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (the Fitzgerald Inquiry; 1987–1989) into Queensland Police corruption was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC. The inquiry resulted ...

. The report from the inquiry led to the resignation of the

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

, and the jailing of several ministers and a police commissioner. He was the youngest person to be appointed as 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 ...

Early life

Tony Fitzgerald was born in a cottage at

Sandgate, Queensland Sandgate is a northern coastal suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Sandgate had a population of 4,909 people. The town became a popular destination for the people of Brisbane in the early 20th century and remains po ...

. He attended high school at St Patrick's College, Shorncliffe and later the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, initially studying engineering and then switching to law. He graduated in 1964 with an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

that same year.

Career

In 1975, Fitzgerald became a QC. He was a judge in the

from 25 November 1981 to 30 June 1984. Fitzgerald presided over the

into corruption in the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

government. He was the chair of the Commission of Inquiry into Official Corruption in Queensland from 1987 to 1989. While undertaking the Fitzgerald Inquiry, he and his family received death threats which were taken seriously by police. In 1990 and 1991, Fitzgerald also chaired the Commission of Inquiry into the Conservation, Management and Use of

Fraser Island Fraser Island ( Butchulla: ) is a World Heritage-listed island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, Queensland, Australia. The island is approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is within the Fras ...

and the Great Sandy Region. He was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1991. He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, which is the highest ranking court in the

State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

. He also served as the first President of the Court of Appeals Division, from 16 December 1991 until his retirement from that court on 30 June 1998. He was a judge on the Court of Appeals Division of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

from 1998 to 16 March 2001. Fitzgerald has been the chairperson of both the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

and the National Institute for Law, Ethics and Public Affairs, as well as being the inaugural chancellor of the

University of the Sunshine Coast The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it was later renamed the University of the ...

. In January 2022, Queensland Premier

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...

announced Fitzgerald would chair a commission of inquiry into the State's anti-corruption body, the

Crime and Corruption Commission The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) is an independent Queensland Government entity created to combat and reduce the incidence of major crime and to continuously improve the integrity of, and to reduce the incidence of misconduct in, the ...

, after a scathing 2021 report by its parliamentary oversight committee.

Retirement

After retiring in 2001, Fitzgerald worked primarily as a mediator and arbitrator.The Honourable Gerald Edward (Tony) Fitzgerald AC, QC
. Retrieved 29 June 2014. In 2001 he investigated alcohol abuse in

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

communities, and was shocked by the extent of the statewide problem. His "Fitzgerald Report" (''Cape York Justice Study'', presented to Parliament in November 2001) recommended to the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

that unless things improved dramatically within a period of three years, that alcohol should be banned, in consultation with the communities. One of the findings related to communities relying on the income generated by sales of alcohol in canteens, recommending that this perceived conflict of interest end. The ''Indigenous Communities Liquor Licences Bill 2002'' (Qld) and the ''Community Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2002'' were introduced as part of the government response to the report. In July 2009, following the Gordon Nuttall scandal and public criticisms of contemporary governance in Queensland, Fitzgerald revealed his relocation to New South Wales was due in large part to the 1998 election of the Beattie Labor government and the loss of momentum for reform. In 2013 and 2014 Fitzgerald criticised the Queensland government led by

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is a former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Quee ...

over new laws targeting bikies and sex offenders, as well as the appointment of

Tim Carmody Timothy Francis Carmody (born 18 May 1956) is an Australian judge who was the Chief Justice of Queensland between 8 July 2014 and 1 July 2015. His previous roles include work as a police officer, barrister, Queensland Crime Commissioner, Fa ...

Chief Justice of Queensland The chief justice of Queensland is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Queensland. The chief justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court, as well as t ...

Legacy

The Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Award is awarded annually by the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

"to a person with a track record in promoting and advancing human rights in the Australian community on a not-for-profit basis". Fitzgerald donated his personal collection to the

State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...

. This significant collection of items primarily relates to the events associated with the Commission of Inquiry. The material largely consists of newspaper clippings, original newspaper and magazine articles, courtroom sketches, cartoons and Fitzgerald’s personal papers. The collection also reflects political life in Queensland in the years leading up to and following the Inquiry.

References

External links

The Honourable Justice Gerald Edward (Tony) Fitzgerald, A.C.
Biographical note published in Queensland Bar News, April 1999
Tony Fitzgerald Collection 1984 - 2009: treasure collection of the John Oxley Library
- John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Tony 1941 births Living people Companions of the Order of Australia Australian people of Irish descent Judges of the Supreme Court of Queensland Australian King's Counsel People from Brisbane Judges of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory Judges of the Federal Court of Australia 20th-century Australian judges