QUR
60TH Anniversary Regimental dinner
Cromwell College
The Hon P de Jersey AC
Chief Justice
Tonight we celebrate the Regiment’s
diamond jubilee: six decades of high grade
achievement, the nurturing of as many as 600 men and women
to commissioned rank, the enhancement of our nation’s
capacity for effective defence.
I was honoured to deliver a speech on this occasion 10
years ago, at the golden jubilee dinner. Thank you,
Commanding Officer, for indulging me with another
opportunity to acknowledge an institution for which, like
all of us, I feel enduring respect and gratitude. I
experience particular nostalgia in following the progress
of the Regiment: that is partly because it
originated in 1948, the year of my birth.
Then after only two years, the company became a
battalion, and following 30 years of infantry and officer
training, evolved in 1992 into its present role as, I
proudly assert, Australia’s leading officer training
reserve unit. That was recently evident at the RMC
graduation weekend, with QUR outstripping its interstate
counterparts, graduating 14 cadets and with Lieutenant
Tyson Brock, now of 9 RQR, awarded the top national prize
for outstanding leadership, the Peter Stuckey Mitchell
Trust Award.
Captain Jack Lawrence Kelly, who was the first commander
in 1948, and went on to become Major General Kelly and a
senior judge of the Supreme Court, would have been
immensely proud of the Regiment’s reaching this
significant milestone, and in such good shape, always
discharging its important mission with distinction.
The Regiment has produced a large body of loyal,
disciplined, high order community leaders. Pardon my
instancing my own civilian province: the Supreme and
Federal Courts in this State boast five judges who
graduated from QUR, four of them present this evening.
The Regiment’s alumni distinguish many fields of community
life.
The pride I feel for the Regiment has on many years past
been rekindled on Anzac Day when, from King George Square,
we have witnessed the polished performance of the
Regimental Band. We are also then inevitably
reminded of changes which have occurred over the life of
the Regiment, most evidently, in recent decades, with
women joining the ranks.
I recalled on that occasion this year, with the Lord
Mayor, that the Regiment was accorded the Freedom of the
City of Brisbane in July 1986. The Regiment last
exercised that freedom of entry in 1995. The Lord
Mayor suggested it may be time, perhaps overdue, for QUR
to exercise that important right again. ...
Commanding Officer? A good opportunity, perhaps, to
remind our citizens of the enduring significance of the
Regiment, and importantly, in this its 60th
year.
Though the contemporary regiment presents as a
substantially different organization from the Regiment in
which some of us served from 1966 to 1971, its vitality is
enduring and palpable, and that warrants special
commendation. The reason is the struggle to maintain
the special identity of QUR, and to secure the resources
necessary for its vibrant persistence, has not been all
that easy. Its effectiveness and achievement bear
fine testament to the brilliance of those who have led
over the years, and in that regard I personally recall
with great respect Ken Gaulton and Sam Harrison.
The Commanding Officer asked me to say tonight how my own
regimental experience has assisted me in my present role
as Chief Justice. Some years ago, addressing the
Association, I listed these features: the fostering
of a disciplined, orderly approach to the solving of
problems; achieving commissioned rank in a very
competitive environment, and the sense of personal
achievement which accompanied that; the forging of
substantial valuable friendships within a matrix
delineated by responsibility, but also attended by
excitement, enjoyment, and a lot of fun; and I added that
in seeking to lead the Supreme Court as best I can, with
collegiality the stipulation, I do often recall the great
spirit of the Regiment, and the principles of what we were
then allowed to call ‘man management’.
When I refer to collegiality as the stipulation, you must
appreciate that because judges are independent operators,
there is a lot of justification for the piece of
conventional wisdom that a Chief Justice holds the reins,
but they’re not connected to anything.
I must say that something else the Regiment taught me,
relevant to my present role, was the importance of candour.
The effective officer, the effective leader, is open and
sincere with his or her soldiers or peers. That was
reflected in our training at the Regiment. I was
always struck by the directness of what we were required
to do, and did. The objective was clearly defined,
and one set about securing it with a minimum of fuss.
And candour works both ways.
I was recently reminded of this during a visit by Supreme
Court Judges to the Woodford Correctional Centre. We
were introduced to a number of prisoners. I shook
hands with one who immediately enquired: “Mr Paul de
Jersey ?” I responded: “You know me?” “Yes”,
he said, “you sentenced me in 1990.” “What did I
give you?” “14 years”, he said. I responded:
“Sorry about that”, to which he said: “No. I
deserved every day of it.” I must say I felt
somewhat relieved by the response. On reflection, I
thought the exchange suggested a touch of mutual respect.
In this military context, candour and collegiality cannot
however diminish ultimate authority, and the Regimental
experience taught me that the officer, like the judge,
cannot in the end become “one of the pack”. Also,
the officer, like the judge, is not participating in a
popularity contest. That is not what our
constituents expect of us, and the officer or judge who
pretends will not be respected. It would be
unfortunate, for example, were a judge, to establish
“street credibility”, to pretend to embrace popular
culture which everybody knows is really, and
unsurprisingly, foreign to him, and there have been some
embarrassing examples of that. Most of us would
readily see the point of the old Punch cartoon of an RAF
chaplain propping up the bar: “What I cannot stand
about the padre”, says one pilot officer to another, “is
his unholier than thou attitude.” (as
mentioned in a paper by Robert Walker: “Sentence
first, verdict afterwards – constitutional change in the
UK justice system”, p 12).
There is by the way nothing wrong with the moderate
consumption of alcohol whether one be army officer or
judge, but caution must prevail, and it is always salutary
to remember Harold Wilson’s Foreign Secretary, George
Brown. It is reported that Wilson used to say of
him: “He was a brilliant Foreign Secretary until
four o’clock in the afternoon.” There is a wonderful
story about his attendance at an embassy reception in Peru
in 1967. He approached a diverting personage in a
flowing crimson gown and asked for a dance. “You are
drunk”, was the reply: “That is not the cha cha cha,
it is the Peruvian National Anthem, and I am not a
delectable young thing in red, I am the Cardinal
Archbishop of Lima.” (Source: Journalist
Alison Little, UK tabloid newspaper)
I was interested recently to read the Pakistani Code of
Conduct for judicial officers. The Code expresses
the first requirement in these terms:
“A judicial officer should be God fearing, law abiding,
abstemious, truthful of tongue, wise in opinion, cautious
and forbearing, patient and calm, blameless, untouched by
greed, completely detached and balanced, faithful to his
words and meticulous in his functions.”
…quite an expectation!
The third requirement we would see as coming rather out
of left field:
“He should avoid mixing up with people, roaming in hotels,
markets and streets except in dire need.”
The 11th requirement may be of interest:
“He must be dressed in prescribed uniform and seated in
dignified manner, but not so as to look a proud man.”
It may be interesting to read any Code for officers in
the Pakistani Army.
Well, that Code aside, public expectations of army
officers, as with Judges, are rightly high wherever one
may be. It is our great challenge to seek to meet
them. And our regimental experience has equipped us
well in that regard.
This Regiment has instilled, into countless members, a
respect for institutions, God, Queen and country, and the
capacity to contribute magnificently to the security and
development of our great nation. In toasting our own
fine Regiment in this year of its diamond jubilee, we
honour the institution, and as well, all those who serve,
have served, and will serve in it.
Ladies and gentlemen would you please rise, and join with
me in toasting: “the Regiment”.
*****************************
