08.08.2017
On 20 June 2017, Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, announced the appointment of Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM as the next President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Professor Croucher commenced her Presidency at the AHRC on 30 July 2017.
A farewell was held for Professor Croucher on 7 July 2017, attended by, amongst others, past ALRC Presidents—the Hon Michael Kirby and the Hon Elizabeth Evatt—past and present ALRC Commissioners and staff, Advisory Committee members, family and special friends.
Professor Croucher summed up her near-decade with the ALRC:
I’ve led nine law reform Inquiries … churned out 116 papers and 32 articles, worked with five Attorneys-General, fronted two inquiries into the existence of the ALRC, have embraced Senate Estimates with a perverse pleasure, and managed to get both ‘Whoops’ and Monty Python’s Black Knight into Hansard.
Professor Croucher also thanked past and present ALRC Commissioners and Advisory Committee members, and ALRC staff:
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to lead such a wonderful, enduring agency as the ALRC. There are not many roles where you can honestly say that you love to come to work each day. This is in large measure due to the people I have worked with. First, the legal officers, past and present, I pay tribute to your intellectual rigour and your dedication and commitment to our shared enterprise.
Professor Croucher personally thanked the “most stellar of Executive Directors”, Sabina Wynn, and the corporate and finance team and noted that “esprit de corps is also so much more than the work itself … and I have deeply appreciated the personal support at times it was needed.”
We are extremely grateful to Professor Croucher for her leadership and service to the ALRC, and wish her all the best in her new role.