Julian Burnside

Australian barrister and advocate

• Born: June 9, 1949
• Birthplace: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Also known as: Julian William Kennedy Burnside

Significance: Julian Burnside is an Australian barrister and an outspoken human rights and refugee advocate. As a barrister, he focuses mainly on commercial litigation, trade practices, and administrative law and has worked on many high-profile cases. As an advocate, he is best known for his opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

Background

Burnside was born to Kennedy Byron Burnside and Olwen Lloyd Banks in Melbourne, Victoria, on June 9, 1949. His father was an accomplished surgeon, and his grandmother, Dame Edith Burnside, was a famous charity worker who at one point served as president of the Central Council of Auxiliaries of Prince Henry’s Hospital. Burnside was raised primarily by his mother and grew up with a sister and brother. As a youth, he attended Melbourne Grammar School before later moving on to study law and economics at Monash University. Burnside initially intended to seek a career as a management consultant, but his plans took an unexpected turn when he was selected to represent Monash at the Australia and New Zealand intra-varsity mooring, which is a legal competition of sorts that involves the simulation of a court hearing. Participants in the mooring are expected to review the case at hand, research the relevant law, write about the case, and present an oral argument. Burnside was judged the best individual speaker and awarded the Blackstone Cup. On the advice of the adjudicator, Chief Justice of New Zealand Sir Richard Wild, he subsequently began pursuing a career in law. Burnside ultimately earned a Bachelor of Economics in 1972 and a Bachelor of Law the following year.

Life’s Work

Burnside formally became a barrister of the Supreme Court of Australia in 1976 and was appointed a King’s Council (then Queen’s Council) in 1989. His professional focus was primarily on commercial litigation, administrative law, and trade practices. In this role, he represented many wealthy clients and quickly became one of Australia’s most well-known and successful commercial lawyers. Burnside appeared in a variety of important commercial cases, including some take-over cases. He notably represented the Maritime Union of Australia in its 1998 Australian waterfront dispute with the Patrick Corporation, which was one of Australia’s worst industrial relations controversies. He also acted as Senior Counsel aiding the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) in the inquiry over the 1999 “Cash for Comment” affair.

In the late 1990s, Burnside began turning his attention to pro bono legal work relating to various human rights issues. Most notably, he represented Liberty Victoria, Victoria’s top civil liberties organization in an action against the Australian government over the 2001 Tampa affair in which the government refused to allow a Norwegian freighter carrying 431 rescued refugees from Afghanistan and elsewhere to enter Australian waters. At this time, Burnside became an outspoken critic of the Australian government’s policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers. He also founded Spare Rooms for Refugees and Spare Lawyers for Refugees, a pair of charitable organizations that provide refugees with free housing and legal representation.

Burnside also worked on some key cases in which he represented Indigenous Australians. Chief among these was the 2007 Trevorrow v. South Australia case. His client, plaintiff Bruce Trevorrow, was a Ngarrindjeri man who, like his fellow members of the Stolen Generations, was forcibly removed from his biological parents as a child. With Burnside’s help, Trevorrow successfully sued the South Australian government for pain and suffering and became the first member of the Stolen Generations to receive compensation by a court of law.

In addition to his work as a barrister, Burnside found success as an author. He published several books, including From Nothing to Zero: Letters from Refugees in Australia's Detention Centres (2003), Watching Brief: Reflections on Human Rights, Law, and Justice (2007), and Watching Out: Reflections on Justice & Injustice (2017). He also published the children’s book Matilda and the Dragon in 1991. Burnside earned a reputation as a widely recognized political commentator as well.

In 2019, Burnside entered the political forum, announcing that had he joined the Australian Greens party and would run against Josh Frydenberg for the seat of Kooyong in the next federal election. Although he lost the race, Burnside remained undaunted. The following year, he ran for a Greens Senate seat occupied by the retiring Richard Di Natale, but lost to rival candidate Lidia Thorpe, who went on to become Victoria’s first female Indigenous senator.

Impact

Burnside is widely regarded as one of Australia’s most successful and important barristers, as well as a respected public figure. Burnside has received several awards for his work supporting human and Indigenous rights. Among his honors is the 2004 Human Rights Law Award presented by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and sponsored by the Law Council of Australia. He was also elected an Australian Living Treasure in 2004 and inducted as an honorary member of the Monash University Golden Key Society in 2006. He received the Australian Peace Prize in 2007 and the Sydney Peace Prize in 2014.

Personal Life

Burnside married in 1974 and welcomed a daughter with his first wife in 1981 before the couple ultimately divorced. He later married artist Kate Durham in 1998 and adopted a son named Mosa.

Principal Works

From Nothing to Zero: Letters from Refugees in Australia’s Detention Centres, 2003

Watching Brief: Reflections on Human Rights, Law, and Justice, 2007

Watching Out: Reflections on Justice & Injustice, 2017

Bibliography

“Julian Burnside.” Asia and the Pacific Policy Society, 2023, www.policyforum.net/authors/julian-burnside. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Julian Burnside.” The Conversation, 2023, theconversation.com/profiles/julian-burnside-1151. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Julian Burnside.” Julian Burnside, 2023, www.julianburnside.com. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Julian Burnside AO QC.” Asylum Seeker Resource Center, 2023, asrc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/jburnside.pdf. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Julian Burnside AO QC.” National Secular Lobby, 2023, www.nsl.org.au/about/our-ambassadors/julian-burnside. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Julian W K Burnside AO KC.” Victorian Bar, 2023, www.vicbar.com.au/profile/5905. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“2014 Julian Burnside AO QC.” Sydney Peace Foundation, 2023, sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/peace-prize-recipients/2014-julian-burnside-ao-qc. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Watching Brief: Reflections on Human Rights, Law and Justice by Julian Burnside.” Hearsay, Dec. 2007, www.hearsay.org.au/watching-brief-reflections-on-human-rights-law-and-justice-by-julian-burnside. Accessed 3 July 2023.