Commonwealth Law Ministers in Sydney

It was an unusually “legal” week for me in Sydney last week, with Lord McNally, Minister of State for Justice attending the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting, and later in the week the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve MP, Attorney General, participating in a separate Quint meeting with his opposite numbers from Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand. Both events went even better than expected, with the UK participants finding their discussions very useful.

Perhaps that’s not surprising because one of the key features of Commonwealth countries is the historic legacy of the Common Law as the basis for their legal systems. That means that governments often approach common modern challenges – from Climate Change to Cyber Crime  – from a shared legal perspective. That does not mean they agree on everything. For example Britain, Australia and many other Commonwealth countries are unambiguously opposed to Capital Punishment, and campaign actively for its abolition, but others hold different views.

In 100 days time, Australia will be hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth. The leaders will consider a very important report by a group of Eminent Persons (EPG), including Australian Judge Michael Kirby and former British Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, which calls for a number of reforms to ensure the Commonwealth remains relevant. In particular the EPG has called for a renewed emphasis on the Commonwealth’s values like democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma told me he was very much looking forward to coming back to Australia again soon for the CHOGM.

Outside of the main meetings, the two British ministers carried out a busy programme of bilateral calls. They met their opposite numbers at Federal and State levels of Australian government,  and saw Australia’s human rights commissioner and the national centre for pro bono legal work. We organised an event with some British commercial lawyers, whose presence is growing fast in Sydney on the back of the booming economy. I was particularly fascinated by a visit to a prison, where it quickly became clear that the experts on both sides faced very similar challenges including the size of the prison population, the need to reduce recidivism rates, and how to treat inmates with mental illness. There was a real interest from both sides in exchanging views on best practice, something that I frequently find across many areas of domestic policy here. As well as providing logistical support for visiting ministers from various government departments, we are also able to  ensure they are fully briefed on the local context and the personalities they will be meeting.