Len Roberts-Smith - Background

Background

He was educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide, and graduated in law from the University of Adelaide in 1969.He went to Papua New Guinea in 1970, where he held various positions in the Crown Law Department, ultimately becoming Chief Crown Prosecutor. On Independence in 1975 he became the first Public Prosecutor under the new Constitution. As Public Prosecutor he had responsibility for all criminal prosecutions throughout the country. He returned to South Australia in 1976 and became a Stipendiary Magistrate. In 1978 he was appointed the foundation Director of the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia, which position he held for 11 years.In February 1969 he returned to private practice, as a barrister, and in December 1989 was appointed a Queen's Counsel.

Roberts-Smith held numerous prominent community positions. He was a former Chairman of the Citizens' Advice Bureau of WA (Inc); Chairman of the State Advisory Panel for Translators and Interpreters, and the President of the Civil Rehabilitation Council of WA (Inc) from 1980 to 1982. He chaired the State Government Committee of Review into the Administration of Criminal Justice in Queensland in 1993, which reported in September that year. He was Counsel to the WA Parliamentary Committee on Delegated Legislation from 1989 to 1998. In 1989 he was appointed Deputy President, and in 2000, President of the Equal Opportunity Commission of Western Australia. He has been an accredited Australian Advocacy Institute teacher since 1992, was a member of the Legal Practice Board of WA between 1989 and 2000,was Deputy Chairman of the Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee between 1992 and 2000 and Chair of the Murdoch University Board of Discipline from 1999 until he resigned on his appointment to the Bench in November 2000. Also in that year, prior to that appointment, he conducted a Ministerial Review into the Western Australia Witness Protection Program and the death of a protected witness.

On 26 November 2012 the Australian Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith MP announced that Roberts-Smith had been appointed Head of an independent Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, to deal with individual complaints of sexual and other forms of serious abuse in the Australian Defence Force, some going back decades. The Taskforce would examine individual cases and refer them for criminal investigation and prosecution by police, arrange counselling or other appropriate assistance, recommend apologies by Defence or make other recommendations, including financial payments.