Judicial Education in Australia: A Contemporary Overview

Recent decades have seen judicial education in Australia gain acceptance and momentum in both provision and diversity. Institutional supports and resourcing for judicial officers at all levels have become common across the nation. But it is now timely to reflect critically on this progress. This article takes a step towards assessing the provision of judicial education, and where there might be opportunities to enhance this in the future. Central to that task is an empirical study of judicial education available to the members of 25 Australian courts over a three-year period, from 2015/2016 to 2017/2018. The article concludes with four recommendations for reform: (1) the adoption of a standard taxonomy for national reporting on judicial education; (2) increased alignment between judicial education and judicial lifecycles, from pre-appointment to pre-retirement; (3) the need to better meet the judicial education needs of judicial officers working in smaller jurisdictions or regional settings; and (4) an imperative for further empirical research on whether judicial education offerings are currently meeting the needs of judicial officers, courts, and the public they serve.