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Mary Genevieve Gaudron (born 5 January 1943) is an Australian lawyer and judge, who was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was the Solicitor-General of New South Wales from 1981 until 1987 before her appointment to the High Court. After her retirement in 2002, she joined the International Labour Organization, serving as the President of its Administrative Tribunal from 2011 until 2014.
In 1951, H. V. Evatt passed through Moree to campaign for the "no" case in the 1951 referendum, at which the Robert Menzies Liberal government was attempting to alter the Constitution of Australia in order to ban the Australian Communist Party. Evatt was addressing a small crowd from the back of a blue Holden Utility, discussing the upcoming referendum and the Constitution, and Gaudron, not knowing what Evatt was referring to, asked "Please sir, what's a Constitution?" Evatt explained that it was "the laws by which Parliaments were governed." Gaudron asked whether it was similar to the Ten Commandments and Evatt replied that "you could call it the Ten Commandments of government." Gaudron then asked for a copy and Evatt subsequently sent her one in the mail. Gaudron, expecting two stone tablets, was disappointed to receive only a small pamphlet. However, when the school bullies declared the pamphlet useless, Gaudron retorted that it was of great use to lawyers, and that some day she would be one.
While studying, Gaudron attempted to obtain Articled clerk (then five years in duration), but was not successful. She later said, "Many distinguished lawyers took a lot of trouble and effort to explain to me that it was not their policy to take on women as articled clerks."
Instead, she took a job with the Australian Public Service, although, in accordance with the then regulations, she was required to relinquish her employment when she married. In 1988, Gaudron was awarded an honorary degree in law from Macquarie University, and another from the University of Sydney in 1999.
Gaudron's first major breakthrough was in 1970 with O'Shaughnessy v Mirror Newspapers Ltd,. where as a 27-year-old junior counsel she successfully argued the matter single-handedly before the High Court after the plaintiff, Peter O'Shaughnessy, sacked his senior counsel, Clive Evatt QC, preferring her ability over the veteran. According to O'Shaughnessy, 'she cut a valiant figure, this "slip of a girl", who stood unsupported before the five legal elders of the land. They were obviously impressed by her courage, her sheer elegant dash, her shining intellect finding expression in felicitous language, her good manners, charm, poise. And perhaps, when all is said and done, by her sheer cheek in taking on the case.' Official website of Peter O'Shaughnessy , peteroshaughnessy.info; accessed 29 September 2015.
Another one of Gaudron's significant cases was in 1972, when she successfully argued the Equal Pay case for the Gough Whitlam Labor government before the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.Burton, Pamela, (2010) From Moree to Mabo: The Mary Gaudron Story: University of Western Australia Press, Perth
Early in 1972, Gaudron had entered a bar with a male barrister friend when the waitress informed the friend that the bar did not serve women. Gaudron "patiently explained to the barmaid that my friend didn't want a woman because he'd brought his own," eventually creating "something of a scene" which attracted the attention of Labor politician Clyde Cameron, who said that he didn't realise such sexual discrimination still existed. Gaudron said that "the discrimination being practised in that particular hotel was nothing compared to the discrimination over which he would undoubtedly preside when he became Minister for Industrial Relations after the next election." However, the Whitlam government was elected on 2 December, and Cameron duly became Minister for Industrial Relations. Whitlam called Gaudron on 3 December to hire her to argue the case for equal pay.
The case, begun by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and supported by the Whitlam government, extended the reach of the original but limited equal pay decision of 1969. Prior decisions had guaranteed equal pay only for certain specific occupations and later, certain limited industries (industries traditionally considered 'women's work', such as the textile industry), whereas this case extended the principle of equal pay to all workers. Gaudron's argument was based on the principles of the 1951 Equal Remuneration Convention of the International Labour Organization (an organisation she would later work for). However, Gaudron later came to regard her argument, that Australia had not ratified the Convention because the commission would not grant equal pay (thus preventing Australia from fulfilling its obligations under the convention), as somewhat disingenuous, and recalled it with a measure of embarrassment.
Gaudron's most notable case on the Arbitration Commission was an important Test case for maternity leave in 1979, which laid down award standards allowing for a year's unpaid leave for all full-time and permanent part-time workers. In 1979–1980, Gaudron was the inaugural chair of the NSW Legal Services Commission. Gaudron held the position of Deputy President until her resignation in May 1980.
As a High Court Justice, Gaudron contributed to every area of Australian law, most notably to Australian criminal law, in judgments that "combine technical mastery with a general tendency to insist on strict compliance by trial judges with their obligations in directing juries". Gaudron was part of the progressive Mason and Gerard Brennan courts, which decided such influential cases as Cole v Whitfield,. Dietrich v The Queen,. and the Mabo case. Gaudron was consistently opposed to all forms of discrimination, with notable judgments in this vein including the decision in Street v Queensland Bar Association (on Section 117 of the Constitution of Australia). and her joint judgment with Justice McHugh in Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v South Australia..
Gaudron was generally regarded as not particularly emotive in her writing style, although the judgment for which she is perhaps best remembered popularly was the Mabo case, where, in a joint judgment with Justice William Deane, she said that Australia's past treatment of Indigenous Australians was "the darkest aspect of the history of this nation"..
The award of Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) was made to six of the seven serving High Court justices in the Bicentennial Australia Day Honours of 1988. Six High Court judges head Australia Day honours, in Canberra Times, 26 January 1988 Gaudron had declined the award without explanation. She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.
On 19 September 1997 Gaudron was appointed the founding Patron of Australian Women Lawyers and continued in this role until 20 February 2009.
In March 2003, Gaudron joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2004 she was a member of an inquiry into trade union rights in Belarus. She was also appointed as a judge of the ILO's Administrative Tribunal. From July 2011, she has been appointed as President of the Tribunal.
When she announced her retirement, an anonymous academic said that Gaudron had failed to achieve the expectations set by her supporters, and that among the other High Court Justices, Gaudron was "erratic" and "certainly not among the court's greats". Another anonymous academic said that Gaudron's Labor connections had delivered her unearned promotions.
Gaudron described herself in 2005 as privileged "to be a bit player in the maintenance of the rule of law in Australia".
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