Patrick Anthony Keane (born 26 October 1952) is an Australian judge currently serving as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 6 April 2023, after his retirement as a

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

. He is currently the Chair of the Expert Advisory Group set up by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

to guide reforms to the

Administrative Appeals Tribunal The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was an Australian tribunal that conducted independent merits review of administrative decisions made under Commonwealth laws of the Australian Government. The AAT reviewed decisions made by Australian G ...

. He is a former Chief Justice of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

Early life and education

Patrick Anthony Keane was born to Patrick and Margaret Keane (née Houseman) and raised in Wilston, a middle-class, inner-city suburb in northern

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Patrick Keane senior was a

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

aviator who died from a heart attack when the younger Patrick was seven. Keane was educated at Catholic schools: St. Columba's Convent School and St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace in Brisbane,"Ceremonial – Welcome – Keane J" . where he was the school captain and dux of 1969, winning an Open Scholarship in the Queensland Senior Public Examinations. After eliminating other vocations, he graduated from the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973, and a Bachelor of Laws with first-class honours and a University Medal in 1976. During his studies, Keane worked as a law clerk at Roberts & Kane Solicitors and was headhunted by Feez Ruthning (now Allens Linklaters) by one of the partners. Keane read for a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

at Magdalen College of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and was awarded the Vinerian Scholarship, a scholarship given to the student that "gives the best performance in the examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Having earned a B.C.L. with First-Class Honours in 1977, he then returned to Australia.

Career

Pre-judicial career

Keane was admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister of the

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to ...

in 1976 and went to the bar, as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland, in 1977. During 1978–1979, he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Queensland. In 1988, after 11 years at the bar, Keane took silk. In 1992, Keane was appointed Solicitor-General of Queensland, a position he held under

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

state governments until his appointment to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland. Keane published a number of articles and has been outspoken on the quality of legislative drafting. During 1990–1992, he was the Deputy Chairman of the Queensland Law Reform Commission. In 2011, he condemned the "volume and complexity of federal laws", telling the ''

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' that "opening the tax act is like entering the door to a parallel universe".

Judicial career

In 2005, Keane was appointed a Judge of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland, the highest court in that state. On 10 February 2010, Commonwealth Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced that Keane would be appointed as the next Chief Justice of the

. Keane took up that role on 22 March 2010. On 8 June 2015, he was named a

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for eminent service to the law and to the judiciary, through contributions to improved legal and public administration, as an advocate for increased access to justice, to ethical standards, and to a range of professional organisations.

High Court career

On 20 November 2012, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced that Keane had been appointed a Justice of the

effective on the retirement of Dyson Heydon on 1 March 2013. Keane became the 50th Justice appointed to the High Court. Keane's position as Chief Justice on the Federal Court bench was filled by James Allsop, the president of the NSW Court of Appeal.

Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong)

In 2023, Keane was nominated as a non-permanent judge at the age of 70. The appointment comes after two other foreign non-permanent judges resigned from the positions after citing issues with the government crackdown on freedoms in the region. He remained in the position, along with other Australian judges Robert French, William Gummow, and James Allsop, after British judge Jonathan Sumption resigned, criticising the judiciary of Hong Kong after 14 prominent democratic activists were convicted for

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of Power (philosophy), power, authority, tradition, h ...

. A speech given by Keane in Sydney's Banco Court on 22 October 2024 was picketed by a small group of demonstrators over his role in the Court of Final Appeal. The protesters held pictures showing

Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...

. On 24 October, the Hong Kong government released a statement that described "any attempt by any organisation or individual to exert pressure on judges and judicial officers" as being "clearly a reprehensible act" that should be "vehemently condemned".

Personal life

In 1974, aged 22, Keane married Shelley, with whom he has three sons and five grandchildren. Dr. Shelley Keane is a psychologist. His son Patrick was born in Oxford in December 1976. His second son David Daniel Keane is a King’s Counsel in Australia. His youngest son Michael lives in New Zealand. ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' reported that Keane is said to have been close to former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and fellow Queenslander

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

and that Keane has been described by one unnamed Brisbane barrister as a "Labor man". Keane's appointment met with bipartisan approval: the Liberal Party's justice spokesperson, Senator George Brandis, described Keane's appointment as "the right decision" and Keane himself as a "very, very distinguished lawyer, both academically and professionally" with "a very illustrious reputation". Keane is a supporter of the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

, the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

and the Carlton Blues AFL clubs and enjoys cricket, even having once considered playing the sport professionally.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Patrick Justices of the High Court of Australia Chief justices of the Federal Court of Australia Judges of the Federal Court of Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of Queensland Solicitors-general of Queensland Australian barristers Australian King's Counsel People educated at St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford University of Queensland alumni Lawyers from Brisbane Australian people of Irish descent 1952 births Living people Companions of the Order of Australia Justices of the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong)