Pierre Slicer AO (born 2 December 1943) is an Australian judge and former political activist. He was a judge of the

Supreme Court of Tasmania The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. Together with the Magistrates Court, it forms the judiciary in Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the mid ...

from 1991 to 2009 and a judge of the

Supreme Court of Samoa The Supreme Court of Samoa () is the superior court dealing with the administration of justice in Samoa. It was established by Part VI of the Constitution of Samoa. It consists of the chief justice of Samoa and other judges as appointed by the h ...

from 2010 to 2014. He was previously state secretary of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...

from 1974 to 1979.

Early life

Slicer was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 2 December 1943. His father was an American serviceman who fought in the Philippines during World War II, while his mother was an Australian woman from

Dover, Tasmania Dover is the southernmost town of its size in Australia, on the western shore of Port Esperance. At the 2021 census Dover had a population of 923, of whom 288 were aged under 40 years. 118 residents (including 59 of the 288 residents aged under ...

. Slicer moved to Tasmania at a young age with his mother, attending St Mary's College and

St Virgil's College St Virgil's College is an independent Catholic primary and secondary day school for boys, located over two campuses in Austins Ferry and Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Established in 1911 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the College has ...

in Hobart. He subsequently studied law at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

and was president of the Tasmanian University Student Association in 1965.

Politics and activism

Slicer joined the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) as a young man, but resigned his membership in 1969 and instead joined the

(CPA). In 1974 he was elected state secretary of the Communist Party in place of Max Bound. He also served on the party's national committee and in 1976 toured Italy, Romania and Yugoslavia with a CPA delegation. He resigned as state secretary in 1979 for health reasons. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Slicer was a leader of the

Vietnam Moratorium The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive demonstration and teach-in across the United States against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It took place on October 15, 1969, followed a month later, on November 15, 196 ...

movement in Devonport. He was a founding member and legal adviser to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service, also serving as counsel to the

Tasmanian Wilderness Society The Tasmanian Wilderness Society was a Tasmanian environmental group that started in 1976 in response to a proposal by the state's Hydro Electric Commission to construct a dam on the Gordon River, downstream from the Franklin River, that led to t ...

and the Salamanca Campaign for gay rights. During the

Franklin Dam controversy The Gordon-below-Franklin Dam (or simply Franklin Dam) project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of the most signi ...

he was jailed for three weeks for his involvement in anti-dam protests.

Legal career

Tasmania

Slicer was admitted to practise law in Tasmania in 1966. He was a member of the Tasmanian Law Reform Commission from 1974 to 1977. As a criminal barrister he notably represented CSIRO scientist

Rory Jack Thompson Jack Newman (10 May 1942 – 18 September 1999), better known by his birth name Rory Jack Thompson, was an Australian CSIRO scientist and murderer. In September 1983, he was charged for murdering his wife, Maureen Thompson, in their Hobart, Ta ...

in the trial for the murder and dismemberment of his wife in 1984. In 1991, Slicer was appointed as a justice of the

. He retired in 2009 as the senior puisne judge of the court, but in 2017 was reappointed as an acting judge to help clear a backlog of cases.

Samoa

Slicer spent three weeks in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in 2006, as an independent judge on cases relating to the

2006 Samoan general election General elections were held in Samoa on 31 March 2006 to determine the composition of the List of members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa (2001–2006), 14th Parliament. The main contesting parties were that of incumbent Prime Minister Tuil ...

. After retiring from the Supreme Court of Tasmania, he served on the

from 2010 to 2014, including as a judge of the Court of Appeal. He was given the honorary chiefly rank of ''matai'' and adopted the Samoan-language name of ''Lautalatoa''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slicer, Pierre Living people Anti–Vietnam War activists Australian barristers Australian environmentalists Australian judges on the courts of Samoa Australian people of American descent Communist Party of Australia members Judges of the Supreme Court of Tasmania Lawyers from Sydney Officers of the Order of Australia University of Tasmania alumni 1943 births People educated at St Virgil's College