Retired top Australian judge lined up for Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal
- Patrick Keane’s nomination for Hong Kong bench seen as vote of ‘confidence’ in city’s judicial independence
- Keane worked in Australia’s Federal Court and sat in country’s top court, for nearly decade
Hong Kong’s top court is to get its first new foreign judge since the withdrawal of two British Supreme Court justices triggered concerns over confidence in the city’s judiciary last year.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Friday accepted the appointment of Australian judge Patrick Keane after a submission by the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, a government spokesman said.
The retired Australian High Court judge will join the remaining 10 overseas non-permanent judges at Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal to preside over some of the city’s major cases, from criminal to civil.
The city’s leader is required to obtain an endorsement from the Legislative Council as a final seal of approval, but an objection is unlikely because of the pro-Beijing composition of the legislature.
The administration wing of the Chief Executive’s Office has already written to the House Committee to say it wanted to move an endorsement motion “at the earliest opportunity”.