Catherine Branson

The Hon Catherine Margaret Branson is a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia.

[edit] Pre-judicial career

Branson graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. She was Crown Solicitor of South Australia from 1984-1989.^[1]

Branson was appointed Queen's counsel in 1992, practicising in South Australia.

Branson was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia on 16 May 1994, sitting in the Sydney registry since 1996. Her notable judgments include:

NTEIU v University of Wollongong^[2]: Justice Branson upheld a case of unfair dismissal brought by an academic who was dismissed after alleging his employer, the University of Wollongong, engaged in 'soft-marking' of full fee-paying students.^[3]. The judgment was upheld on appeal to the Full Bench of the court.^[4]
Jones v Toben^[5]: Justice Branson handed down the first judgment for a successful prosecution under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Her Honour ruled that the defendant had published anti-semitic material on the internet, which was unlawful. The defendant sought to appeal^[6], but the appeal was dismissed by the Full Bench of the court.^[7]
CPSU v Commonwealth^[8]: Justice Branson ruled the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations had breached the Workplace Relations Act 1986 (legislation it administered) by advising other Commonwealth departments to refuse leave to employees to attend a national protest against workplace relations reforms. Senior public servants were criticised in the judgment for their evidence to the court and for putting political interests ahead of public service independence.^[9]

Justice Branson has been mentioned as a candidate to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.^[10]^[11] However, in recent years, Dyson Heydon, Susan Crennan and Susan Kiefel have each been preferred.