Rise of the bunyip silks

NSW bar elections sees pro-QC ticket romp home to take a majority on the council ... Bloodbath pending on the executive ... Members rally around pro-QC Cunneen ... Future looks uncertain as vanity triumphs 

Reconstruction of the NSW bar council underwayA WRECKING BALL has knocked out over half the members of the NSW bar council. 

The just declared election results have seen the vanity pro-QC ticket sweep aside most of the existing councillors and take control of the bar 'n' grill. 

Gone from the 21 person council in the bloodbath are: 

• Ian Temby
• Winston Terracini
• Garry McGrath
• Chrissa Loukas
• Michael McHugh (treasurer)
• Jeremy Morris
• Anne Healy
• Andrew Stone
• Warwick Hunt
• Catherine Gleeson
• Caroline Dobraszczyk 

None of those people were on Jeffrey Phillips' "bring-back-QCs" ticket. 

The survivors from the 2014 council who have been reelected for 2015 are: 

• Tim Game
• Noel Hutley (senior vice)
• Jane Needham (prez)
• Arthur Moses (junior vice)
• Kate Traill
• Mary Walker
• Paresh Khandhar 
• Dominic Toomey (hon sec)
• Sophie Callan and
• John Hyde Page (also on the pro-QC ticket)

The only two who increased their vote from last year's poll were Arthur Moses (up 101 votes) and Sophie Callan (up 48 votes). 

Coincidentally, Moses and Callan appeared together as Mr Senior and Ms Junior at the bar dinner - exposure and name recognition you can't buy. 

The newly elected candidates who stood with Phillips for reintroducing the appointment of Queen's Counsel (in order of voter popularity) are: 

• Margaret Cunneen
• David Bennett
• Jeffrey Phillips
• Alan Sullivan
• Paul Menzies
• Ishita Sethi
• Greg Antipas 
• Christopher Wood
• Hamish Stitt
• Philippe Doyle Gray, and
• Justin Hogan-Doran

It means the pro-Restoration camp holds 12 out of 21 seats. Members rallied around Margaret Cunneen, who is in the frame with ICAC, to give her the second highest number of votes, after president Jane Neeham. 

Bubba Bennett came in third equal with Moses. 

It is regarded as poor form for candidates to issue brochures, with glamorous pictures and policies. The election is conducted on the basis that decent chaps know what's what. 

Hyde Page was the main organiser behind Phillips' ticket and he had the advantage of being able to direct messages to 200 or so members who indicated interest in the QC rally at the Leagues Club in August, conducted under the baton of Rick Burbidge. 

It all seems rather pointless, particularly as the attorney general has indicated he is not inclined to ask parliament to amend section 90 of the Legal Profession Act, which prohibits official schemes for recognition of seniority or status.  

Any amendment would be opposed by the Labor opposition, who would seek to overturn it on a return to government. Crossbench members of parliament may also find it difficult to discover a public interest in such an amendment to the LPA.  

The claim that the restoration of the royalist flourish is a competitive necessity for the bar is spurious. The market knows who is worth the money, and who isn't - regardless of badges and furbelows. 

It boils down to a massive dose of vanity, status and snobbery. 

Importantly, it jeopardises the independence of the bar, because while the council is currying favour with the government is it able to deliver a strong voice on contentious government law and order policies, such as bail and mandatory sentencing? 

The next step is the composition of the executive of the bar council, to be decided on Thursday (Nov. 13). 

Again, there could be a wholesale upset of positions. It is quite conceivable that the president could be ousted. David Bennett has indicated he doesn't want to rock the boat, so who knows, Jeffrey Phillips could be hoisted into the president's chair. 

Bennett: back on council after a long absence

Normally you'd expect Arthur Moses to take over as senior vice - but now anything is possible. 

Phillips laid out his agenda in one of his missives to bar members in which he introduced his ticket: 

"You may be in favour of choice in being appointed Queens Counsel or Senior Counsel. The following people are standing for bar council and share this view. They would of course have diverse opinions on other matters affecting the interests of the bar." 

So, the new councillors are all united on the QC-SC choice issue, but who knows where they stand on a myriad of other pressing matters facing the bar, or even if they are at all interested in them. 

They may turn out to be as functional and united on important policies as the Palmer United Party.