Stephen Charles

Stephen Charles AO QC, one of the well-known advocates for a national integrity commission, is on Justinian's Couch ... Career highlights ... Personal weaknesses ... Australia's failing on asylum seekers and refugees ... John Howard's overrated standing ... Would be happy as a teacher 

Stephen Charles: Scaloppine al vino bianco con funghi - on death row

After a career at the Victorian Bar and as an appeal judge in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Stephen Charles is now a board member of the Accountable Round Table and the Centre for Public Integrity. He has been for many years an advocate for the creation of a federal anti-corruption watchdog. 

With Catherine Williams he has written Keeping Them Honest - the case for a genuine national intgrity commission and other democratic reforms. Stephen Charles has agreed to go onto Justinian's Couch to be probed about the personal and the professional ... 

Describe yourself in three words. 

Hard-working, determined, obsessive.

What are you currently reading? 

The World on Fire [Amanda Foreman], 1599 [James Shapiro], Bad Actors [Mick Herron]. 

Who would you like to play you in a film about your life?

Colin Firth, for his hilarious role in Love Actually. 

When were you happiest?

When I finished my law course; when I married Jenny; teaching for Monash Law School in Prato; and the election on May 21. 

Who has been the most influential person in your life, and why? 

John Starke QC, in the King’s Bridge Inquiry in 1962-3, for the way he demonstrated absolute integrity and strength in the face of hostile governments and others, in so many difficult and stressful cases and events.

Barrister or judge - which was the more enjoyable? 

Barrister was better, but teaching law students was best.

Why did you want to be a lawyer? 

I didn’t intend to be a lawyer - it was an accident. I started an arts/law course and fell out of the arts course because I had too good a time in my first year.

What was your most memorable case? 

The Combe Commission. I was acting for ASIO, which was being attacked by most of the media simply for doing its job properly.

What other occupation would you have liked to pursue? 

Teaching law or history.

What made you such a firm advocate for political integrity? 

Because it seemed obvious that Australia needed a federal Integrity Commission and that was being demonstrated by such lows as the Sports Rorts and the Car Park Rorts, and the way successive governments had treated Timor. 

Why did you and Catherine Williams write Keeping Them Honest. 

We were asked to write the book, and both of us believed there was so much wrong with our system of federal government, which could only be changed by doing our best to draw attention to it.

Have anti-corruption commissions in Australia damaged the reputation of innocent people?

Yes, Margaret Cunneen SC.

What words or phrases do you overuse?

Corruption, and “What do you think?”

What is your greatest weakness? 

Chocolate and concentration on work to the detriment of everything else.

If you were on death row, what would be your request for your last meal? 

Scaloppine al vino bianco con funghi.

If you were a foodstuff, what would you be?

Nutrigrain. Sweet, crunchy and delicious.

What human quality do you most distrust? 

Supercilious arrogance and self-confidence.

What would you change about Australia? 

The refusal to accept and our appalling treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers.

Whom or what do you consider overrated? 

With the exception of gun laws, John Howard ... Richard Flanagan said it all on May 26 in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. 

What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"? 

When it works properly, and all are abiding by the Rule of Law, it is a great system. But just ask Lindy Chamberlain about the law going wrong! 

Keeping Them Honest is published by Scribe