Ninian Stephen

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Ninian Stephen (November 2006)

Sir Ninian Martin Stephen , KG , AK , GCMG , GCVO , KBE , KStJ (born June 15, 1923 in Nettlebed , Oxfordshire ; † October 29, 2017 in Melbourne ) was Australian Governor General between 1982 and 1989 .

Life

Born in England , Stephen immigrated to Australia as a child, where he later studied law at the University of Melbourne . Since his studies were interrupted by the Second World War , in which he served in the Australian Army in New Guinea and Borneo , he was only able to complete it in 1950. In 1952 he was admitted to the Victoria Bar Association in Australia . Ninian Stephen was one of Australia's premier commercial and constitutional lawyers in the 1960s.

In 1970 Stephen was appointed Judge of the High Court of Australia . In the same year he was knighted. Although his appointment was made by a government of the Conservative Liberal Party of Australia , he was not considered a traditionally conservative advocate of state rights. He became part of the “moderate center” of the court. Together with the majority of judges, he confirmed the validity of the Racial Discrimination Act , a law against racial discrimination that came into force in 1975, with the judgment in the Koowarta case in 1982 .

In 1982 Stephen was named Governor General by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser . Just like his predecessor Sir Zelman Cowen , he was a "safe" choice: discreet, politically neutral and with very good constitutional knowledge. After the change of government in 1983, he was able to work with the Labor government under the leadership of Bob Hawke without any difficulties . Hawke extended Stephen's tenure by 18 months in 1987 to allow Bill Hayden , to whom he had promised the post, to choose when to leave politics.

Stephen served as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on one case in the 1990s .

Works

  • Sir Owen Dixon: A Celebration . Melbourne 1986

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alison Bevege, Nick Macfie: Australian former governor-general and peacemaker Ninian Stephen dies at 94th Reuters article on yahoo.news, October 29, 2017, accessed on October 30, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Stephen, Ninian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stephen, Sir Ninian Martin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Nettlebed , Oxfordshire
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 2017
Place of death Melbourne