1. Patrick Anthony Keane was born on 26 October 1952 and is an Australian judge currently serving as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 6 April 2023, after his retirement as a Justice of the High Court of Australia.
19 Facts About Patrick Keane
1. 2.
Patrick Keane is currently the Chair of the Expert Advisory Group set up by the Australian Government to guide reforms to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
3.
Patrick Keane is a former Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia.
4.
Patrick Keane senior was a Royal Australian Air Force aviator who died from a heart attack when the younger Patrick was seven.
5.
Patrick Keane read for a Bachelor of Civil Law at Magdalen College of the University of Oxford and was awarded the Vinerian Scholarship, a scholarship given to the student that "gives the best performance in the examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law".
6.
Patrick Keane was admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1976 and went to the bar, as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland, in 1977.
7.
In 1992, Patrick Keane was appointed Solicitor-General of Queensland, a position he held under Labor and Coalition state governments until his appointment to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland.
8.
Patrick Keane published a number of articles and has been outspoken on the quality of legislative drafting.
9.
In 2005, Patrick Keane was appointed a Judge of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland, the highest court in that state.
10.
On 10 February 2010, Commonwealth Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced that Patrick Keane would be appointed as the next Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia.
11.
On 20 November 2012, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced that Patrick Keane had been appointed a Justice of the High Court of Australia effective on the retirement of Dyson Heydon on 1 March 2013.
12.
Patrick Keane became the 50th Justice appointed to the High Court.
13.
In 2023, Patrick Keane was nominated as a non-permanent judge at the age of 70.
14.
Patrick Keane remained in the position, along with other Australian judges Robert French, William Gummow, and James Allsop, after British judge Jonathan Sumption resigned, criticising the judiciary of Hong Kong after 14 prominent democratic activists were convicted for subversion.
15.
In 1974, aged 22, Patrick Keane married Shelley, with whom he has three sons and five grandchildren.
16.
Patrick Keane's son Patrick was born in Oxford in December 1976.
17.
Patrick Keane's second son David Daniel Keane is a King's Counsel in Australia.
18.
The Australian reported that Patrick Keane is said to have been close to former Prime Minister and fellow Queenslander Kevin Rudd and that Patrick Keane has been described by one unnamed Brisbane barrister as a "Labor man".
19.
Patrick Keane is a supporter of the Brisbane Broncos, the Brisbane Lions and the Carlton Blues AFL clubs and enjoys cricket, even having once considered playing the sport professionally.