The “new” High Court led by Chief Justice Stephen Gageler is becoming NSW-centric, with the four judges based in Sydney forming an alliance that could shape the court’s work over the next three years.
The Gageler court has handed down 62 judgments since November 2023, and analysis by Capital Brief shows it is increasingly split along state lines.
The chief justice, Justice Jacqueline Gleeson, Justice Jayne Jagot and Justice Robert Beech-Jones look to be in one camp, with the “interstate” judges — Justice James Edelman (Queensland via Western Australia), Justice Michelle Gordon and Justice Simon Steward (both Victoria) — in another.
When Gageler replaced Susan Kiefel as chief justice — and Beech-Jones joined the court — in November 2023, NSW gained an extra seat that gave it a majority of the court’s seven judges.
