Five acting judges have been appointed to the ACT Supreme Court.

“Acting judges play an important role in ensuring the court’s workload is managed in a timely and efficient way, and that cases can progress when other judges take planned and unplanned leave,” ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said.

The acting judges appointed to the ACT Supreme Court are:

• The Hon Justice Ann Ainslie-Wallace: A member of the Appeals Division of the Family Court of Australia from 2010 until her retirement in 2021. She is a former barrister who served as a NSW District Court judge (between 1997 and 2010).  She has been appointed an acting judge for 12 months.
• Justice Michael Elkaim SC: A Resident Judge of the ACT Supreme Court from July 2016 until his retirement in December 2022, having served previously as a NSW District Court Judge since 2008. These appointments followed a long and distinguished career as a barrister. He was appointed a Senior Counsel in October 2002. He has been appointed an acting judge for 12 months.
• Justice Stephen Kaye:  First appointed as a judge of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2003, and appointed to the Victorian Court of Appeal in 2015. Since December 2021, Justice Kaye has served as a Reserve Judge in both the Trial Division and the Court of Appeal. He held a commission as an additional judge of the ACT Supreme Court from 2016 until 2021. He has been appointed an acting judge for two years.

In addition to these appointments, two currently serving acting judges of the ACT Supreme Court, Justice John Burns and Justice Stephen Norrish KC, have been reappointed to serve a further two years.

The appointments and reappointments for the five acting judges took effect on 1 November.

“I welcome the new acting judges to the bench, and thank the reappointed acting judges for continuing to serve the community,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“The ACT will benefit from the extensive experience of these five judges when they are called on to support the Supreme Court in their capacity as acting judges.”