The Hon David Ipp AO QC

09 Oct 2020

Statement from the Attorney General on the passing of the Honourable David Ipp AO QC.

I was saddened today to learn of the passing last night of the Hon David Ipp AO QC, one of Australia’s most significant judicial figures.

Mr Ipp had an extraordinary career stretching from his early days in legal practice in Johannesburg in the mid-sixties to becoming one of the most striking intellects of the Australian bar and bench, serving in both Western Australia and NSW.

He also served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji and benefited the study of law in places as far afield as London and Cambridge in the UK and the University of Virginia Law School in the US as well as though his contribution to legal texts here at home.

Mr Ipp’s astute extra-judicial observations about the law of defamation gave added weight to NSW-led reforms agreed by Australia’s Attorneys-General this year. He likened the present laws to the Galapagos Islands, evolving ‘their own dialect, arcane customs and overly subtle distinctions’ in calling for legislative change.

I express the state’s gratitude not only for Mr Ipp’s work as a Judge of Appeal in NSW, but also for his determination in exposing corruption as Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. That work remains as a sentinel warning to those who seek to exploit offices of public trust for their own personal gain.

The NSW legal community will miss Mr Ipp’s wit and wisdom. I offer my sincerest condolences to Mr Ipp’s family.

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