MEDIA RELEASE: Yoorrook Justice Commission appoints two Junior Counsel Assisting

The Yoorrook Justice Commission (Yoorrook) has today announced the appointment of Mr Timothy Goodwin and Ms Sarala Fitzgerald to the role of Junior Counsel Assisting. They are both esteemed barristers on the Victorian Bar, will provide legal guidance to Victoria’s historic truth and justice process.

Timothy Goodwin is a member of the Yuin People of the South East Coast of New South Wales. He has extensive legal experience working on behalf of First Peoples and was Junior Counsel Assisting to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. He is currently a Board Member of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

Sarala Fitzgerald specialises in administrative and human rights law and is a human rights advisor to the Victorian Government’s Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. Before joining the Bar, she worked at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Most recently, Ms Fitzgerald was Junior Counsel Assisting for the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor
Regulation at the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence.

As Junior Counsel Assisting, Mr Goodwin and Ms Fitzgerald will work to support the Senior Counsel and bring specific, complementary experience and expertise. Yoorrook’s Senior Counsel is yet to be appointed.

Professor Eleanor Bourke, Chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, spoke about the experience these distinguished barristers bring to the historic work of Yoorrook.

“We welcome the appointment of Junior Counsel Assisting and look forward to progressing the historic work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission,” Professor Bourke said.

The roles of Counsel Assisting will advise Yoorrook on its powers, duties, functions and obligations.
Counsel Assisting traditionally conduct hearings, support report writing, and present and test evidence before a Royal Commission through examination.

Both Mr Goodwin and Ms Fitzgerald will play a vitally important role in helping Yoorrook accomplish its mandate of investigating historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria since colonisation.

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For media enquiries, please contact Holly Crocket
Email: communications@yoorrook.org.au

Click here to access a PDF of our media statement