Ann Vanstone
{{Short description|Australian lawyer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|Hon}}
| name = Ann Vanstone
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|KC}}
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| office = Independent Commissioner Against Corruption
| term_start = {{start date|2020|09|02|df=y}}
| predecessor = Bruce Lander
| office1 = Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia
| term_start1 = 21 August 2003
| term_end1 = 13 June 2019
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| occupation = Judge, lawyer
| education = University of Adelaide
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| nationality = Australian
}}
Ann Vanstone {{post-nominals|country=AUS|KC}} is an Australian lawyer. She was a crown prosecutor before being appointed as a judge of the District Court of South Australia from 1999 until 2003. She was then appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia. Vanstone stepped down from the Supreme Court bench in June 2019.
On 27 July 2020, Vanstone was announced as the next South Australian Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, to take up the position on 1 September 2020.
Early life and education
Vanstone went to Walford Church of England Girls Grammar School (now Walford Anglican School for Girls), in Adelaide.{{Cite web|title=Old Scholars' Dinner|url=https://www.walford.net.au/community/old-scholars/old-scholar-news/old-scholars-dinner|access-date=2020-07-27|website=www.walford.net.au}}
Career
Vanstone studied law at the University of Adelaide and following her graduation became a barrister in 1978. Vanstone became the deputy crown prosecutor in 1989 and the associate director of public prosecutions in 1992. Vanstone was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1994 and was appointed a judge of the District Court in 1999.
=Supreme Court of South Australia=
Vanstone was appointed to the Supreme Court on 21 August 2003, only the third woman to be appointed after Dame Roma Mitchell and Margaret Nyland. By 2005 Robyn Layton had also been appointed to the Supreme Court and Nyland, Vanstone and Layton formed the first all female Court of Criminal Appeal in South Australia.
Vanstone has been the judge in numerous high-profile trials. In 2008 the High Court held by a 3:2 majority that Vanstone's directions to the jury in the trial of Jean Eric Gassy lacked neutrality and "merely restated the essential elements of the prosecution case, with barely a reference to the defence case". Following the trial of Eric John Hooper for causing serious harm to Robin Hay, because of Hooper's dangerous driving, Vanstone was critical of the six-year delay between the crash in July 2009 and bringing charges in June 2013. Vanstone sentenced Hooper to five years in prison and disqualified him from driving for ten years. She was also the judge for the trial of Dudley Davey for the murder of Gayle Woodford and in 2017 Vanstone sentenced Davey to life in prison with a non-parole period of 32 years.{{cite web |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2017/06/08/killer-outback-nurse-gayle-woodford-sentenced-32-years-jail |title=Killer of outback nurse, Gayle Woodford, sentenced to 32 years in jail |date=8 June 2017 |publisher=SBS |access-date=30 November 2017}}
In 2015 Vanstone was appointed to chair the Electoral Boundaries Commission which was required to attempt to set the boundaries so that the government is formed by the party that receives more than 50% of the vote. The decision of the Electoral Boundaries Commission was upheld on appeal to the Full bench of the Supreme Court.{{cite AustLII|SASCFC|18|2017|litigants=Martin v Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission |court=Supreme Court (SA) (Full Court) |date=10 March 2017 |access-date=27 July 2020}}. Vanstone retired from the Supreme Court on 13 June 2019.
=Independent Commissioner Against Corruption=
On 27 July 2020 Vanstone was selected as the new South Australian Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.{{Cite web|date=2020-07-27|title=Former Supreme Court justice Ann Vanstone to be SA's new anti-corruption watchdog|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-27/ann-vanstone-announced-as-new-commissioner-against-corruption/12495202|access-date=2020-07-27|website=www.abc.net.au|language=en-AU}} She took up the role on 2 September 2020.{{cite news |url=https://indaily.com.au/news/2020/09/02/marshall-parliamentary-privilege-not-a-blanket-shield-to-delay-criminal-probe/ |title=Marshall: Parliamentary privilege "not a blanket shield" to delay criminal probe |first=Tom |last=Richardson |date=2 September 2020 |access-date=2 September 2020 |newspaper=InDaily}}
Personal life
Vanstone's brother Tony is married to former federal minister Amanda Vanstone.
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite web |author=Michelle Lensink |author-link=Michelle Lensink |title=Women Justices |url=https://hansardpublic.parliament.sa.gov.au/_layouts/15/Hansard/DownloadHansardFile.ashx?t=historicpdf&d=HANSARD-4-1670 |format=PDF |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |publisher=South Australian Legislative Council |date=24 September 2003 |page=193 |access-date=29 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042917/https://hansardpublic.parliament.sa.gov.au/_layouts/15/Hansard/DownloadHansardFile.ashx?t=historicpdf&d=HANSARD-4-1670 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=dead }}
{{cite AustLII|HCA|18|2008|litigants=Gassy v The Queen |court=High Court |date=14 May 2008 |access-date=30 November 2017 |parallelcite= (2008) 236 CLR 293}}.
{{cite web |url=http://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/judgment-summaries/2008/hca18-2008-05-14.pdf |title=Judgment summary: Gassy v The Queen |publisher=High Court |date=14 May 2008 |access-date=30 November 2017}}
|author=Hunt, N |publisher=The Advertiser |date=27 July 2020 |access-date=27 July 2020}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanstone, Ann}}
Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of South Australia
Category:Australian King's Counsel
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Judges of the District Court of South Australia
Category:20th-century Australian judges
Category:21st-century Australian judges