APC Update | Issue 56
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| APC UPDATE | 15 May 2016 |
| Press Council Chair receives honorary degree from Macquarie University |
| The Chair of the Australian Press Council, Professor David Weisbrot AM, has been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D Litt) by Macquarie University, recognising his contributions to law reform, especially in relation to health and medical research. |
| Professor Weisbrot became Chair of the Press Council in March 2015. He is a former Professor of Law and Governance at Macquarie University. |
| The Macquarie citation for the honorary degree notes in part: |
| "...David Weisbrot has had an illustrious career in law, spanning many countries, branches of the profession and multiple fields of interest. |
| "Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, he is a Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and Emeritus Professor of Law and Honorary Professorial Fellow in Medicine at the University of Sydney. His previous academic roles include serving as Dean of two major law schools and Adjunct Professor of Law and Governance at Macquarie University Law School. |
| "Professor Weisbrot rose to public prominence as the longest serving President of the Australian Law Reform Commission. During his ten-year stint at the Commission from 1999 to 2009, he chaired 15 major inquiries. These included the landmark Attorney-General's National Task Force on Pro Bono Legal Services and reviews into the federal civil justice system, privacy and secrecy laws...." |
| Professor Weisbrot said: |
| "I am deeply honoured to be awarded an honorary doctorate by Macquarie University, because my experience as a law professor and a law reformer confirmed this University's very special commitment to the welfare and intellectual development of its students, as well as to innovative teaching and scholarship by its academic staff - and all of this without losing its historical focus on social justice." |
| Since becoming Chair of the Press Council, Professor Weisbrot has taken steps to alter the scope of the organisation, emphasising that maintaining high standards of practice is a shared enterprise with its publisher members, and seeking to expand Council membership to the growing online media space and to Australia's multicultural press. As well, he has spoken out strongly against measures which diminish the ability of journalists to do their work, including the government's metadata retention legislation, the diminishing of Freedom of Information rights and the current state of defamation laws. |
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Macquarie University Chancellor Michael Egan (left) and Press Council Chair David Weisbrot |
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| Australian Press Council Address: Level 6, 309 Kent St, Sydney, 2000 Phone: (02) 9261 1930 or 1800 025 712 Fax: (02) 9267 6826 Email: info@presscouncil.org.au Web: http://www.presscouncil.org.au |
