Beware the ‘hero judge’: the legal feuds upending the High Court

by · Australian Financial Review

Janek DrevikovskyLegal affairs reporter
Jun 20, 2026 – 5.00am

This is the story of a divided judiciary, warring egos and the uncertain future of the country’s top court. It ranges from coastal Tasmania to Far North Queensland, and features two of the leading judges of their generation: “Justice Wolverine”, the judicial brother of Hugh Jackman, and “the notorious RBJ”, husband of world-famous playwright Suzie Miller.

It centres on two speeches, delivered within a fortnight of one another, dissimilar but also oddly alike. Both contained unusually personal jabs at other law-world personalities – even at other judges. Both were attempts, from the opposite vantage point, to undo the “politicisation” of the law. Both risk utterly backfiring in that aim.

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Janek DrevikovskyLegal affairs reporterJanek Drevikovsky is the Financial Review’s legal affairs reporter. Email Janek at jdrevikovsky@nine.com.au

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