Upon retiring from the High Court of Australia some two years ago, I was propelled, quite willingly, into the world of international commercial arbitration and I must confess that it is a world which has changed completely from the one which I had known previously.

Australia is both a federation and a constitutional monarchy. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, which made the Australian Constitution law, refers to the establishment of the federation “under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.” In fact, however, since 1973, the appropriate style of the monarch in relation to Australia has been “Queen of Australia.” And ever since federation, the monarch has been represented in Australia by a Governor-General, who progressively has acquired a more significant role, in parallel with the acquisition of Australian independence.

Until a few years ago there were only 12 law schools in this country. That number has now grown to 28 with rumours of more, and with the additional introduction of programmes like those run by the University of London. Law student numbers in Australia country have risen by over 60% since 1987. It can be, and has been, argued that this is simply too many for our resources and many of the newer law schools were established more with an eye to the prestige of having a law degree within the institution.

Since the mid 1980's to the present time there has been an unprecedented attitudinal change by governments, both at the federal and state levels, regardless of political persuasion, towards the role of the public sector. There has been a sustained policy to wind back the size of the Public Service across the board.