Professor Kylie Burns4, Professor Richard Kemp2, Associate Professor Carly Schrever3, Associate Professor Kevin O'Sullivan2, Adjunct Associate Professor Terese Henning5, Professor Jill Hunter7, Professor Sharyn Roach Anleu6, Professor Natalie Skead3, Professor Prue Vines7, Emeritus Professor Kate Warner5, Dr Nina Hudson1,8,9
1Tasmania Law Reform Institute, Hobart, Australia, 2School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia, 3Law School, University of Western Australia, Australia, 4Law School, Griffiths University, Australia, 5Law School, University of Tasmania, Australia, 6Law School, University of New South Wales, Australia, 7Judicial Research Project, Australia, 8Psychology, Psychiatry and Law, Australia, 9Independent Research Consultant, Australia
Biography:
Kylie Burns is a Professor and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the Griffith Law School, Griffith University. She is Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. Kylie has research and teaching expertise in personal injury law, accident compensation systems, the NDIS, judicial reasoning and cognition, and judicial psychological stress. She is a co-author of the leading Australian torts textbook (with Luntz, Hambly, Dietrich, Grant and Foster) Torts: Cases, Legislation and Commentary.
Abstract:
In the last several years, greater prominence has been given to the role of workplace health and safety legislation in the prevention and management of psycho-social hazards in workplaces across Australia. This has included specific statutory duties extending to psychosocial hazards and codes of practice which provide guidance to duty holders. At the same, there has been increasing attention on the psychosocial hazards encountered and mental health injuries suffered by those who perform ‘work’ in court settings. This paper considers whether judicial officers are subject to the protection of workplace health and safety legislation. It discusses the findings of our 2025 Australian study of stress and satisfaction in judicial work and maps our findings against the psychosocial hazards identified in the WHS codes of practice and the assessment and control mechanisms provided for in the WHS codes of practices.