Rodney Madgwick

The Hon Rodney Neville Madgwick is a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, appointed to that position on 3 October 1995. Madgwick sits in the Sydney registry of the court.

Madgwick was one of the final judicial appointments of the government of Paul Keating. His activist approach to jurisprudence is demonstrated by his comments dismissing an apparently straightforward immigration appeal in 2006, stating 'it ought to be a matter of shame for every Australian citizen that [immigration] law has been put into this condition' ["SZHMM v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs" [http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/1541.html?query=szhmm&nocontext [2006] FCA 1541] ] . Madgwick's caseload concentrates on administrative, immigration, discrimination and industrial law.

Some of his more notable judgments include:

: * "QAAH v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs" [ [http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2005/136.html?query=qaah&nocontext [2005] FCAFC 136] ] : Madgwick joined Justice Murray Wilcox of the Full Bench of the Federal Court in holding that the Commonwealth had to demonstrate that a temporary protection visa (TPV) holder would be safe upon returning to their country of origin before they could be deported. The onus of proof did not lie with the TPV holder. On appeal to the High Court of Australia, the Full Court's judgment was overturned ["Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v QAAH of 2004" [http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/HCA/2006/53.html?query=qaah&nocontext [2006] HCA 53] ] .: * "Moloney v New Zealand" [ [http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/438.html?query=moloney&nocontext [2006] FCA 438] ] : Madgwick struck down an order for two suspected sex offenders to be extradited to New Zealand, on the basis that the suspects could not be guaranteed a fair trial in New Zealand. Madgwick's judgment was overturned unanimously by the Full Bench of the Federal Court ["New Zealand v Moloney" [http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2006/143.html?query=moloney&nocontext [2006] FCAFC 143] ] .

References