Former Victoria attorney-general Rob Hulls presented a warts-and-all version of the justice system, political life and his pathway into the law in a presentation to Yarrawonga Sacred Heart College students recently.
The state’s top legal officer for 11 years under premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby, the Labor MP is also one of the few Australians to have served in all three levels of government – as a Mt Isa councillor and also preceding Bob Katter as federal member for Kennedy.
Hulls, who retired from politics in 2012, told students he was “not the best student” and didn’t get the marks for law, taking on a Bachelor of Arts instead.
At university, he learnt of an alternative pathway to a law degree – and applied for an articled clerk’s course which required him to work in a lawyer’s office by day and attend lectures by night.
“Even then, it was a four-year course and it took me five years,” Hulls laughed.
Hulls said he always had a passion for social justice driving him, an interest that only intensified after a period working for the West Queensland Aboriginal Legal Service.
Students asked a range of questions including about the ground-breaking Koori Court system in Victoria he championed, a sentencing-only court that also provides a range of support services.
“The dream is for Aboriginal people to at least have access to a fully self-determined justice system,” he said.
He was asked whether Australia’s justice systems were fair.
“Sometimes, but not always,” he said. “If you stop reforming the system, it goes backwards.”
On other issues, he hoped to see the age of criminal responsibility raised from 10 to 14 and laws changed around the rights of homeless people.
Hulls – a regular at Yarrawonga’s annual Easter tennis tournament – is now an adjunct professor at RMIT, and runs the university’s Centre for Innovative Justice.
Asked about recent violence against women, he said: “Family violence is not mere domestic violence, it’s a crime”, saying that early intervention was the main solution.
“Our boys need to know how bad this misogynistic approach is,” he said.
Asked about political corruption, he said he was greeted on his first day as Minister for Planning with a room full of presents from property developers, which he had sent back.
Hulls, who also addressed pill-testing, problems in policing, and legal pardons, said he doesn’t hold back when talking to secondary students: “They can be agents of change.”