Queensland’s embattled chief justice, Tim Carmody, has taken leave from court duties for at least a month, citing medical reasons.
A spokeswoman for the office of the chief justice said on Thursday: “The chief justice will be unavailable to preside in court for a month from Monday 18 May 2015 whilst His Honour seeks specialist treatment for an ongoing back problem.”
Carmody was scheduled to sit on the court of appeal over three weeks in the next month, in addition to a week already booked of compensation leave and another week set aside for “chief justice duties, admin and judgment writing”.
Last week Carmody withdrew from an appeal involving the Daniel Morcombe murder case amid claims of perceived bias.
A storm of controversy followed Carmody’s tabling in court of emails with fellow appeal court judges Margaret McMurdo and Hugh Fraser, which revealed McMurdo – the state’s second most senior judge – refused to work alongside Carmody on any future appeal.
Carmody’s colleagues insisted he reveal the emails to lawyers for Morcombe’s killer, Brett Cowan, in what Carmody said was their “confounding” suggestion he had prejudged both the apprehended bias application and the question of whether he alone should hear it.
Carmody voluntarily stepped aside from the case despite saying he thought there was no merit to the bias application, which was based on his longstanding relationship with the child victims advocate Hetty Johnston, and a meeting he had with her while deciding the appeal.
The exchanges between the judges also revealed that Carmody was the source of the delay in the appeal heard five months ago, as he was yet to circulate a draft judgment. Fraser and McMurdo had finished theirs in February.
The open rift between Carmody and the rest of Queensland’s supreme court bench prompted statements of concern from politicians, including the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Palaszczuk said this week she was not considering “at this stage” using parliament mechanisms that are the only basis to consider the removal of a judge for serious misbehaviour or misconduct.
Comment has been sought from the Department of Justice.
