Australian High Court judge to serve in Fiji’s Supreme Court

A new justice of Fiji’s Supreme Court was sworn in before the President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, at the State House in Suva yesterday.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle joined the Supreme Court after taking the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Judicial Office before the President, as required under the Constitution.

Also present at the ceremony were Chief Justice, Salesi Temo and Chief Registrar, Tomasi Bainivalu.

Mr Justice Nettle served on the High Court of Australia from 2015 to 2020. Prior to this, he sat on the Victorian Court of Appeal from 2004 to 2015.

Justice Nettle graduated from the Australian National University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Economics, from the University of Melbourne in 1976 with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and from the University of Oxford in 1978 with a Bachelor of Civil Law (First Class Honours).

He was admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria on March 1, 1977, and became a partner at Mallesons (as the firm was then known) on July 1, 1981. In July 1982, he resigned from Mallesons and was called to the Victorian Bar. In November 1992, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

New judge in the Fiji Supreme Court, Geoffrey Nettle (left), with President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu during the sworn in on April 7, 2026.

Photo: DEPTFO News

He practised in state and federal courts, principally in commercial law, equity, taxation and public law.

During this period, he also served from time to time as a sessional member of the Taxation Division of the Victorian Administrative Appeals Tribunal and later of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

In July 2002, he was appointed a judge of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria and subsequently sat across all jurisdictions of the court until his appointment to the Victorian Court of Appeal in June 2004.

In July 2021, he was appointed by the State of Victoria as Special Investigator to establish and lead the Office of the Special Investigator, tasked with investigating and preparing briefs of evidence relating to allegations involving former police officers. He resigned from this role in July 2023, after which the office was disbanded.

Between November 2024 and February 2026, he served as chief consultant to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in relation to its Robodebt investigation