Quick Facts
Biography
The Honourable Justice David Jackson is a Judge in the Supreme Court of Queensland which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Queensland. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Queensland on 8 October 2012.
Career
Jackson was called to the Queensland Bar in 1977 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1990. Jackson now sits on the Commercial List of the Supreme Court of Queensland. In August 2014 he was appointed as Chair of the Queensland Law Reform Commission.
The appointment of Jackson as a judge was controversial as he was, and is still currently, being investigated over his role in the collapse of investment company Equititrust which raised hundreds of millions of dollars from members of the public and collapsed owing $260 million to the investors causing many to lose their homes and life savings. The offices of the company were raided by the Australian Federal Police in 2011 three days after Jackson resigned as a director. Jackson is expected to be examined over his conduct with this company in the Federal Court in 2018.
Jackson caused controversy by a number of his judicial actions including by releasing a notorious female sex offender Jan-Maree Farrenkothen, by ordering that a woman who had been previously convicted of acts of bestiality be eligible for a "blue card" allowing her to work with children in Queensland, and by ordering rapist Nigel Patrick Robinson be released from custody.