One of the ACT's newest judges is leaving his post after less than nine months to take up a job at the Federal Court, where he will join actor Hugh Jackman's brother on the bench.
Justice Geoffrey Kennett was only sworn in as an ACT Supreme Court judge in March, following a 33-year career as a lawyer.
He spoke back then of being happy to return to Canberra, where he had grown up and studied at the Australian National University.
But his time back in the capital did not last long, with Commonwealth Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC announcing on Thursday that Justice Kennett had been appointed to the Federal Court.
Justice Kennett, who specialised in administrative, constitutional, customs, native title, taxation, competition and consumer law while a barrister, starts his new role in Sydney next Monday.
His Federal Court appointment was announced on Thursday alongside those of barrister Ian Jackman SC and Justice Catherine Button from the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Justice Kennett was part of a recent changing of the guard at the ACT Supreme Court, where three of the five resident judges only started this year.
His move is not the only new judicial appointment of interest to Canberra's legal community, with ACT Bar Association president Rebecca Curran announced on Thursday as a judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Sydney.
Ms Curran, who has been a lawyer in the ACT since 1993, became the association's first female president when she was elected earlier this year.
