Audio

Keynote Address - NSW Humanitarian Awards 2025

The address given for the presentation of Humanitarian Awards 2025 by STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) was delivered at Parliament House, Sydney, on Thursday 26 June 2025 in the presence of many participants in STARTTS, from migrant and refugee communities, legal bodies, and medical and healthcare organisations.  Michael Kirby had earlier been a Patron of STARTTS.  He returned to deliver the opening address of the occasion.  In it, he describes a number of cases that came before him when he was a Justice of the High Court of Australia, including Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v B (2004) 219 CLR 365; and Al-Kateb v Godwin (2004) 219 CLR 562.

SBS 50 Podcasts

Two podcast episodes produced by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) for its 50th anniversary this year. 
 
The episodes include an interview with Michael Kirby and describe the role of SBS in promoting reform of the law concerning LGBTIQ+ in Australia.

>> From the first 'pink ban' to the '78 riots: LGBTIQ+ Australians reflect on 50 years of progres

 

ChatterMatters Podcast with Michael Kirby

In this special in-person episode, Amogh sits down with the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG - Australia's "Great Dissenter" and a former Justice of the High Court of Australia (Australia's Highest Court) - for a wide-ranging conversation recorded at his chambers in Sydney. Justice Kirby reflects on his early years as a proud public school student, his path into law, his love of history and student politics, and offers powerful advice for law students and young lawyers: be a joiner, don't hide your talents, and shape a life that suits you. 
From RBG to resilience, hard work to humility - this is a true masterclass.
 

>> ChatterMatters Podcast with Michael Kirby

The 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

The 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) occurred in 2023.  Attached is a serious of podcasts prepared by Mr Phillip Tahmindjis.  He earlier worked with the Hon. Michael Kirby in the Secretariat of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association, based in London.  He and Michael Kirby, at different stages in their careers, worked with Professor John Humphrey, Head of the Secretariat of Eleanor Roosevelt’s committee that drafted the UDHR.  Each of them knew and admired John Humphrey.  In this podcast, Phillip Tahmindjis includes conversations with John Humphrey about the process of drafting and completing the UDHR in 1948, in time for its adoption on 8 December 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations.  In the podcast, Michael Kirby tells of his experience in receiving instruction at school in Sydney, Australia, on the language and purposes of the UDHR and of its importance for human rights, justice, peace and security.

The Hon Michael Kirby interview for Greenslist Part 2

On 28 September 2023, the Hon. Michael Kirby participated in two sessions of a podcast program concerning “Lives in the Law”.

The sessions were recorded in Melbourne at William and Lonsdale and they relate to the life of the Hon. Michael Kirby and his service in numerous judicial and other posts, including as a Justice of the High Court of Australia.  The podcasts can be retrieved by clicking on the links.

The Hon Michael Kirby interview for Greenslist Part 1

Michael Kirby talks about his life in the law and the influence of his family especially in his early years.

Hope & Resilience with the Hon Michael Kirby and Sister Jayanti

In the attached public conversation, held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney on Friday 23 June 2023, the Hon. Michael Kirby joins Sister Jayanti, a senior sister of the Brahma Kumaris when visiting Australia from India and the UK.  They discuss the concepts of hope and resilience and how these goals of human life can be attained and enjoyed.

An interview between Michael Kirby and Michael Gilbert

Broadcast in June 2023 for community radio 2xxfm in Canberra

 
 

Michael Kirby has been elected Patron of QTOPIA alongside Ita Buttrose AC OBE.

QTOPIA will launch Sydney’s gay museum.