Victoria's last Premier worthy of the post, Jeff Kennett, has called on hapless appeal judges, Anne Ferguson and Chris Maxwell, to resign after their hideous incompetence - they "went with the vibe, not the law" - in rejecting Cardinal Pell's appeal and consigning an innocent man to 405 days jail.

Kennett calls into question the standing of the Victorian legal system which, by 1992, was so low that anyone involved in a serious commercial crime went to NSW courts to have their matters heard. The Court of Appeal was established in 1994 to address the lack of confidence in Victoria's justice system.

That worked - come 2020!

It's well past time, not just in Victoria, that the mystique surrounding judges was dumped, and they were treated like any other public servants, subject to scrutiny, discipline and dismissal for incompetence.

activist Judges destroying any confidence in the Court system in Victoria. I suppose they are in good company with the Premier selling out to China with the Belts and Roads 'Initiative' with China. God denying socialist have always lacked any moral compass.

One of the pillars of our system is that judges can't be sacked or pressured over their careers. So effectively judges, at least at the highest levels, are untouchable, for better or worse so that they can make decisions without fear of the repercussions.

But I've always been in favour of a proposal made in England some years ago. Basically a three strike rule for judges. Have three of your decisions overturned by a superior court and you're out, having demonstrated general incompetency.

I'm not sure what the caused the problems with the Appeals Court judges. Were they just political appointments who judged based on the desire of their group to attack a disfavoured group or were they just scared of the popular backlash of following the law rather than the mob?

Either way, they ought to live in disgrace for a very long time. They shouldn't be forced to go but if they still had a shred of integrity they'd resign.

The "three strikes" proposal sounds fair. All judges are appointed by politicians are they not?

In fact, Judges of the High Court can be removed from office.

From the Australian Constitution:

"The Justices of the High Court and of other courts created by the Parliament-


(i) shall be appointed by the Governor-General in Council;


(ii) shall not be removed except by the Governor-General in Council, on an address from both Houses of the Parliament in the same session, praying for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity;...".

So they're not necessarily there forever.
http://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/speeches/former-justices/kirbyj/kirbyj_judicialgroup.htm

and that being from a most outstanding former Judge, Michael Kirb.

Sorry, Michael Kirby.