Underprivileged Children’s Education Programs

Nine Australian Judges and Barristers visited Bangladesh between 18 and 29 January 2009 to conduct advocacy workshops in conjunction with the Bangladesh Bar Council. This was the 13^th such visit under the auspices of the Australian Bar Association. The members of the team were Justice Murray Kellam AO of the Victorian Court of Appeal, Justice Peter Dutney of the Queensland Supreme Court, Ms Raelene Webb QC of the Northern Territory Bar, Mr Greg Laughton SC of the New South Wales Bar, Ms Fiona McLeod SC, Mr Michael Cahill and Ms Caroline Kirton of the Victorian Bar and Bob Reed and me from the Queensland Bar. Justice Kellam, Justice Dutney, Ms McLeod and I also conducted advocacy workshops in conjunction with the Nepal Bar Association in Nepal between 12 and 16 January 2009.

During our visit to Bangladesh, the Australia High Commissioner to Bangladesh held a reception to enable us to present a cheque in the sum of AUD$38,000 being the 2008 donation to the Underprivileged Children’s Education Programs (“UCEP”). This sum was made up of donations from 128 individual Queensland barristers, several Justices of the Queensland Supreme Court and Judges of the Queensland District Court, a small number of members of my family and friends, and also a small contribution from members of the Victorian Bar. This was the first year when donations were sought from Justices of the Queensland Supreme Court and Judges of the Queensland District Court, and it was also the first occasion when donations were sought from the Victorian Bar.

The Executive Director of UCEP wrote in the following terms on 28 January 2009:

The donation to UCEP received extensive media coverage in Bangladesh. An English-language newspaper article in The Financial Express, which appeared following the presentation of the cheque, is reproduced below (and in the accompanying photo you may recognise Justice Dutney, Bob Reed and me, together with the Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Mr Doug Foskett, a member of the Victorian Bar, Ms Fiona McLeod SC and Brig. Gen Aftab Uddin Ahmad (Retd)).

The Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh remains most enthusiastic about this project and has expressed his hope that it continues for many years to come.

The January 2009 donation brought to $98,815 the total donated in the last four years as a result of this project.

I expect shortly to send to each donor a copy of the receipt provided by UCEP for their individual donation. Further, I will be writing to all members of the Queensland Bar Association in approximately August 2009 seeking donations for the 2010 education of children who live in the slums of Bangladesh.

Dan O’Gorman SC

The article below was published in “The Financial Express” on 22 January 2004 at page 3.