Media

First and forthright

“The Heckler” Column
The Sunday Age 27 April 2008

It’s been a big month for the folks at Arbitrators & Mediators Australia, the venerable institution that has just appointed its first woman president, academic Angela O’Brien. Doing things first runs in the family: O’Brien’s ma-in-law is Margaret (Peg) Lusink, first Victorian woman appointed as a judge to a superior court of Record. And Peg’s mum was Joan Lusink, who became Victoria’s first woman Queen’s Council in 1965.

Meanwhile, the Arbitrators and Mediators office has been hit with a wave of baffling phone calls. It seems that recent publicity surrounding colourful Carlton identity Mick Gatto has confused people trying to contact Gatto’s business, Arbitration and Mediation Services, which has a more grass roots approach to mediation than Arbitrators & Mediators.

This has led to hilarious conversations when people wanting gambling debts collected are presented with an array of eminent arbitrators including Frank Costigan QC, Tony Fitzgerald QC, Ian Callinan AC QC, and Sir Laurence Street QC.

Of course, given that Gatto is known to charge $5000 just to sit down with clients, his fees are almost in line with the silks’. And although he hasn’t much Latin, his Italian is persuasive.

We gratefully acknowledge the permission from The Sunday Age to reprint this article.