A ceremony was held to mark the retirement of Magistrate Robert Cook this week. Photo: Albert McKnight.
When reflecting on his career, a long-time ACT magistrate told a full courtroom he understood how easy it was for young people to “fall through the cracks”.
A ceremony this week marked the retirement of Magistrate Robert Cook, stepping down 12 years after he was appointed in 2013.
While usually uncomfortable speaking about himself, the magistrate affectionally known as “Cookie” said it had been an “incredible privilege to serve the ACT”, a highlight of which had been working as the magistrate for the ACT Children’s Court.
“I’ve seen too much of myself in many of them,” he said of the young people who appeared in court before him.
“I know how easy it is to fall through the cracks.”
He said he had advocated to raise the age of criminal responsibility and, while Children’s Court magistrate, “worked to make the system more human”.
He previously said it was “fundamentally wrong” that children were brought into the criminal justice system at 11, 12 or 13 years of age, with so many appearing before him having faced a “terrible existence”.
“And what society is then asking me to do is to put them in jail, and I cannot understand that,” he said in 2021.
Magistrate Cook faced a difficult childhood and said joining the Royal Australian Air Force as a young adult was the first stable chapter of his life.
During his 22 years in the military, which included deployments to Papua New Guinea and the Middle East as an air crewman, he began studying law.
This resulted in days of working, raising a family and studying at night – beginning at 5 am and ending when he arrived home at 11:30 pm.
Magistrate Robert Cook says it is “fundamentally wrong” to jail young children. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
He left the defence force in 1997, worked in private practice then was called to the bar in 2010 before being appointed as magistrate.
As magistrates, he said he and his colleagues met members of the community and saw their pain, embarrassment and remorse.
“It is, so often, palpable,” he said.
His efforts as Children’s Court magistrate were often mentioned in other speeches during the ceremony.
ACT Attorney-General Tara Cheyne said Magistrate Cook was perhaps most notable in this court for his ability to “see a person as a whole and an incident as an event, not necessarily something that has to define that person’s future”.
Barrister Katrina Musgrove, speaking on behalf of the ACT Bar Association, said he had made a real impact as Children’s Court magistrate and assisted in setting up the Warrumbul Circle Sentencing Court.
This Warrumbul court is an alternative model of sentencing for First Nations young people attending the ACT Children’s Court. It involves a panel of elders sitting alongside a magistrate.
Ms Musgrove said youth justice was Magistrate Cook’s passion and the hardships of his own childhood meant he had a special understanding of the difficulties faced by young people appearing before him.
“You did not speak down to anyone in your court,” she told him.
“Your honour, Magistrate Cook, Cookie, thank you for your service to the court and the community.”
The ACT will increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 in mid-2025.
The changes will mean children under 14 will not be held criminally responsible, except for 12- and 13-year-olds who commit extremely serious offences.
Magistrate Amy Begley was appointed to replace Magistrate Cook earlier this year and has already started her new role.
