11/10/2024
VALE JOHN LAWRENCE O'MEALLEY AM RFD (1939-2024)
The Edmund Rice Centre mourns the death on Friday 4 October of Judge John O'Meally AM RFD who, in 1989, set up the Dust Diseases Tribunal of NSW and became its first President. In 2013, he, along with fellow Judge Michael Finnane, were part of a Pacific Calling Partnership delegation to Kiribati where they witnessed many examples of the damage climate change was already inflicting there. They met with various local community members as well as the Australian High Commissioner, lawyers, Catholic and Protestant Church leaders, community climate campaigners such as the Kiribati Climate Action Network, government officials such as from the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development, and government leaders such as the President. Their aim was to find out for themselves what it was like to live on these coral atolls at the frontline of climate change. When Judge O’Meally retired he volunteered to help raise the profile of the challenge that climate change posed for Pacific Islands like Kiribati by becoming an active member of the committee that nominated the President of Kiribati for the Nobel Peace Prize. Judge O'Meally was a man who, on seeing a problem that concerned him, joined with others to do something about it. May he rest in peace.
Pictured below: Judge O'Meally (R) and Judge Michael Finnane in Kiribati
