KEVIN BELL » AO VIC
An Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished service to the judiciary, to the law, and to human rights through education and reform.
Kevin Bell of Melbourne has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished service to the judiciary, to the law, and to human rights through education and reform.
“The most exciting aspect is contributing to the creation of a human-rights culture and human-rights ethos in Australia, because we’re very much at the early stages,” he told The AJN.
The Temple Beth Israel (TBI) congregant was a commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission for two years until 2023.
Bell draws inspiration from his Sephardi background, descending from conversos, Jews who converted to Catholicism to save their lives during the Spanish Inquisition.
His family fled Portugal for Amsterdam, before moving to London, where a great-grandfather became a scholar during the Haskalah (Enlightenment).
Yoorrook became the first formal truth-telling process into historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria.
It was set up by agreement between the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the Victorian government, but operates independently of both.
Yoorrook delivered an interim report in 2022, a critical-issues report last year and will deliver a final report in 2025.
Since 2021, Bell has been co-chair of the National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy Steering Committee of the National Mental Health Commission.
A QC and KC at the Victorian Bar since 1997, Bell was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria for 15 years until 2020, and was president of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal between 2008 and 2010.
He was director of the Castan Centre of Human Rights Law at Monash University for two years until 2020.
Bell also served as president of the Victorian Health Department’s Forensic Leave Panel.
Describing himself as “surprised and delighted” at news of his AO, Bell said he “draws great strength” from his association with TBI “and the support that community gives to me”.