Michael Kirby - Don't Forget The Justice Bit

Michael Kirby reveals himself in this film through a long-form interview in a way he has never done before. Another contradiction for a man who has been so media friendly throughout his professional life is that, in many ways, he has been intensely private and guarded about his personal life. It was only nine years ago that, at the age of 61, he publicly revealed for the first time that he had been in a homosexual relationship since 1969 with partner Johan van Vloten. Even Kirby's closest colleagues and friends were shocked. Justice Michael McHugh who had known Kirby since the early 1970s and who sat with him on the High Court said "he had no idea there was a long term relationship".