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The Hon Justice Annabelle Bennett AO
Pro-Chancellor
The Australian National University

Annabelle Bennett has been the Pro-Chancellor of The Australian National University since November 1998. She is a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia.

Current Positions
Justice Bennett is also a member of Chief Executive Women, an advisory committee member of the Australian Law Reform Commission, the Centennial Park & Moore Park Trust, the Medico-Legal Society of New South Wales, and various Australian and International legal associations. Combined with this, Justice Bennett is a council member of the Australian Academy of Forensic Science and a director of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital Foundation).

As Pro Chancellor, Justice Bennett is a member of the following committees: Finance, Honorary Degrees, Conditions of Appointment of the Vice-Chancellor, The Australian National University Endowment for Excellence Board of Directors and The Emergency Appointment (Vice-Chancellor) Committee.

Former Positions
Justice Bennett was first appointed to the Council of the University in 1996. Other positions that she has held include Barrister (Senior Counsel) specialising in intellectual property, and admitted to practice in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia (as QC), Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory, a member of the NSW Bar Association Mediators Panel, an Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Equity Division), a member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, a part-time Commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, a member of the Biotechnology Consultative Group (BIOCOG), a member of the Corporations and Securities Panel (the Takeovers Panel), a member of the New South Wales Supreme Court Mediators Panel, a member of the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee and a member of the Board of the Eastern Sydney Area Health Service 1988-90.

Other former positions include being the Chairman of the Ethics Policy Committee, Chairman of Sub-Committee on Community Health, Chairman of Medical Practices Committee, President of Chief Executive Women, a member of the Working Party of the Australian Medical Council to consider the Transfer of National Specialist Qualification Advisory Committee (NSQAC) functions, a member of the Pharmacy Board of New South Wales (this involved setting up the procedures of the Board (including disciplinary procedures) after the commencement of a new Pharmacy Act), a director of the Management Committee of Westmead Research Institute, a member of the Companies Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, a member of International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, a panelist for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and a member of the Executive Council of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law.

Justice Bennett was also a member of the Pathology Laboratories Accreditation Board (the Board set in place the system of accreditation of pathology laboratories in New South Wales which was subsequently adopted by the Commonwealth), a member of the Vaccine Working Group of Australian National Council on AIDS, Hepatitis C and Related Diseases (ANCHARD), a principal consultant to the New South Wales Law Reform Commission on the artificial conception reference, a member of the Board of the United Dental Hospital Sydney, a member of the Human Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Dentistry at Sydney University, a member of the Legal Profession Advisory Council (1998-1999) and the Chair of the EEO Committee of the New South Wales Bar Association.

Justice Bennett is married with three children.