Frank Costigan

Francis Xavier "Frank" Costigan, QC, (14 January 1931 – 13 April 2009^[1]) was an Australian lawyer, Royal Commissioner and social justice activist. Costigan is renowned for presiding over the Costigan Commission into organised crime.

Background and early life

Costigan grew up in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne and was educated by the Jesuits at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, and at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a law degree. He was admitted as a solicitor in Victoria in 1953 and became a barrister in 1957. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in Victoria in 1973, and was admitted to practise throughout Australia and in Ireland.

Career

Costigan was active in the campaign to reform the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. Costigan, along with a group of lawyers including John Button, John Cain, Xavier Connor QC, Barry Jones, and Richard McGarvie, formed a reform group called the Participants which challenged the undemocratic state executive for control of the party and supported the political agenda of then opposition leader, and later prime minister, Gough Whitlam.^[2]

In 1980, Costigan was appointed by the Australian Government to chair the Royal Commission on the activities of the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union (commonly called the Costigan Commission or the Costigan Royal Commission). The commission moved from the investigation of union criminality to allegations of tax evasion and organised crime.

Costigan was subsequently involved in Catholic campaigns for social justice. He was a director and deputy chair of Jesuit Social Services. In the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute he accused the Patrick Corporation of using the same "bottom of the harbour" corporate strategies as he had exposed in his Commission. Costigan later mainly practised in Alternative Dispute Resolution, either as an arbitrator or mediator. In 2005 he was appointed chairman of the Australian branch of Transparency International, an anti-corruption coalition.

Personal

Costigan was the twin brother of Michael Costigan, an editor; and an older brother of Peter Costigan, a former Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Costigan is survived by five children and ten grandchildren.

References

External links

• Victorian Bar Council
• Jesuit Social Services
• Eulogy for Francis Xavier Costigan QC
• Victorian Bar Oral History: Frank Costigan