“A fair judge, an upright judge – always a terrible danger to the defence!” – Rumpole of the Bailey
Keith, the grandfather of Julian, the stipendiary magistrate, was a race caller and turf writer for many years in South East Queensland. Keith wrote his first book (probably not the only ‘book’ he had) in 1986. Keith was too old to have been named in the Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption. Curiously Jim Boyle was the only bookmaker named in that inquiry.
“Keith Noud Recalls, in 1986, was followed up with Courses For Horses soon after. Keith was a commentator for the ABC and 4BK and did the on-course duties at the major metropolitan tracks. He was equally respected as a writer and wound up his career as Turf Editor of the Brisbane Telegraph. Keith was awarded the MBE in 1975 and in 1986 received an Advance Australia Award for his contribution to sport and charity, especially the Mt Olivet Hospital Fund. He died in 2001.” – Thoroughbred News, 2004 on the occasion of Keith Noud’s induction into the Qld Racing Hall Of Fame.
Given these accolades, my guess is Keith was a member of the anti-communist Democratic Labour Party and a church going Catholic. His son, Michael, was a district court judge, and probably a Joh-man, but may have voted for the Liberal Party when Joh started stacking the Supreme Court and Police Commissioner with cronies and pals. Keith’s father, John, was a well-known trainer and won the Caulfield Cup in 1911 with Medallist and the 1925 Stradbroke with Highland.
But wait, now the story gets really interesting. The grandson, Julian, is a creative Labor-appointed magistrate in Brisbane. In the space of two weeks, he managed to acquitt me of police-fabricated May Day 2024 assault charges and to deliver a 1 hour and 45 minute judgment in favour of Shutdown Ferra activists.
To explain, Shutdown Ferra is a campaign to stop an arms manufacturer, Ferra Engineering, from producing F-35 parts that assist Israel’s bombing genocide in Gaza. This war crime is being committed every day in a sleepy suburb of Brisbane, Tingalpa.
Dissecting Noud’s creativity, the magistrate avoided finding that police conduct on May Day 2024 was unlawful by saying that I could not have had the intention to assault police such was the melee in front of the Labour Day stage.
I was the victim of a police flying wedge gone wrong where two unionists and others were assaulted by police and on the order of QCU officials. Police responded to unionists carrying Palestinian flags, and some others were heckling then Premier. The Queensland Labor Premier, yesterday’s man Steven Miles, served only 318 days in that post after right-wing Annastacia Palaszczuk resigned over the Gabba Olympic stadium fiasco.
This is Keith Noud’s son had to say in judgement:
“…the defendant, with respect to each of the charges, is entitled to be found not guilty for the reasons that I have given, it’s unnecessary, therefore for me to go on and consider any of the other arguments put forward by Mr. Curr in particular, whether or not police were police were performing their duties lawfully. That’s not necessary, because, as I say, the prosecution case falls down on that element, therefore the defendant, Ian David Curr is found not guilty with respect to each of the charges, and the defendant is discharged.”
Magistrate gives police the old one-two
After softening up the police in the May Day 2024 Assault trial, Julian Noud’s judgment in the Shutdown Ferra matter displayed even greater creativity than the first. The grandson of Keith delved assiduously into the personal diary of one of the activists charged. He said there was no evidence in the diary that the person charged under several fabricated indictable offences was at the picket on the day in question. Mr Noud said that even if he believed the CCTV footage showed the person in question 500 meters away from Ferra Engineering he would still not find it possible to convict the activists because of the inconsistency and unreliability of the Ferra workers evidence. Of course, Noud added the rider that the police were professional, honest, reliable, and, at all times, believable.
What is the moral of the story. Firstly, these judgments were handed down amidst a growing mass movement of ordinary people in Brisbane against the Israeli genocide in Gaza. A huge crowd came out on 24 August because of humanitarian concern for the mass slaughter of Palestinians by the settler state of Israel.
Even though we are talking about a genocide here what is particularly galling is the utter contempt of the magistrate for Palestinians. Noud never addressed the humanitarian issue in the Ferra trial.
Have readers seen the blog, Kangaroo Court of Australia by Shane Dowling, where he regularly says, “Why pay a lawyer when you can buy a judge?”
However, the magistrate is allowed to be creative by the court system. How long this will last is anyone’s guess. However, if Trump’s America is any indication, it may not last much longer. The US, Israel, and Australia show utter contempt for international law. Going to court is always a punt. Even if the finding is in your favor the authorities always find a way to make you pay.
Julian’s uncle, Rod Gallegos, was a former leading racing journalist and editor of The Telegraph before joining the Sydney Daily Telegraph and later mass Murdoch’s, Sky channel.
Declassified Australia has revealed that Australia approved thousands of exports to Israel between October 2023 and March 2025, including military-related items. The 90-page list raises serious concerns that Australia is breaching its legal obligations under the Genocide Convention, Arms Trade Treaty, and international law by enabling Israel’s occupation and potential genocide in Palestine. Items include drone transponders, vehicle parts, steel plates, aircraft components. As well there have been exports of agricultural supplies linked to the illegal settlements/settlement economies.
Ian Curr
30 August 2025
##FreePalestine