Sandy Street

The Honourable Commander Alexander Whistler Street SC
Judge of the Federal Circuit Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2015
Personal details
Born	Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality	Australia
Parents	Sir Laurence Street (father) Lady Susan Street (mother)
Relatives	Street family
Military service
Allegiance	Commonwealth of Australia
Branch/service	Royal Australian Navy Royal Australian Naval Reserve
Rank	Commander

Commander Alexander Whistler Street, SC, known as "Sandy", is a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and a Royal Australian Navy Reserve officer. He is the fourth consecutive generation of the Street family to serve as a member of the Australian judiciary.

Background

Alexander Whistler Street was born to Sir Laurence Whistler Street and Lady (Susan Gai) Street (née Watt). His father Sir Laurence, grandfather Sir Kenneth Whistler Street and great-grandfather Sir Philip Whistler Street all served as Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governors of New South Wales. He is the grandson of Jessie Mary Grey, Lady Street, by whom he is the fifth great-grandson of General Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey. His mother was the daughter of Australian banker, politician and health tsar John Brown Watt and the great-granddaughter of Australian banker, politician and environmentalist George Kenyon Holden. His mother was the first female chair of the Eastern Sydney Health Service.

Street's sister, Judge Sylvia Emmett, is a fellow judge and naval officer. His brother-in-law by Sylvia, Justice Arthur Emmett, is also a federal Australian judge and Challis Lecturer in Roman Law at Sydney Law School. His other siblings are businessman Kenneth Street and Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation board member Sarah Farley (née Street). Street has four children: Charles Street, a barrister; Jack Street, also a law graduate; Lucy Street, and Heidi Street.

Career

Street was appointed to the Federal Circuit Court in January 2015 by Australian Attorney-General George Brandis.

Street has come under scrutiny by the Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia over a case in which he dismissed a cerebral palsy sufferer's claim of discrimination after an airline refused to allow his guide dog on the flight. He has also received criticism from the Full Bench in two successful appeals of his decisions in which he was found to have denied litigants procedural fairness.

Street has been subject to a number of apprehended bias applications, known as ALA15. Statistics were filed in court which revealed Judge Street had heard 256 migration matters between January and June 2017, and had found in favour of the immigration minister in 254 cases.

A report from September 2018 stated that Sandy Street was found by the full Federal Court to have dismissed an asylum-seeker’s case without properly engaging with his arguments and to have denied the man procedural fairness. Two weeks later, the full Federal Court found he failed to give proper reasons in a case involving an Afghan asylum-seeker, effectively forcing a rehearing. Further overturned judgements in 2019 contributed to a total of over 70 judgements overturned in less than five years.