Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum AO

Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum AO began at Monash University in 1967, four years after the law school was founded. He owes much to Foundation Dean Professor David Derham and the cohort of brilliant scholars who committed themselves to teaching a young man who had been blind since birth. His interest in labour law was sparked by teacher and later, life-long friend, Harry Glasbeek, who persuaded him that laws protecting workers are a litmus test of the fairness of a nation. Professor McCallum also completed a Master of Laws degree at Canada’s Queens University.

Returning to Australia, Professor McCallum taught at Monash Law School for eighteen years, inspiring a legion of young lawyers. They shared the delight of his law school colleagues when he married Mary Crock in 1986 and went on to welcome three children, Gerard, Daniel and Kate.

Professor McCallum moved to Sydney in 1993 to assume the Blake Dawson Waldron professorship in Industrial Law. He thus became the first totally blind person appointed full professor at any Australian or New Zealand university. Professor McCallum was the inaugural president of the Australian Labour Law Association. He served on state and national government inquiries established to improve law and policies in the areas of labour law and occupational health and safety. Professor McCallum served as Dean of the University of Sydney Law School between 2002 and 2007.

In 2008 Professor McCallum was nominated to stand as an inaugural member of the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This Committee was established to monitor the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He went on to Chair this Committee during a term that concluded in December 2014.

Professor McCallum was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2006 for his services to tertiary education, for industrial relations advice to governments, for assistance to visually impaired persons and for social justice. In 2011, Professor McCallum was honoured to be made Senior Australian of the Year.

Monash University recognised Professor McCallum in 2012 with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The following year he won the Michael Kirby Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a law teacher.

Professor McCallum served as a member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal between 2013 and 2019, retiring when appointed Senior Advisor to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disabilities. In 2023 to 2024, he helped advise on the creation of a new federal Administrative Review Tribunal and on appointing members to the new body.

Professor McCallum’s wife Mary followed him into academia and became Professor of Public Law in 2008. The pair have taught administrative law and immigration and labour law together at Sydney Law School for decades.