Warren said it was “beyond dispute” that many legal doctrines are informed by moral considerations, and such values are most easily identified when declaring fundamental human rights.

“Brennan J’s classic judgment in Mabo v Queensland (no. 2) illustrates this point. In holding that an ‘unjust and discriminatory doctrine’ that refused to recognise the rights of indigenous people had no place in Australia, his Honour recognised the emergent international values and standards that were reflected in the ‘contemporary values of the Australian people’,” she said.

“Judges are not politicians,” she concluded, but hopefully they could “shape and declare the law to assist society reflect upon the moral values that it aspires to”.

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