THE HIGH Court’s Chief Justice Murray Gleeson has been named the sixth most overtly powerful Australian in the latest issue of the AFR Magazine, up a couple of places on last year.

The judging panel, comprising 12 prominent leaders in business and government, said that in clearing the way for a federal takeover of industrial relations, accepting the sweeping terrorism legislation and paving the way for a national water policy, the High Court’s highest judge had “fundamentally reshaped Australian society”.

Panel member Heather Ridout, chief executive of Australian Industry Group, said the IR decision “was a huge decision and went way beyond the issue of industrial relations. It went to the whole role of the states in a range of areas. That was a very big decision.”