Herman Woltring, Obituary
Herman Woltring (former Vice President of PANDSI)
Mr Woltring was a lawyer, with a particular background in criminal law and criminology. He spent the first 10 years of his professional life as a federal prosecutor in Sydney. In 1982 he moved to Canberra to become the Senior Assistant Secretary of the Criminal Law Branch of the Federal Attorney-General's Department. Later he was promoted as the inaugural Head of the newly created Criminal Justice and Security Division of the same Department. During these years he carried Departmental responsibility for the development of federal criminal law as well as a complete updating of the criminal law of the Australian Capital Territory. He was also in the forefront of the development of international legal cooperation methods, both bilaterally and multilaterally, in the field of extradition and mutual assistance in criminal matters.
In 1992, at the request of the UN Secretary-General, Herman was seconded to the United Nations Office in Vienna as Head of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, the secretariat body of the recently created intergovernmental Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Commission. The Australian Government had played a significant role in the creation of this body. In 1994 Mr Woltring was appointed as Director of the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute based in Rome, Italy. This institute assisted, particularly developing countries and the then newly developing pluralist democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, in establishing effective criminal justice systems which accorded with recognised international standards, including those relating to human rights.
Returning to Australia, Herman’s interest in mental health issues was brought to the fore by the fact that his daughter, then a client of PANDSI, was suffering from postnatal depression. At that stage PANDSI was a self-held body. When it became a government subsidised service providing body, Mr Woltring was invited to join the Board to assist in compliance with the newly applicable laws resulting from incorporation and other accountability requirements. Mr Woltring was also a part-time legal member of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal, either presiding over full panel Tribunal review proceedings or independently constituting the Tribunal for the purpose of hearing Mental Health Inquiries.
Mr Woltring was a lawyer, with a particular background in criminal law and criminology. He spent the first 10 years of his professional life as a federal prosecutor in Sydney. In 1982 he moved to Canberra to become the Senior Assistant Secretary of the Criminal Law Branch of the Federal Attorney-General's Department. Later he was promoted as the inaugural Head of the newly created Criminal Justice and Security Division of the same Department. During these years he carried Departmental responsibility for the development of federal criminal law as well as a complete updating of the criminal law of the Australian Capital Territory. He was also in the forefront of the development of international legal cooperation methods, both bilaterally and multilaterally, in the field of extradition and mutual assistance in criminal matters.
In 1992, at the request of the UN Secretary-General, Herman was seconded to the United Nations Office in Vienna as Head of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, the secretariat body of the recently created intergovernmental Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Commission. The Australian Government had played a significant role in the creation of this body. In 1994 Mr Woltring was appointed as Director of the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute based in Rome, Italy. This institute assisted, particularly developing countries and the then newly developing pluralist democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, in establishing effective criminal justice systems which accorded with recognised international standards, including those relating to human rights.
Returning to Australia, Herman’s interest in mental health issues was brought to the fore by the fact that his daughter, then a client of PANDSI, was suffering from postnatal depression. At that stage PANDSI was a self-held body. When it became a government subsidised service providing body, Mr Woltring was invited to join the Board to assist in compliance with the newly applicable laws resulting from incorporation and other accountability requirements. Mr Woltring was also a part-time legal member of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal, either presiding over full panel Tribunal review proceedings or independently constituting the Tribunal for the purpose of hearing Mental Health Inquiries.