including a reference to the appointment of a person who holds office as a Justice of the High Court or of a court created by the Parliament to another office of Justice of the same court having a different status or designation. Results Discussion In October 1976 the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs recommended a retiring age for all federal judges. This recommendation was based on a perceived need 'to maintain vigorous and dynamic courts' a need to open up avenues for 'able legal practitioners' to achieve judicial positions a growing community belief in a compulsory retiring age for judges avoiding 'the unfortunate necessity' of removing a judge made unfit for office by declining health. The committee's view was accepted by the Australian Constitutional Convention soon thereafter. The amendment introduced in the following year sought to provide for a retiring age of 70 for all federal court judges, including those on the High Court. The issue was not controversial, despite Sir Robert Menzies' description of the change as 'superficial and ill-considered'. Over 80 per cent of voters supported the amendment. The amendment applied prospectively, meaning the tenure of those High Court and Federal judges appointed prior to the referendum were unaffected. Of the serving High Court judges, only Sir Garfield Barwick made use of his original tenure, retiring in 1981 at the age of 77. The remaining judges either retired, resigned, or died, with the exception of Sir Harry Gibbs and Sir Anthony Mason, who were appointed Chief Justice and thus lost their right to the original life tenure. Several Federal judges made use of their original tenure, with judges of the Australian Industrial Court Sir Percy Joske retiring on 31 December 1977 aged , and Edward Dunphy retiring on 31 December 1982 aged . Five Federal Court judges did not retire at age 70, Sir Nigel Bowen (1990), aged , Sir John Nimmo (1980) aged 71, Sir Reginald Smithers (1986) aged 83, Charles Sweeney (1995) aged 80 and Ray Northrop (1998) aged 73. References ! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #cccccc" | Amendments to the Constitution of Australia |- | style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" | 5th amendmentAboriginals Amendment (1910) | style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" | Most recent amendments 1977 in Australia Amendments to the Constitution of Australia 1977 referendums Constitutional referendums in Australia Judiciary of Australia