Tilé and Olly Meets: Magistrate Dzenita Balic

In this episode of the ‘Tilé and Olly Meets’ podcasts, we meet with her Honour Magistrate Dzenita Balic. Her Honour shares some of her experiences escaping Bosnia and Herzegovina as a refugee, her early childhood experiences navigating life in Australia to her career in law. Digressions include raising an Australian child, her Honour's love of dictionaries as she learned English, and also her love of Turkish cuisine. This was a very heart-filled and very informative conversation.

Her Honour Magistrate Balic finished Law and Business in 2005 when she commenced with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) in the same year as a clerk. She was admitted in 2006 and became counsel for the Crown in 2008. Prior to that, she was a lawyer between 2006 and 2008. Her Honour prosecuted jury trials and sentences. She became the head of a chamber in Ipswich and then Brisbane where she prosecuted mainly Supreme Court trials and sentences and appeals. She was lead appellate counsel for 18 months where her Honour did most of the appellate work on behalf of the ODPP. She was appointed a Queensland Magistrate in January 2022.

Her Honour arrived in Australia in 1996 as a refugee, who had fled war torn Bosnia and Herzegovina. She studied English, like many other refugees and migrants, upon her arrival in Brisbane. She is also a mother to a seven year old boy. She shares frankly about some of these experiences during our discussion and for that, we are grateful. We know that her story will resonate with many of our listeners.

During our conversation, her Honour discusses the Equal Treatment Benchbook located on the Queensland Courts website: https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/94054/s-etbb.pdf.