George Brandis
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George Henry Brandis, SC (born 22 June 1957), Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian Senate since May 2000, representing Queensland. He was first appointed by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy following the resignation of Senator Warwick Parer. He was subsequently elected to a further six-year term in 2004 election.
He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, but was raised in Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Villanova College and then the University of Queensland where he received a Bachelors degrees in Law and Arts (Politics), both with first class honours. Following his graduation he served as Associate to Justice Sheahan of the Queensland Supreme Court. He was then elected a Commonwealth Scholar and obtained a Bachelor in Civil Law from Magdalen College, Oxford University winning the Sir Rupert Cross Prize for Evidence. He was called to the Queensland Bar in 1985 and quickly developed a large commercial practice with a particular emphasis on trade practices law.
While in the Senate he has served as Chairman of the Economics Committee and featured prominently as the Chairman of the Senate's highly publicised Children Overboard Inquiry. In the wake of the Children Overboard inquiry, Brandis gained widespread attention when it was reported that he called Prime Minister John Howard "a lying rodent",[1] a report he denied.
Prior to entering the Senate he was a board member of UNICEF Australia for 10 years, and he also lectured in jurisprudence at the University of Queensland. He resides in Brisbane. He has co-edited two books on liberalism. He has also made a number of public speeches, perhaps the most controversial of which was in 2003 when he described the Australian Greens as representing Ecofascism.[2]
Brandis also attacked the Greens in the Australian Senate where he stated "I intend to continue to call to the attention of the Australian people the extremely alarming, frightening similarities between the methods employed by contemporary green politics and the methods and the values of the Nazis".[3] Prime Minister John Howard later distanced himself from Brandis' claim that the Greens use Nazi-style fanaticism in Australian politics.[4]
Brandis was appointed a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Queensland in November 2006.
On 23 October 2006, Brandis made headlines when he wanted Good Shepherd Catholic College in Mount Isa to ban from its school library the book "100 Greatest Tyrants" by British author Andrew Langley, which places Sir Robert Menzies, the longest serving Australian Prime Minister, in such company as Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and Augusto Pinochet. The book claims that PM Menzies was a tyrant (an abuser of political power) and that Menzies' most tyrannical act was when he wanted to ban the Australian Communist Party. The school principal Mr Durie said "Obviously it's twaddle to suggest Menzies was a tyrant in the same class as Attila the Hun and that crowd", but refused to withdraw the book as it would be a resource for the generation of debate.[5]
On 23 January 2007, Brandis was appointed Minister for the Arts and Sport, replacing Senator Rod Kemp. He lost his ministerial position on the defeat of the Howard Government in the 2007 election.
On 6 December 2007 the new Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, Dr Brendan Nelson appointed Brandis Shadow Attorney-General.
On 2 June 2008 Brandis chose to obstruct the progress of the draft Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws - Superannuation) Bill 2008 that will finally remove decades of entrenched discriminatory legislation against Austalia's gay & lesbian citizens, in this case relating to superannuation, according the the Sydney Morning Herald [1] The Bill was welcomed by the Australian Commissioner for Human Rights & Equal Opportunity who said [2] "Most people expect that their superannuation entitlements will be inherited by their partner, children or other dependants, but Commonwealth employees in same-sex relationships have never had this right,” said Commissioner Innes. “This Bill, if passed, will ensure that right from 1 July.”
[edit] Notes
- ^ Seccombe, Mike. "... but rats, Lib MP really did call Howard a rodent", The Sydney Morning Herald, September 2, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
- ^ "Brandis defends Greens-Nazis comments", Lateline, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 31 October 2003. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
- ^ Kingston, Margo. "Nazi Greens an enemy of democracy, government decrees", The Sydney Morning Herald, October 29, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
- ^ "PM revokes backbencher's comments", Lateline, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 31 October 2003. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
- ^ Christiansen, Melanie. "Call for book ban", The Courier Mail, October 29, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rod Kemp |
Minister for the Arts and Sport 2007 |
Succeeded by Peter Garrett (arts) Kate Ellis (sport) |
|
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brandis, George |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Australian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 22 June 1957 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH | Living |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
