Frank Brennan (priest)

Francis Tenison "Frank" Brennan SJ AO (born 6 March 1954) is an Australian Jesuit priest, human rights lawyer and academic. He is known for his 1998 involvement in the Wik debate when Paul Keating called him "the meddling priest" and the National Trust classified him as a Living National Treasure. Brennan has a longstanding reputation of advocacy in the areas of law, social justice, refugee protection and Aboriginal reconciliation.

Early life and education

Brennan is the first born son of Sir Gerard Brennan, a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and Patricia O'Hara, an anaesthestist.

Brennan studied at Downlands College in Toowoomba, and at the University of Queensland where he graduated with honours in arts and law. He then studied at the Melbourne College of Divinity, where he graduated, again with honours, in divinity. He was awarded a Master of Laws as a result of further study at the University of Melbourne.

Career

Brennan's contact and involvement with Aboriginal Australians began early in his priestly ministry. In 1975 he worked in the inner Sydney parish of Redfern with priest activist Fr Ted Kennedy, where he also met and worked with Mum (Shirl) Smith among others who were founding indigenous Australian legal, health and political initiatives.

In 1997, he was Rapporteur at the Australian Reconciliation Convention and the following year he was appointed an Ambassador for Reconciliation by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. On 10 December 2008 he was appointed as the chairperson to the Australian Government's National Human Rights Consultation Committee.^[1] In 2009 this independent committee consulted with the Australian community about the protection and promotion of human rights. On 30 September 2009, it reported its recommendations to the Attorney General, the Honourable Robert McClelland MP.

Brennan is a professor of law in the Public Policy Institute at the Australian Catholic University,^[1] a visiting professorial fellow at the University of New South Wales and served as the founding director of the Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre in Sydney from 2001 to 2007.^[2][3]

During 2011, Brennan was critical of the refugee policies of the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, saying that she has led the Labor Party into moral decline and that the Malaysia Solution is morally derelict and tantamount to "offshore dumping".^[4]

Honours

In 1995 Brennan was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of service to Aboriginal Australians, particularly as an advocate in the areas of law, social justice and reconciliation.^[5] In 1996, Brennan was jointly awarded with Pat Dodson the inaugural Australian Council For Overseas Aid Human Rights Award. In 1998 he was named a Living National Treasure during his involvement in the Wik debate.^[2] In 2002, Brennan was awarded the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal for his work as Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in East Timor.^[6]

Brennan has been awarded, honoris causa, a Doctor of the University from the Queensland University of Technology and a Doctor of Laws from the University of New South Wales.^[7]

Selected writings

• Too Much Order With Too Little Law (paperback). St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 1983. p. 303. ISBN 0-7022-1852-9. 
• Sharing the country. Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin. 1991. p. 176. Retrieved 7 February 2012. 
• Brennan, Frank, ed. (1992). Reconciling our differences: a Christian approach to recognising Aboriginal Land Rights. Richmond, Victoria: Aurora Books / David Lovell Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 1-86355-030-5. 
• Land rights Queensland style: the struggle for Aboriginal self-management. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 1992. p. 182. ISBN 0-7022-2407-3. 
• One land, one nation: Mabo: towards 2001. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 1995. p. 236. Retrieved 7 February 2012. 
• Legislating Liberty: a bill of rights for Australia? A provocative and timely proposal to balance the public good with individual freedom. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 1998. p. 201. ISBN 0-7022-3011-1. 
• The Wik debate: its impact on Aborigines, pastoralists and miners. Sydney: UNSW Press. 1998. p. 93. ISBN 0-86840-409-8. 
• Tampering with Asylum: a universal humanitarian problem (paperback). St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 2003. p. 234. ISBN 0-7022-3416-8. 
• Acting on conscience: how can we responsibly mix law, religion and politics?. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 2007. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-7022-3674-7.  Winner of the 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Award
• No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 2015. ISBN 9780702253324. 

References

External links

• Brennan's selected talks and transcripts from Uniya, Jesuit Social Justice Centre (2001 – 2007).
• Brennan, Frank (2 March 2006). 5 R's for the Enlargers: Race, Religion, Respect, Rights and the Republic (Speech). The 7th Manning Clark Lecture. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Retrieved 7 February 2012.