Attorney-General for Australia

Attorney-General
Incumbent
Senator George Brandis QC
since 18 September 2013 (2013-09-18)
Attorney-General's Department
Style The Honourable
Appointer Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia
Inaugural holder Alfred Deakin
Formation 1 January 1901 (1901-01-01)
Australia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Australia

The Attorney-General for Australia[note 1] is the First Law Officer of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth of Australia, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but need not be. Under the Constitution they are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serves at the Governor-General's pleasure. In practice the Attorney-General is a party politician and their tenure is determined by political factors. By convention, but not constitutional requirement, the Attorney-General is a lawyer by training, either a barrister or solicitor.

Since 18 September 2013, the Attorney-General for Australia has been Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian Senate for the state of Queensland.

Role

The Attorney-General administers the Attorney-General's Department, and is the minister responsible for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The Attorney-General also serves as a general legal adviser to the Cabinet, and has carriage of legislation dealing with copyright, human rights and a range of other subjects.

The Attorney-General is nearly always a person with legal training, and eleven former Attorneys-General have received senior judicial appointments after their ministerial service.

Billy Hughes was the longest-serving Attorney-General of Australia, serving for thirteen and a half years over four non-consecutive terms.

List of Attorneys-General

The following individuals have been appointed as Attorney-General for Australia:[1]

Order Minister Party Prime Minister Prior legal experience Alma mater Term start Term end Term in office
1 Alfred Deakin KC   Protectionist Barton Barrister University of Melbourne 1 January 1901 24 September 1903 2 years, 266 days
2 Senator James Drake Deakin Barrister King's College School, London 24 September 1903 27 April 1904 216 days
3 H. B. Higgins QC Protectionist1 Watson Barrister University of Melbourne 27 April 1904 17 August 1904 112 days
4 Senator Josiah Symon QC Free Trade Reid Barrister Free Church Training College 17 August 1904 5 July 1905 322 days
5 Isaac Isaacs QC Protectionist Deakin Barrister University of Melbourne 5 July 1905 12 October 1906 1 year, 99 days
6 Littleton Groom KC Lawyer University of Melbourne 12 October 1906 13 November 1908 2 years, 32 days
7 Billy Hughes2 Labor Fisher Barrister n/a 13 November 1908 2 June 1909 201 days
8 Paddy Glynn KC Commonwealth
Liberal		 Deakin Barrister Trinity College, Dublin 2 June 1909 29 April 1910 331 days
n/a Billy Hughes KC Labor Fisher Barrister n/a 29 April 1910 24 June 1913 3 years, 56 days
9 William Irvine KC Commonwealth
Liberal		 Cook Barrister Trinity College, Dublin; University of Melbourne 24 June 1913 17 September 1914 1 year, 85 days
n/a Billy Hughes KC Labor Fisher Barrister n/a 17 September 1914 27 October 1915 7 years, 95 days
Hughes 27 October 1915 14 November 1916
National Labor 14 November 1916 13 June 1917
Nationalist 13 June 1917 21 December 1921
n/a Littleton Groom KC Lawyer University of Melbourne 21 December 1921 9 February 1923 3 years, 362 days
Bruce 9 February 1923 18 December 1925
10 John Latham KC Barrister University of Melbourne 18 December 1925 22 October 1929 3 years, 308 days
11 Frank Brennan Labor Scullin Barrister University of Melbourne 22 October 1929 6 January 1932 2 years, 76 days
n/a John Latham KC United Australia Lyons Barrister University of Melbourne 6 January 1932 12 October 1934 2 years, 279 days
12 Robert Menzies KC Barrister University of Melbourne 12 October 1934 20 March 1939 4 years, 159 days
n/a Billy Hughes KC Barrister n/a 20 March 1939 7 April 1939 2 years, 201 days
Page 7 April 1939 26 April 1939
Menzies 26 April 1939 29 August 1941
Fadden 29 August 1941 7 October 1941
13 Dr. H. V. Evatt KC Labor Curtin Barrister, Judge University of Sydney 7 October 1941 6 July 1945 8 years, 73 days
Forde 6 July 1945 13 July 1945
Chifley 13 July 1945 19 December 1949
14 Senator John Spicer KC Liberal Menzies Barrister University of Melbourne 19 December 1949 14 August 1956 6 years, 239 days
15 Senator Neil O'Sullivan Solicitor 15 August 1956 12 October 1958 2 years, 58 days
16 Sir Garfield Barwick QC Barrister University of Sydney 12 October 1958 4 March 1964 5 years, 144 days
17 Billy Snedden QC Barrister University of Western Australia 4 March 1964 26 January 1966 2 years, 285 days
Holt 26 January 1966 14 December 1966
18 Nigel Bowen QC Barrister University of Sydney 14 December 1966 19 December 1967 2 years, 333 days
McEwen 19 December 1967 10 January 1968
Gorton 10 January 1968 12 November 1969
19 Tom Hughes QC Barrister University of Sydney 12 November 1969 10 March 1971 1 year, 130 days
McMahon 10 March 1971 22 March 1971
n/a Nigel Bowen Barrister University of Sydney 22 March 1971 2 August 1971 133 days
20 Senator Ivor Greenwood QC Barrister University of Melbourne 2 August 1971 5 December 1972 1 year, 125 days
21 Gough Whitlam QC3 Labor Whitlam Barrister University of Sydney 5 December 1972 19 December 1972 14 days
22 Senator Lionel Murphy QC Barrister University of Sydney 19 December 1972 10 February 1975 2 years, 53 days
23 Kep Enderby QC Barrister University of Sydney
University of London		 10 February 1975 11 November 1975 274 days
n/a Senator Ivor Greenwood QC Liberal Fraser Barrister University of Melbourne 11 November 1975 22 December 1975 41 days
24 Bob Ellicott QC Barrister University of Sydney 22 December 1975 6 September 1977 1 year, 258 days
25 Senator Peter Durack QC Barrister University of Western Australia
Lincoln College, Oxford		 6 September 1977 11 March 1983 5 years, 186 days
26 Senator Gareth Evans QC Labor Hawke Barrister University of Melbourne
Magdalen College, Oxford		 11 March 1983 13 December 1984 1 year, 277 days
27 Lionel Bowen Solicitor University of Sydney 13 December 1984 4 April 1990 5 years, 112 days
28 Michael Duffy Solicitor University of Melbourne 4 April 1990 27 December 1991 2 years, 354 days
Keating 27 December 1991 24 March 1993
29 Duncan Kerr4 Labor Keating Barrister University of Tasmania 1 April 1993 27 April 1993 26 days
30 Michael Lavarch Solicitor Queensland University of Technology 27 April 1993 11 March 1996 2 years, 319 days
31 Daryl Williams QC Liberal Howard Barrister University of Western Australia
Wadham College, Oxford		 11 March 1996 7 October 2003 7 years, 210 days
32 Philip Ruddock Solicitor University of Sydney 7 October 2003 3 December 2007 4 years, 57 days
33 Robert McClelland Labor Rudd Solicitor University of New South Wales
University of Sydney		 3 December 2007 24 June 2010 4 years, 11 days
Gillard 24 June 2010 14 December 2011
34 Nicola Roxon Solicitor University of Melbourne 14 December 2011 2 February 2013 1 year, 50 days
35 Mark Dreyfus QC Barrister University of Melbourne 2 February 2013 26 June 2013 228 days
Rudd 26 June 2013 18 September 2013
36 Senator George Brandis QC   Liberal National Abbott Barrister University of Queensland; Magdalen College, Oxford 18 September 2013 15 September 2015 3 years, 328 days
Turnbull 15 September 2015 incumbent

Notes

1 A member of the Protectionist Party, Higgins served in the Labor ministry of Chris Watson, because Labor had no suitably qualified lawyer in Parliament.
2 Hughes took silk in 1909, and became a King's Counsel.[2]
3 Whitlam served as part of a two-man ministry together with Lance Barnard for fourteen days, until the full ministry was commissioned.
4 Prime Minister Paul Keating's original choice for Attorney-General in 1993 had been Michael Lavarch, but Lavarch's re-election was delayed by the death of an opposing candidate for the seat of Dickson; Duncan Kerr held the portfolio in the interim until Lavarch won the resulting supplementary election. Kerr served as Attorney-General for 26 days. There was no Attorney-General for the eight days between Duffy's commission ending on 24 March 1993 and Kerr's commission commencing on 1 April 1993.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other Attorneys-General, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Australian Attorney-General currently refers to themselves as the "Attorney-General for Australia" or the "Commonwealth Attorney-General": see Attorney-General website. Historically, "Attorney-General of Australia" was also used.

References

  1. ↑ "Ministries and Cabinets". 43rd Parliamentary Handbook: Historical information on the Australian Parliament. Parliament of Australia. 2010. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "William Morris Hughes: Before office". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
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