Robert McClelland (Australian politician)

The Honourable Justice Robert McClelland
Vice President of the Executive Council
In office 13 September 2010 – 5 March 2012
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	John Faulkner
Succeeded by	Tony Burke
Attorney General of Australia
In office 3 December 2007 – 14 December 2011
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Philip Ruddock
Succeeded by	Nicola Roxon
Member of the Australian Parliament for Barton
In office 2 March 1996 – 5 August 2013
Preceded by	Gary Punch
Succeeded by	Nickolas Varvaris
Personal details
Born	Robert Bruce McClelland (1958-01-26) 26 January 1958 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Labor Party
Relations	Alfred McClelland (grandfather)
Father	Doug McClelland
Alma mater	University of New South Wales University of Sydney
Website	Official website

Robert Bruce McClelland (born 26 January 1958 in Sydney) is a current judge on the Family Court of Australia, and a former Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until September 2013 representing the Division of Barton. Between 2007 and 2011, McClelland was the Attorney-General of Australia.

Early life and education

McClelland is the son of Doug McClelland, a former Senator for New South Wales between 1962 and 1987, and a minister in the Whitlam government and President of the Senate, serving between 1983 and 1987. His grandfather was Alfred McClelland, a state Labor MP from 1920 to 1932.

McClelland was educated at Blakehurst High School before studying at the University of New South Wales, where he gained bachelor's degrees in arts and law, and the University of Sydney where he gained a master's degree in law.^[1]

Career

Prior to entering politics, McClelland was an Associate to the Justice Phillip Evatt of the Federal Court of Australia 1981–82 before becoming a solicitor and ultimately partner with law firm Turner Freeman.^[1]

Political career

Two years after his election to parliament, McClelland became a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry. He was Shadow Attorney-General 1998–2003, Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations 2001–03, Shadow Minister for Homeland Security 2003–05, Shadow Minister for Defence 2004–06 and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs 2006–07. In November 2007, McClelland was appointed as the Attorney-General.^[2] As part of a cabinet reshuffle in December 2011 he was moved to oversee the portfolio of emergency management and housing.^[3] In a further cabinet reshuffle in February 2012 following Kevin Rudd's leadership challenge, McClelland returned to the backbench.

After McClelland indicated on 8 October 2007 his party's disapproval of death sentences for all south Asian countries, his leader Kevin Rudd criticized the speech as "insensitive" because it was made on the eve of the anniversary of the Bali bombings.^[4][5] McClelland apologized,^[6] but critics called the positions inconsistent^[7] and prevented Rudd from appointing McClelland as Foreign Minister when Labor won the 2007 election.

As Attorney General McClelland introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Torture Prohibition and Death Penalty Abolition) Act, 2010 (No. 37, 2010)^[8]

In the 2007 federal election, McClelland was re-elected to the seat of Barton with a 4.53% swing toward the Labor Party.^[9] In the 2010 federal election, McClelland was re-elected to the seat of Barton, but suffered an 8.08% swing against the Labor Party.

In February 2008, McClelland stated that it was unacceptable that the ACT government, which proposed to allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, would give the right to hold public ceremonies to celebrate their unions.^[10] McClelland was criticised by Greens Senator Bob Brown, who said it was displaying the ugly face of Labor conservatism.^[11] In September 2008 McClelland introduced the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws—General Law Reform) Bill 2008 which gave same sex couples equal rights in respect to social security, taxation and superannuation laws.^[12]

McClelland was responsible for implementing the recommendations of the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission including the implementation of a National Emergency Warning System.^[13]

As Attorney General, McClelland undertook an extensive review of the International Arbitration Act. That review formed the basis of amendments to the Act that were introduced in 2010.^[14] The Amendments gave arbitral tribunals a wider degree of flexibility in controlling arbitral proceedings and included inserting an object to emphasise the importance of international arbitration in facilitating international trade and commerce. Provisions were also introduced to require Courts applying the Act and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration Law to have regard to the fact that arbitration is an ‘efficient, impartial, enforceable and timely’ method of dispute resolution.

McClelland also introduced amendments to federal family law, including by giving the federal family law courts jurisdiction over the financial affairs of de facto spouses.^[15]

On 29 January 2013, McClelland announced that he would not contest the 2013 federal election.^[16]

Judicial career

On 28 May 2015, McClelland was appointed to the Family Court of Australia by Attorney-General George Brandis QC. He is based in the Court's Sydney registry and his appointment commenced on 16 June 2015.^[17]

See also

• First Rudd Ministry
• First Gillard Ministry
• Second Gillard Ministry

References

External links

• Personal homepage
• Attorney-General homepage