Attorney-General for Australia

Attorney-General
Incumbent Senator the Hon 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)

The Attorney-General for Australia 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.

Scope

The Attorney-General administers the Attorney-General's Department, and is the minister responsible for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Classification Board, the government agency responsible for classification of films, literature and video games. 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:

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 (1901-01-01)	24 September 1903 (1903-09-24)
2	Senator James Drake			Deakin	Barrister	King's College School, London	24 September 1903 (1903-09-24)	27 April 1904 (1904-04-27)	days
3	H. B. Higgins QC		Labor	Watson	Barrister	University of Melbourne	27 April 1904 (1904-04-27)	17 August 1904 (1904-08-17)	days
4	Senator Josiah Symon QC		Free Trade	Reid	Barrister	Free Church Training College	17 August 1904 (1904-08-17)	5 July 1905 (1905-07-05)	days
5	Isaac Isaacs QC		Protectionist	Deakin	Barrister	University of Melbourne	5 July 1905 (1905-07-05)	12 October 1906 (1906-10-12)
6	Littleton Groom KC				Lawyer	University of Melbourne	12 October 1906 (1906-10-12)	13 November 1908 (1908-11-13)
7	Billy Hughes		Labor	Fisher	Barrister	n/a	13 November 1908 (1908-11-13)	2 June 1909 (1909-06-02)	days
8	Paddy Glynn KC		Free Trade	Deakin	Barrister	Trinity College, Dublin	2 June 1909 (1909-06-02)	29 April 1910 (1910-04-29)	days
n/a	Billy Hughes KC		Labor	Fisher	Barrister	n/a	29 April 1910 (1910-04-29)	24 June 1913 (1913-06-24)
9	William Irvine KC		Commonwealth Liberal	Cook	Barrister	Trinity College, Dublin; and University of Melbourne	24 June 1913 (1913-06-24)	17 September 1914 (1914-09-17)
n/a	Billy Hughes KC		Labor	Fisher	Barrister	n/a	17 September 1914 (1914-09-17)	27 October 1915 (1915-10-27)
				Hughes			27 October 1915 (1915-10-27)	14 November 1916 (1916-11-14)
			National Labor				14 November 1916 (1916-11-14)	13 June 1917 (1917-06-13)
			Nationalist				13 June 1917 (1917-06-13)	21 December 1921 (1921-12-21)
n/a	Littleton Groom KC				Lawyer	University of Melbourne	21 December 1921 (1921-12-21)	9 February 1923 (1923-02-09)
				Bruce			9 February 1923 (1923-02-09)	18 December 1925 (1925-12-18)
10	John Latham KC				Barrister	University of Melbourne	18 December 1925 (1925-12-18)	22 October 1929 (1929-10-22)
11	Frank Brennan		Labor	Scullin	Barrister	University of Melbourne	22 October 1929 (1929-10-22)	6 January 1932 (1932-01-06)
n/a	John Latham KC		United Australia	Lyons	Barrister	University of Melbourne	6 January 1932 (1932-01-06)	12 October 1934 (1934-10-12)
12	Robert Menzies KC				Barrister	University of Melbourne	12 October 1934 (1934-10-12)	20 March 1939 (1939-03-20)
n/a	Billy Hughes KC				Barrister	n/a	20 March 1939 (1939-03-20)	7 April 1939 (1939-04-07)
				Page			7 April 1939 (1939-04-07)	26 April 1939 (1939-04-26)
				Menzies			26 April 1939 (1939-04-26)	29 August 1941 (1941-08-29)
				Fadden			29 August 1941 (1941-08-29)	7 October 1941 (1941-10-07)
13	Dr. H. V. Evatt KC		Labor	Curtin	Barrister, Judge	University of Sydney	7 October 1941 (1941-10-07)	6 July 1945 (1945-07-06)
				Forde			6 July 1945 (1945-07-06)	13 July 1945 (1945-07-13)
				Chifley			13 July 1945 (1945-07-13)	19 December 1949 (1949-12-19)
14	Senator John Spicer KC		Liberal	Menzies	Barrister	University of Melbourne	19 December 1949 (1949-12-19)	14 August 1956 (1956-08-14)
15	Senator Neil O'Sullivan				Solicitor		15 August 1956 (1956-08-15)	12 October 1958 (1958-10-12)
16	Sir Garfield Barwick QC				Barrister	University of Sydney	12 October 1958 (1958-10-12)	4 March 1964 (1964-03-04)
17	Billy Snedden QC				Barrister	University of Western Australia	4 March 1964 (1964-03-04)	26 January 1966 (1966-01-26)
				Holt			26 January 1966 (1966-01-26)	14 December 1966 (1966-12-14)
18	Nigel Bowen QC				Barrister	University of Sydney	14 December 1966 (1966-12-14)	19 December 1967 (1967-12-19)
				McEwen			19 December 1967 (1967-12-19)	10 January 1968 (1968-01-10)
				Gorton			10 January 1968 (1968-01-10)	12 November 1969 (1969-11-12)
19	Tom Hughes QC				Barrister	University of Sydney	12 November 1969 (1969-11-12)	10 March 1971 (1971-03-10)
				McMahon			10 March 1971 (1971-03-10)	22 March 1971 (1971-03-22)
n/a	Nigel Bowen				Barrister	University of Sydney	22 March 1971 (1971-03-22)	2 August 1971 (1971-08-02)	days
20	Senator Ivor Greenwood QC				Barrister	University of Melbourne	2 August 1971 (1971-08-02)	5 December 1972 (1972-12-05)
21	Gough Whitlam QC		Labor	Whitlam	Barrister	University of Sydney	5 December 1972 (1972-12-05)	19 December 1972 (1972-12-19)	days
22	Senator Lionel Murphy QC				Barrister	University of Sydney	19 December 1972 (1972-12-19)	10 February 1975 (1975-02-10)
23	Kep Enderby QC				Barrister	University of Sydney University of London	10 February 1975 (1975-02-10)	11 November 1975 (1975-11-11)	days
n/a	Senator Ivor Greenwood QC		Liberal	Fraser	Barrister	University of Melbourne	11 November 1975 (1975-11-11)	22 December 1975 (1975-12-22)	days
24	Bob Ellicott QC				Barrister	University of Sydney	22 December 1975 (1975-12-22)	6 September 1977 (1977-09-06)
25	Senator Peter Durack QC				Barrister	University of Western Australia Lincoln College, Oxford	6 September 1977 (1977-09-06)	11 March 1983 (1983-03-11)
26	Senator Gareth Evans QC		Labor	Hawke	Barrister	University of Melbourne Magdalen College, Oxford	11 March 1983 (1983-03-11)	13 December 1984 (1984-12-13)
27	Lionel Bowen				Solicitor	University of Sydney	13 December 1984 (1984-12-13)	4 April 1990 (1990-04-04)
28	Michael Duffy						4 April 1990 (1990-04-04)	27 December 1991 (1991-12-27)
				Keating			27 December 1991 (1991-12-27)	24 March 1993 (1993-03-24)
29	Duncan Kerr		Labor	Keating	Barrister	University of Tasmania	1 April 1993 (1993-04-01)	27 April 1993 (1993-04-27)	days
30	Michael Lavarch				Solicitor	Queensland University of Technology	27 April 1993 (1993-04-27)	11 March 1996 (1996-03-11)
31	Daryl Williams QC		Liberal	Howard	Barrister	University of Western Australia Wadham College, Oxford	11 March 1996 (1996-03-11)	7 October 2003 (2003-10-07)
32	Philip Ruddock				Solicitor	University of Sydney	7 October 2003 (2003-10-07)	3 December 2007 (2007-12-03)
33	Robert McClelland		Labor	Rudd	Solicitor	University of New South Wales University of Sydney	3 December 2007 (2007-12-03)	24 June 2010 (2010-06-24)
				Gillard			24 June 2010 (2010-06-24)	14 December 2011 (2011-12-14)
34	Nicola Roxon				Solicitor	University of Melbourne	14 December 2011 (2011-12-14)	2 February 2013 (2013-02-02)
35	Mark Dreyfus QC				Barrister	University of Melbourne	2 February 2013 (2013-02-02)	26 June 2013 (2013-06-26)	days
				Rudd			26 June 2013 (2013-06-26)	18 September 2013 (2013-09-18)
36	Senator George Brandis QC		Liberal National	Abbott	Barrister	University of Queensland and Magdalen College, Oxford	18 September 2013 (2013-09-18)	15 September 2015 (2015-09-15)
				Turnbull			15 September 2015 (2015-09-15)	incumbent

Notes

A member of the Protectionist Party, Higgins served in the Labor ministry of Chris Watson, because Labor had no suitably qualified lawyer in Parliament.

Hughes took silk in 1909, and became a King's Counsel.

Whitlam served as part of a two-man ministry together with Lance Barnard for fourteen days, until the full ministry was commissioned.

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

• Attorneys-General of the various states of Australia:
  • Attorney-General of the Australian Capital Territory
  • Attorney-General of New South Wales
  • Attorney-General of the Northern Territory
  • Attorney-General of Queensland
  • Attorney-General of South Australia
  • Attorney-General of Tasmania
  • Attorney-General of Victoria
  • Attorney-General of Western Australia

External links

• Official website
• Departmental official website