Frank Brennan (priest)

For other people named Francis Brennan, see Francis Brennan (disambiguation).

Frank Brennan SJ, AO
Born	Francis Tenison Brennan (1954-03-06) 6 March 1954
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Priest, lawyer, academic
Known for	Human rights activism
Parent(s)	Gerard Brennan and Patricia O'Hara

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. 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, 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.

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".

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. 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. In 2002, Brennan was awarded the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal for his work as Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in East Timor.

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.

Selected writings

• Winner of the 2007 Queensland Premier's Literary Award

External links

• Brennan's selected talks and transcripts from Uniya, Jesuit Social Justice Centre (2001 – 2007).