Style The Honourable | Inaugural holder Alfred Deakin | |
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Appointer Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia 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.
Contents
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). 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:
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. 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.