Attorney General of Australia

The Attorney General of Australia is the chief law officer of the Crown and a member of the Federal Cabinet. He or she is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serves at the Governor-General's pleasure.

The Attorney General is head of the Department of Justice and is the minister responsible for police, legal affairs and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. This last duty has caused conflict in the past, such as in 1973, when ASIO refused to release documents to the Attorney General, Lionel Murphy. Murphy personally led a raid on ASIO headquarters to retrieve the files concerned.

[Top]

List of Australian Attorneys General

1 Alfred Deakin Protectionist Party 1901-1903
2 James Drake Protectionist Party 1903-1904
3 Henry Higgins Australian Labor Party 1904
4 Senator Josiah Symon Free Trade Party 1904-1905
5 Isaac Isaacs Protectionist 1905-1906
6 Littleton Groom Protectionist 1906-1908
7 Billy Hughes Australian Labor Party 1908-1909
8 Patrick Glynn Free Trade Party 1909-1910
9 Billy Hughes Australian Labor Party 1910-1913
10 William Irvine Commonwealth Liberal Party 1913-1914
11 Billy Hughes Australian Labor Party/Nationalist Party 1914-1921
12 Littleton Groom Nationalist Party 1921-1925
13 John Greig Latham Nationalist Party 1925-1929
14 Frank Brennan Australian Labor Party 1929-1932
15 John Greig Latham United Australia Party 1932-1934
16 Robert Menzies United Australia Party 1934-1938
17 Billy Hughes United Australia Party 1938-1941
18 Herbert Evatt Australian Labor Party 1941-1949
19 Senator John Spicer Liberal Party of Australia 1949-1956
20 Senator Neil O?Sullivan Liberal Party of Australia 1956-1958
21 Garfield Barwick Liberal Party of Australia 1958-1964
22 Billy Snedden Liberal Party of Australia 1964-1966
23 Nigel Bowen Liberal Party of Australia 1966-1969
24 Thomas Hughes Liberal Party of Australia 1969-1971
25 Nigel Bowen Liberal Party of Australia 1971
26 Senator Ivor Greenwood Liberal Party of Australia 1971-1972
27 Gough Whitlam Australian Labor Party 1972
28 Lionel Murphy Australian Labor Party 1972-1975
29 Senator Ivor Greenwood Liberal Party of Australia 1975
30 Robert Ellicott Liberal Party of Australia 1975-1977
31 Senator Peter Durack 1977-1983
32 Gareth John Evans Australian Labor Party 1983-1984
33 Lionel Bowen Australian Labor Party 1984-1990
34 Michael Duffy Australian Labor Party 1990-1993
35 Duncan Kerr Australian Labor Party 1993
36 Michael Lavarch Australian Labor Party 1993-1996
37 Daryl Williams Liberal Party of Australia 1996-2003
38 Philip Ruddock Liberal Party of Australia 2003-


View Live Article	This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License