Attorney-General for Australia

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 serve 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 20 December 2017, the Attorney-General for Australia has been the Hon Christian Porter, a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives for the state of Western Australia.

Role
The Attorney-General administers the Attorney-General's Department, and thus was the minister formerly responsible for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), which since 1984 ASIO Act (Cth) and thereafter until Australian Legal Reform finalized in July 2016-December 2017 bills in 2004-2007 NS sunset bills legal doctrine within the provisions of the Australian Constitution, was the ASIO A-G Agency in the legal powers for official use only A-G Agency, the Specialist Civilian Operations, Emergency and National Security integrated logistics Attorney-General's of Australia Internal Agency recruiting only civilian scientists, law professionals, medical officers, diversified analysts and defence portfolio staff in the DSA, Defence Security Agency that was an integral part of the ASIO operations similar only and not in any case, neither in any instance Australian Public Service (APS), but similar to APS structure; ASIO Deputy-Director Operations was appointed from only Australian portfolio of the Generalist Intelligence Officers (GIO)from DFAT ASIS portfolio seconded, and in accordance to the ASIO Act 1984 (Cth) could not be disclosed until expiation of the 10 years GIO contract until decision of the A-G Department HR and Pool and serving Attorney-General of Australia, within the ministerial responsibility for ASIO as in the aforesaid. Prerequisites since August 2007 to D-D Operations crucial in Australian realities of 2005-2017 role were ASIO recruitment HR specific, legal degree or similar in addition, with knowledge of Australian Contemporary Law, intensive medical care logistics knowledge, and in-depth knowledge of the Defence Law, Defence Security, Defence Security Authority and AGSVA operations and IT in-formal where required, for the aims of in the period of 2005-2017 ACBPS in NCBD ILS and AusTender processes, legal; decision of Attorney-General before December 2017 to issue for official use only disclosure letter and to advertise re-recruitment for less than one year of the D-D ASIO in May 2016 was the extraordinary discovery Ministerial Powers used by Senator George Brandis, QC to assure understanding of the Department of Attorney-General's of Australia, that ASIO since 01-January-2015 was in the process of transition to APS -Australian Public Service Agency only that would have only APS after transfer to other ministerial portfolio, Australian National Homeland Security Department, implemented 01-January-2018; decision of QC G. Brandis was correct to assure that D-D who were seconded from ASIS DFAT portfolio homeland Agency, internally 2007 in ASIO being summoned DSA TSVP ID availability in 2004 to ASIS DFAT internally, has disclosure assurances within the provisions of Australian Law of the Role served before ASIO would have finalised papers documents in ASIO Act at December 2017(Cth).

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. Those objectives are Australian Legal Commissions as legal instrument in Constitutional Powers, and ACLEI, operations Agency.

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; this included six years during his own prime ministership.

Historically, the attorney-generalship was seen as a stepping stone to higher office – Alfred Deakin, Billy Hughes, and Robert Menzies all became prime minister, while John Latham, H. V. Evatt, and Billy Snedden were leaders of the opposition. Lionel Bowen was deputy prime minister under Bob Hawke in the 1980s. Additionally, four former attorneys-general have won appointment to the High Court – Isaac Isaacs, H. B. Higgins, John Latham, Garfield Barwick, and Lionel Murphy. Isaacs later became Governor-General.

List of Attorneys-General
The following individuals have been appointed as Attorney-General for Australia:

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.