Attorney-General of Australia: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|First law officer of the CrownMinister and chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia}}

| salary = $336,599.25 ([[AUD]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1819/Quick_Guides/ParliamentaryRemuneration|title=2018 Parliamentary remuneration and business resources: a quick guide|date=6 September 2018|website=Parliament of Australia|access-date=15 June 2019}}</ref>

| website = {{URL|https://ministerswww.ag.gov.au/hon-mark-dreyfus-kc-mp}}

The '''attorney-general of Australia''' ('''AG''') is the [[Federal Executive CouncilMinister (Australiagovernment)|minister of state]] and [[Attorney general|chief law officer]] of the [[Australia|Commonwealth of Australia]] and chief law officer of state, charged with overseeing the nationalfederal [[Australian legal system|legal affairs]] and public security as the head of the [[Attorney-General's Department (Australia)|Attorney-General’s Department]]. The current attorney-general is [[Mark Dreyfus]], who was appointedchosen by Primeprime Ministerminister [[Anthony Albanese]] inon June 2022 following the [[2022 Australian federal election|2022 federal election]].<ref name="gallagherag">{{Cite news |last=Worthington |first=Brett |date=31 May 2022 |title=Meet the new cabinet: Who's who in Albanese's new ministry |work=ABC News |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/meet-the-new-cabinet-who-s-who-in-albanese-s-new-ministry-20220531-p5aq02.html |accessdate=31 May 2022}}</ref> By convention, the attorney-general is a [[lawyer by profession, being either a barrister or solicitor]].

The Attorneyattorney-Generalgeneral is one of only four positions in the commonwealth[[Commonwealth governmentGovernment]] to have continuously been held since federation, along with the prime minister, the [[Minister for Defence (Australia)|minister for Defencedefence]] and the [[Treasurer of Australia|treasurer]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Elder |editor1-first=DR |editor2-last=Fowler |editor2-first=PE |title=House of Representatives Practice |date=June 2018 |publisher=Commonwealth of Australia |location=Canberra, Australia |isbn=978-1-74366-656-2 |edition=7th |chapter-url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice7/HTML/Chapter2/The_Ministry |access-date=19 October 2019 |language=en-AU |chapter=Chapter 2: The Ministry}}</ref>

The current attorney-general is assisted in his portfolio by the [[parliamentary secretary]] to the attorney-general, currently the '''Assistantassistant Ministerminister for the Republic''' held by [[Matt Thistlethwaite]].<ref name="ministry">{{cite web |title=Ministry List as at 1 June 2022 |url=https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/ministry-list-20220601.pdf |publisher=Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=4 June 2022}}</ref>

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The position is responsibletasked forwith promoting the [[Albanese government]]'s policy of [[Republicanism in Australia|establishing of a republic]] and is the first Commonwealth portfolio for republic policy.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crellin |first1=Zac |title=Here's what's on the agenda for Australia's first-ever Assistant Minister for the Republic |url=https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2022/06/02/republic-australia-minister/ |access-date=4 June 2022 |publisher=The New Daily |date=2 June 2022}}</ref><ref name="ministry"/> It is the first such position held by a Commonwealth minister.