Attorney General of New South Wales

The Attorney General of New South Wales, in formal contexts also Attorney-General or Attorney General for New South Wales ^[1] and usually known simply as the Attorney General, is a minister in the Government of New South Wales who has responsibility for the administration of justice in New South Wales, Australia. In addition, the attorney general is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General, Crown Advocate, and Crown Solicitor, the attorney general serves as the chief legal and constitutional adviser of the Crown and Government of New South Wales.

Attorney-General of New South Wales
Coat of arms of New South Wales
Flag of New South Wales
Incumbent Michael Daley since 28 March 2023
Department of Communities and Justice
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Parliament Cabinet Executive Council
Reports to	Premier of New South Wales
Seat	52 Martin Place, Sydney
Nominator	Premier of New South Wales
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales on the advice of the premier
Term length	At the Governor's pleasure
Formation	14 April 1824
First holder	Saxe Bannister
Deputy	Solicitor General
Website	www.justice.nsw.gov.au

The current attorney general, since 28 March 2023, is Michael Daley, SC.

The attorney general and the Ministers administer the portfolio through the Stronger Communities cluster, in particular the Department of Communities and Justice and a range of other government agencies.

Ultimately, the attorney general and the Ministers are responsible to the Parliament of New South Wales.

History and function

Sir William Montagu Manning, Solicitor-General: 1844–1848; Chancellor of Sydney University: 1878–1895.

Sir William Charles Windeyer, Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales: 1881–1896; Chancellor of Sydney University: 1895–1898.

Sir Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of Australia: 1901–1903; Judge of the High Court of Australia: 1903–1920.

Sir Charles Wade, Premier of New South Wales: 1907–1910; Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales: 1920–1922.

Sir Edward McTiernan, Justice of the High Court of Australia: 1930–1976.

Sir Henry Manning, First leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council: 1941–1958.

The position of Attorney General has existed since 1824, well before the full establishment of the New South Wales Parliament (in 1856) but coinciding with the establishment of the New South Wales Legislative Council. From the beginning, the attorney general has been the Crown's advisor and representative in legal matters. It was modelled after the office of the Attorney General for England and Wales. As such the attorney general advises and represents the Crown and government departments in court. The person appointed to this role provides legal advice to the Government, acts as the representative of the public interest and resolves issues between government departments.

The attorney general also has supervisory powers over the prosecution of criminal offences, but is not personally involved with prosecutions. Today, prosecutions are carried out by the Public Prosecution Office and most legal advice to government departments is provided by the Government Legal Service, both under the supervision of the attorney general. The attorney general may appeal cases to the higher courts where, although the particular case is settled, there may be a point of law of public importance at issue. The attorney general is responsible to Parliament for activities of the Department of Justice and has responsibility for the all state's courts and tribunals and the appointment of judges, magistrates and statutory officers in New South Wales.

List of ministers

Attorneys general

The following individuals have served as Attorney General of New South Wales:

Ordinal	Attorney General[2][3]	Party		Term begin	Term end	Time in office
1	Saxe Bannister		Not a member of Legislative Council	14 April 1824	13 October 1826	2 years, 182 days
2	William Henry Moore (acting)			13 October 1826	31 July 1827	291 days
3	Alexander Baxter [5]			1 August 1827	24 January 1831	3 years, 176 days
–	William Henry Moore (acting)			24 January 1831	24 June 1831	151 days
4	John Kinchela		Prior to responsible government	25 June 1831	18 April 1836	4 years, 298 days
5	John Plunkett			17 September 1836	5 June 1856	19 years, 262 days
6	William Manning		No party	6 June 1856	25 August 1856	80 days
7	James Martin			26 August 1856	2 October 1856	37 days
–	William Manning			3 October 1856	25 May 1857	1 year, 80 days
8	John Darvall			26 May 1857	7 September 1857	104 days
–	James Martin QC			7 September 1857	8 November 1858	1 year, 62 days
9	Alfred Lutwyche QC			15 November 1858	21 February 1859	98 days
10	Lyttleton Bayley			21 February 1859	26 October 1859	247 days
11	Edward Wise			27 October 1859	13 February 1860	109 days
–	Sir William Manning QC			21 February 1860	8 March 1860	16 days
12	John Hargrave			2 April 1860	31 July 1863	3 years, 120 days
–	John Darvall QC			1 August 1863	15 October 1863	75 days
–	James Martin QC [a]			16 October 1863	2 February 1865	1 year, 109 days
–	John Darvall QC			3 February 1865	20 June 1865	137 days
–	John Plunkett QC			25 August 1865	21 January 1866	149 days
–	James Martin QC [a]			22 January 1866	26 October 1868	2 years, 278 days
–	Sir William Manning QC			21 October 1868	15 December 1870	2 years, 55 days
–	Sir James Martin QC [a]			16 December 1870	13 May 1872	1 year, 149 days
13	Edward Butler			15 May 1872	10 November 1873	1 year, 179 days
14	Joseph Innes			20 November 1873	8 February 1875	1 year, 80 days
15	William Dalley			9 February 1875	21 March 1877	2 years, 40 days
16	William Windeyer			22 March 1877	16 August 1877	147 days
–	William Dalley QC			17 August 1877	17 December 1877	122 days
17	William Foster			18 December 1877	20 December 1878	1 year, 2 days
–	William Windeyer			21 December 1878	10 August 1879	232 days
18	Robert Wisdom			13 August 1879	4 January 1883	3 years, 144 days
–	William Dalley QC			5 January 1883	6 October 1885	2 years, 274 days
19	Jack Want			7 October 1885	21 December 1885	75 days
20	George Simpson			22 December 1885	25 February 1886	65 days
–	Jack Want			26 February 1886	19 January 1887	327 days
–	William Foster QC		Free Trade	20 January 1887	18 May 1887	118 days
21	Bernhard Wise			27 May 1887	7 February 1888	256 days
–	George Simpson QC			10 February 1888	16 January 1889	341 days
22	Edmund Barton		Protectionist	17 January 1889	7 March 1889	49 days
–	George Simpson QC		Free Trade	8 March 1889	22 October 1891	2 years, 228 days
–	Edmund Barton QC		Protectionist	23 October 1891	14 December 1893	2 years, 52 days
23	Charles Heydon			15 December 1893	2 August 1894	230 days
–	George Simpson QC		Free Trade	3 August 1894	1 December 1894	120 days
–	Jack Want QC			18 December 1894	18 April 1899	4 years, 121 days
24	George Reid QC			19 April 1899	13 September 1899	147 days
–	Bernhard Wise QC		Protectionist / Progressive	14 September 1899	14 June 1904	4 years, 274 days
25	James Gannon		Progressive	15 June 1904	29 August 1904	75 days
26	Charles Wade QC [b]		Liberal Reform	29 August 1904	20 October 1910	6 years, 52 days
27	William Holman [a]		Labor	21 October 1910	29 January 1914	3 years, 100 days
28	David Hall			29 January 1914	15 November 1916	2 years, 291 days
			Nationalist	15 November 1916	23 July 1919	2 years, 250 days
29	John Garland			23 July 1919	12 April 1920	264 days
30	Edward McTiernan		Labor	12 April 1920	20 December 1921	1 year, 252 days
31	Thomas Bavin		Nationalist	20 December 1921	20 December 1921	7 hours
–	Edward McTiernan		Labor	20 December 1921	13 April 1922	114 days
–	Thomas Bavin		Nationalist	13 April 1922	17 June 1925	3 years, 65 days
–	Edward McTiernan		Labor	17 June 1925	26 May 1927	1 year, 343 days
32	Andrew Lysaght			27 May 1927	18 October 1927	144 days
33	Francis Boyce		Nationalist	18 October 1927	3 November 1930	3 years, 16 days
–	Andrew Lysaght		Labor	4 November 1930	16 June 1931	224 days
34	Joseph Lamaro			16 June 1931	15 October 1931	121 days
			Labor (NSW)	15 October 1931	13 May 1932	211 days
35	Daniel Levy		United Australia	16 May 1932	17 June 1932	32 days
36	Henry Manning			18 June 1932	16 May 1941	8 years, 332 days
37	Clarrie Martin		Labor	16 May 1941	23 February 1953	11 years, 283 days
38	Bill Sheahan			23 February 1953	15 March 1956	3 years, 21 days
39	Reg Downing			15 March 1956	13 May 1965	9 years, 59 days
40	Ken McCaw		Liberal	13 May 1965	3 January 1975	9 years, 235 days
41	John Maddison			3 January 1975	14 May 1976	1 year, 132 days
42	Frank Walker		Labor	14 May 1976	1 February 1983	6 years, 263 days
43	Paul Landa			1 February 1983	24 November 1984	1 year, 297 days
44	Neville Wran (acting)[a]			27 November 1984	12 December 1984	15 days
45	Terry Sheahan			12 December 1984	26 November 1987	2 years, 349 days
46	Ron Mulock			26 November 1987	21 March 1988	116 days
47	John Dowd		Liberal	25 March 1988	6 June 1991	3 years, 73 days
48	Peter Collins			6 June 1991	3 July 1992	1 year, 27 days
49	John Hannaford			3 July 1992	4 April 1995	2 years, 275 days
50	Jeff Shaw		Labor	4 April 1995	28 June 2000	5 years, 85 days
51	Bob Debus			28 June 2000	2 April 2007	6 years, 278 days
52	John Hatzistergos			2 April 2007 (2007-04-02)	28 March 2011 (2011-03-28)	3 years, 360 days
53	Greg Smith		Liberal	3 April 2011 (2011-04-03)	23 April 2014 (2014-04-23)	3 years, 20 days
54	Brad Hazzard			23 April 2014 (2014-04-23)	2 April 2015 (2015-04-02)	344 days
55	Gabrielle Upton			2 April 2015 (2015-04-02)	30 January 2017 (2017-01-30)	1 year, 303 days
56	Mark Speakman SC			30 January 2017 (2017-01-30)	28 March 2023 (2023-03-28)	6 years, 57 days
57	Michael Daley		Labor	28 March 2023	incumbent	1 year, 229 days

1. Concurrently Premier of New South Wales.
2. Premier of New South Wales from 2 October 1907

See also

• New South Wales portal
• Politics portal

• List of New South Wales government agencies

References

1. See, e.g. Attorney General for New South Wales v Burns & Ors, Leahy v Attorney-General for New South Wales and Makin v Attorney General for New South Wales
2. O'Neill, Patrick. "New South Wales Attorneys-General 1823+". List of Australian Attorneys-General. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
3. "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
4. "Mr Alexander Macduff Baxter". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
5. Baxter was subsequently appointed to the Legislative Council on 30 January 1829.^[4]

External links

• NSW Department of Justice