Attorney General of New South Wales

Chief law officer for the state of New South Wales, Australia

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 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.

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[edit]

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[edit]

### Attorneys general[edit]

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 | 326 days

1. ^ a b c d e Concurrently Premier of New South Wales.
2. ^ Premier of New South Wales from 2 October 1907

## See also[edit]

* New South Wales portal
* Politics portal

* List of New South Wales government agencies

## References[edit]

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[edit]

* NSW Department of Justice

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