The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, 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 there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case. Under the Constitution he or she is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serves at the Governor-General's pleasure. In practice the Attorney-General is a party politician and his or her tenure is determined by political factors.

The Attorney-General is head of the Attorney-General's Department, and is the minister responsible for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). 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. The Attorney-General is nearly always a distinguished lawyer, and a number of Attorneys-General have gone on to judicial appointments. Billy Hughes was the longest-serving Attorney-General of Australia, serving for nearly 11 years over three non-consecutive terms.

Following the recent general election, at which Labor's Kevin Rudd defeated the Liberal/National coalition led by John Howard, Robert McClelland replaced Phillip Ruddock as Attorney-General on 3 December 2007.

[edit] List of Australian Attorneys-General

Person	Party	Time frame
Alfred Deakin	Protectionist	1901-1903
Senator James Drake	Protectionist	1903-1904
H.B. Higgins	Labor*	1904
Senator Josiah Symon	Free Trade	1904-1905
Isaac Isaacs	Protectionist	1905-1906
Littleton Groom	Protectionist	1906-1908
Billy Hughes	Labor	1908-1909
Patrick Glynn	Free Trade	1909-1910
Billy Hughes	Labor	1910-1913
William Irvine	Commonwealth Liberal	1913-1914
Billy Hughes	Labor Nationalist	1914-1917 1917-1921
Littleton Groom	Nationalist	1921-1925
John Latham	Nationalist	1925-1929
Frank Brennan	Labor	1929-1932
John Latham	United Australia Party	1932-1934
Robert Menzies	United Australia Party	1934-1938
Billy Hughes	United Australia Party	1938-1941
Dr H. V. Evatt	Labor	1941-1949
Senator John Spicer	Liberal	1949-1956
Senator Neil O'Sullivan	Liberal	1956-1958
Sir Garfield Barwick	Liberal	1958-1964
Billy Snedden	Liberal	1964-1966
Nigel Bowen	Liberal	1966-1969
Tom Hughes	Liberal	1969-1971
Nigel Bowen	Liberal	1971
Senator Ivor Greenwood	Liberal	1971-1972
Gough Whitlam	Labor	1972
Senator Lionel Murphy	Labor	1972-1975
Keppel Enderby	Labor	1975-1975
Senator Ivor Greenwood	Liberal	1975
Robert Ellicott	Liberal	1975-1977
Senator Peter Durack	Liberal	1977-1983
Senator Gareth Evans	Labor	1983-1984
Lionel Bowen	Labor	1984-1990
Michael Duffy	Labor	1990-1993
Duncan Kerr	Labor	1993
Michael Lavarch	Labor	1993-1996
Daryl Williams	Liberal	1996-2003
Philip Ruddock	Liberal	2003-2007
Robert McClelland	Labor	2007-

* Higgins served in the Labor cabinet of Chris Watson but was not a member of the Labor Party. He was a Protectionist, but agreed to serve because Labor had no suitably qualified lawyer in Parliament.