The Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) is an Australian public servant and a

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

agency of the same name which provides legal advice to the federal government and its agencies. AGS was originally the Crown Solicitor's Office, which was established on 1 July 1903 on the appointment of

Charles Powers Sir Charles Powers (3 March 1853 – 24 April 1939) was an Australian politician and judge who served as Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1913 to 1929. Early life Powers was born in 1853 in Brisbane, Queensland. He was educate ...

as the first Commonwealth Crown Solicitor. With a major restructure of the Attorney-General's Department from 1983 to 1984, the Crown Solicitor's Office became the Office of the Australian Government Solicitor, with Crown Solicitor Tom Sherman appointed the first Australian Government Solicitor. Some functions of the Crown Solicitor's Office were transferred to other parts of the Attorney-General's Department. In 1999, the Australian Government Solicitor ceased being an office held by an individual, and instead became a

government business enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

, headed by a CEO, separate from the Attorney-General's Department. On 1 July 2015, AGS was consolidated within the Attorney-General's Department as a functionally independent group under a lawyer titled the Australian Government Solicitor. Some Commonwealth legal work, including

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

, is 'tied' work that only AGS is able to perform as solicitor on behalf of the Commonwealth.

List of office-holders

Individuals who have served as Commonwealth Crown Solicitor, Australian Government Solicitor or CEO of AGS are: *

(1903–1913) *Gordon Castle (1913–1927) *William Sharwood (1927–1936) *

Fred Whitlam Harry Frederick Ernest "Fred" Whitlam (3 April 1884 – 8 December 1961) was Australia's Crown Solicitor from 1936 to 1949, and a pioneer of international human rights law in Australia. He was the father of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and had ...

(1936–1949) *Keith Waugh (1949–1951) *David Bell (1951–1955) *Harry Renfree (1955–1970)Obituary - Harold Edward Renfree
''The Canberra Times'', 1 February 1989 *Bob Hutchison (1970–1975) * Alan Neaves (1975–1979) *Brian O'Donovan (1979–1983) *Tom Sherman (1983–1989) * Stephen Skehill (1989–1990) *John Pyne (1990–1993) *Dale Boucher (1993–1999) *Rayne de Gruchy (1999–2010) *Ian Govey (2010–2016) *Louise Vardanega (Acting) (2016–2017) * Michael Kingston (2017–present)

References

External links

AGS - Australian Government Solicitor
Australian law government bodies {{Australia-gov-stub

List of office-holders

See also

References

External links