Michael Hugh Lavarch AO (born 8 June 1961) is an Australian lawyer, educator and former politician. He was the

Attorney-General for Australia The Attorney-GeneralThe title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other attorneys-general, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Aust ...

between 1993 and 1996, and from 2004 to 2012 was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

(QUT), his alma mater, where he has been since then

emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. he is co-chair, with

Jackie Huggins Jacqueline Gail "Jackie" Huggins (born 19 August 1956) is an Aboriginal Australian author, historian, academic and advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She is a Bidjara (Warrego River), Bidjara/Pitjara, Birri Gubba and Juru people ...

, of the Eminent Panel for the Indigenous treaty process in Queensland.

Early life and education

Lavarch earned his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

Career

Lavarch commenced his legal career in Brisbane as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

. He gained

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

endorsement for the electorate of

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

's Sunshine Coast, and was elected to the

Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

at the 1987 election. He served three terms in the Parliament until 1996, being appointed Attorney-General of Australia in 1993. By the 1993 election, boundary changes had erased Lavarch's majority and made Fisher notionally

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

. Lavarch contested the newly created seat of Dickson in the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane, which covered much of the Brisbane portion of his former seat. Independent Walter Pegler died very shortly before the election, making it necessary to hold a supplementary election on 17 April (the rest of the country had already voted on 13 March). Following the return of the Labor Party to government, Prime Minister

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

announced the makeup of the Second Keating Ministry to be sworn in on 24 March, but kept the portfolio of Attorney-General (outside Cabinet) open for Lavarch, subject to him winning Dickson on 17 April. Lavarch won the supplementary election, defeating future Queensland Liberal leader

Bruce Flegg Bruce Stephen Flegg (born 10 March 1954, Sydney) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2015, representing the electorate of Moggill in south-western Brisbane for the Liberal Party ...

, and was duly appointed to the ministry on 27 April. During his political career, he was particularly interested in

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

issues. He was responsible for instigating the ''

National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families ''Bringing Them Home'' is the 1997 Australian ''Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families''. The report marked a pivotal moment in the controversy that has come to ...

'' in 1995, culminating in the publication of the ''

Bringing Them Home ''Bringing Them Home'' is the 1997 Australian ''Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families''. The report marked a pivotal moment in the controversy that has come to ...

'' Report. He was defeated at the 1996 election, in which Labor was cut down to only two seats in Queensland. He then returned to his legal practice. In 1998, Lavarch was elected as a Queensland delegate to the 4th Constitutional Convention in 1998 for the

Australian Republican Movement The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) is a non-party-partisan organisation campaigning for Australia to become a republic. ARM and its supporters have promoted various models of a republic including parliamentary republic and it is, again, revi ...

. He was secretary-general of the

Law Council of Australia The Law Council of Australia, founded in 1933, is an association of law societies and bar associations from the states and territories of Australia, and the peak body representing the legal profession in Australia. The Law Council represents mo ...

from 2001 to 2004. In 2003 he was appointed by the Prime Minister to an expert panel to review proposals to change the way in which conflicts between the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

are resolved. He was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology from 2004 to 2012, after which he became Emeritus Professor. In 2019 the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...

announced its interest in pursuing a pathway to an Indigenous treaty process. The Treaty Working Group and Eminent Treaty Process Panel were set up, with Lavarch co-chairing the Eminent Panel along with

. Their ''Path to Treaty Report'' was tabled in

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

in February 2020. On 13 August 2020, the Government announced that it would be supporting the recommendation to move forward on a Path to Treaty with First Nations Queenslanders. Lavarch said the commitment to release the report enabled Queenslanders to see their input reflected and learn more about the consultation outcomes. CC-BY icon

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Publications

Lavarch has written several book chapters and articles about Australia's legal and political systems, including co-editing ''Beyond the Adversarial System'' and writing an Issues Paper for

AIATSIS The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

in 1998.

Personal life

Lavarch lives between Brisbane and Sydney with his wife, Indigenous academic, lawyer and writer,

Larissa Behrendt Larissa Yasmin Behrendt (born 1969) is an Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. she is a professor of law and director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education ...

. Michael Lavarch was formerly married to Linda Lavarch. Linda had served as an Attorney General of Queensland from 2005 to 2009. At the 2016 election, she was the ALP candidate for her former husband's former seat of Dickson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavarch, Michael Living people Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fisher Attorneys-General of Australia 1961 births Australian republicans Delegates to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 20th-century Australian politicians Officers of the Order of Australia Queensland University of Technology alumni Academic staff of Queensland University of Technology Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Government ministers of Australia