If I were attorney-general of the Commonwealth after Saturday’s election there is one person I would seek to emulate, the Whitlam era’s Lionel Murphy.
Murphy, the most reformist attorney-general in Australian history. Think legal aid, the Family Law Act, trade practices legislation and an attempt to pass a human rights act. His brief period in office, 1972 to early 1975, when he took up a seat on the High Court, was impressive in its scope.
If I were attorney-general...
Since Murphy, attorneys-general have been, at best, implementers of incremental reform, devoid of big-picture vision.
Yet there is so much to be done.