Australian politician
Mark Alfred Dreyfus
KC
(born 3 October 1956) is an Australian politician and lawyer who has been
attorney-general of Australia
and
cabinet secretary
since June 2022, having held both roles previously in 2013 and from 2010 to 2013 respectively. Dreyfus is a member of the
Australian Labor Party
(ALP), and has been the
MP
for
Isaacs
since the
2007 election
.
Before beginning his political career, Dreyfus worked as a
barrister
for two decades, specialising in constitutional, commercial and
environmental law
. After winning the seat of Isaacs in 2007, Dreyfus was appointed to the
Cabinet
in September 2010 by
Julia Gillard
as Cabinet Secretary. In February 2013, following the resignation of
Nicola Roxon
, he was moved to become Attorney-General for the first time. After
Kevin Rudd
replaced Gillard as Prime Minister in June 2013, Dreyfus was retained as Attorney-General and given the additional roles of
Special Minister of State
and
Minister for the Public Service and Integrity
. He would hold these positions for less than three months, as Labor was defeated in the
2013 election
.
Throughout Labor's subsequent nine years in opposition, Dreyfus served as
shadow attorney-general
under both
Bill Shorten
and
Anthony Albanese
. Following Labor's victory in the
2022 election
, he was appointed to the positions of Attorney-General and Cabinet Secretary for the second time within the
Albanese Government
. During his second tenure as attorney-general, he has led the Government's efforts to introduce a
national anti-corruption commission
, abolished the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
(AAT), and initiated a
royal commission
regarding the unlawful
Robodebt scheme
. He ordered the discontinuation of the prosecution of whistleblower
Bernard Collaery
, and has pledged reform to the
Privacy Act
in response to several high-profile data breaches that have taken place in Australia.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Dreyfus was born in
Perth
, Western Australia, the son of
George Dreyfus
, a noted composer who came to Australia from
Nazi Germany
. He is of Jewish ancestry.
[1]
[2]
Dreyfus was educated at
Scotch College, Melbourne
on a full scholarship and the
University of Melbourne
, where he resided at
Ormond College
and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a
Bachelor of Laws
.
[3]
Legal career
[
edit
]
Before entering parliament, Dreyfus worked as a
barrister
for twenty years, with an extensive practice in commercial, defamation, constitutional and environmental law. He appeared before the
High Court
in the leading
implied freedom of political communication
cases of
Theophanous v Herald & Weekly Times Ltd
(1994) and
Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(1997). He also represented
Michael Danby
in a defamation suit against the
LaRouche movement
. In 1999 he was appointed Queen's Counsel.
[4]
Dreyfus also served as a director of the
Law Council of Australia
and on the
Victorian Bar Council
and Victorian Bar Ethics Committee.
Since his first professional role as a Field Officer for the
Northern Land Council
, Dreyfus has worked closely with
Indigenous
communities in the
Northern Territory
, including representing a number of the claimants in the landmark
Stolen Generations
litigation.
[5]
Parliamentary career
[
edit
]
In March 2006, Dreyfus successfully challenged the sitting Labor member for the
Division of Isaacs
,
Ann Corcoran
, for the right to contest the 2007 election.
[6]
At the 2007 election, he defeated the Liberal candidate, Ross Fox, gaining a 5.9-point swing to Labor.
[7]
Following Labor's victory at the
2007 Australian federal election
, Dreyfus was appointed the Chair of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. At the
2010 Australian federal election
, Dreyfus was re-elected, gaining a further 3.33-point swing to Labor.
In September 2010, Dreyfus was appointed as Cabinet Secretary as well as Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency in the
Second Gillard Ministry
.
[8]
Dreyfus took on additional responsibilities in December 2011 when he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation.
At the
2013 Australian federal election
, Dreyfus was re-elected with a reduced margin of 3.9%, which was extended to 5.9% at the
2016 Australian federal election
.
[9]
Dreyfus had an easier run at the
2019 Australian federal election
after his
Liberal Party of Australia
opponent was disendorsed for an earlier 'anti-Muslim rant',
[10]
Dreyfus was re-elected with a 3.45 percent swing in his favour.
[11]
Dreyfus was again comfortably re-elected in the
2022 Australian federal election
,
[12]
though his campaign was assisted when his Liberal Party opponent was referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation after admitting that, though he was enrolled to vote at a pub in the Isaacs electorate, he actually lived in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell, some 20 km away.
[13]
[14]
Dreyfus is a member of
Labor's right faction
.
[15]
[16]
He is a strong advocate for action on climate change
[17]
and for the establishment a federal anti-corruption agency.
[18]
Dreyfus was a vocal supporter of the 'yes' campaign during the
Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey
[19]
and a vocal opponent against Abbott government era funding reductions to climate science research at the
CSIRO
.
[20]
Attorney-General in Gillard-Rudd government
[
edit
]
On 2 February 2013, Dreyfus was promoted to Attorney-General and as Minister for Emergency Management after the resignation of
Nicola Roxon
.
[21]
Dreyfus was given additional responsibilities on 1 July 2013 as Special Minister of State and Minister for the Public Service and Integrity following the decision by
Gary Gray
to resign from the ministry following the
June 2013 Labor leadership spill
.
[22]
As Attorney-General, Dreyfus appeared before the
International Court of Justice
in
The Hague
as Counsel and Advocate for Australia in the case of
Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan; New Zealand intervening)
in June and July 2013.
[23]
On 1 April 2014, the ICJ handed down its decision in favour of Australia that Japan cease whaling in the
Southern Ocean
.
[24]
Shadow Attorney-General
[
edit
]
Dreyfus served as Labor's Shadow Attorney-General from
2013
to
2022
, where he championed the establishment of a Federal Integrity Commission
[18]
and greater funding for community legal centres.
[25]
Dreyfus as shadow attorney general is the only person to hold the same portfolio in the entirety of Labor's nine years in opposition between 2013 and 2022 as well as being longest serving shadow attorney general.
Attorney-General in Albanese government
[
edit
]
Following Labor's victory in the
2022 Australian federal election
, Dreyfus was appointed as Attorney-General in the Albanese government on 31 May 2022.
[26]
In his first interview as Attorney-General he said legislating Labor's promised
national anti-corruption commission
by the end of 2022 was his "paramount priority", calling it a "nation-building" reform.
[27]
In September 2022, Dreyfus presented the legislation to create a national anti-corruption commission to Parliament,
[28]
and the bill was passed on 30 November.
[29]
On 7 July 2022 Dreyfus used his powers as Attorney-General to discontinue the prosecution of lawyer
Bernard Collaery
, which had been initiated by his predecessor
Christian Porter
.
[30]
Collaery had been charged with disclosing confidential intelligence information about the
Australia?East Timor spying scandal
, with many criticising his prosecution as unjust and unfair.
[31]
[32]
[33]
Dreyfus led the establishment of the
Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme
, announcing the Letters Patent on 25 August 2022 alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
[34]
Dreyfus is a member of the Parliamentary Friends of the
IHRA
, which has been advocating for universities to adopt a controversial
definition of antisemitism
.
[35]
In 2024, the Albanese government banned the display of Nazi symbols, as well as the symbols of proscribed terrorist organisations.
[36]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Dreyfus married Chilean-born Deborah Chemke. The couple had three children, Joe, Tom and Laura.
[37]
[38]
[39]
[40]
Deborah died on 1 November 2023.
[41]
Dreyfus is a keen swimmer, cyclist and runner and is a frequent participant in open water swims and fun runs within his electorate.
[42]
[43]
Dreyfus speaks fluent Spanish
[40]
and has stated that, had he not become a lawyer, he would have liked to become a park ranger in the
Alpine National Park
.
[44]
He is a supporter of the
St Kilda Football Club
.
[45]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Swan, Jonathan (30 January 2013).
"Jewish MP to put religion before politics"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
.
- ^
"Record number of Jews elected"
.
The Australian Jewish News
. 6 July 2016.
- ^
Green, Shane (13 October 2011).
"The man in the hot seat"
.
The Age
. Melbourne
. Retrieved
14 March
2015
.
- ^
"Dreyfus named QC"
.
The Australian Jewish News
. 24 December 1999.
- ^
"New Attorney-General to be sworn in tomorrow"
.
J-Wire
. Archived from
the original
on 6 February 2013
. Retrieved
3 February
2013
.
- ^
"Dreyfus scores narrow preselection win"
.
The Australian Jewish News
. 17 March 2006.
- ^
"Isaacs - Federal Election 2007 - ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)"
.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. 14 February 2024.
- ^
"Special Gazette No. S162"
(PDF)
. Commonwealth of Australia. 16 September 2010.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Isaacs - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results - ABC News"
.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
.
- ^
"Liberals to sack anti-Muslim candidate Jeremy Hearn"
. May 2019.
- ^
"House of Representatives division information"
.
- ^
"House of Representatives division information"
.
- ^
"LNP candidate Robbie Beaton referred to Australian Federal Police"
.
- ^
"Election 2022: Liberal candidate for Isaacs put wrong address on enrolment form"
.
- ^
"Labor's new-look shadow ministry"
.
SBS News
. Special Broadcasting Service
. Retrieved
31 October
2021
.
- ^
Harris, Rob (24 September 2020).
"
'The idiot for Hunter': Labor colleagues trade insults in energy split"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Fairfax Media
. Retrieved
24 September
2020
.
- ^
"Fitzgibbon 'out of step' with community on climate: Dreyfus"
. 11 November 2020.
- ^
a
b
"Labor says scandals are behind federal Icac delay as Coalition blames Covid"
.
TheGuardian.com
. 21 October 2020.
- ^
"Marriage equality's big 'yes'
"
. 21 November 2017.
- ^
"Science lab 'cut to the core'
"
. June 2016.
- ^
Maher, Sid (2 February 2013).
"Dreyfus, Bowen promoted in Gillard cabinet reshuffle"
.
The Australian
. Retrieved
2 February
2013
.
- ^
"Second Rudd Ministry"
(PDF)
.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
.
Commonwealth of Australia
. 1 July 2013
. Retrieved
2 July
2013
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
ICJ Hears Case of Whaling in Antarctic: Australia vs. Japan
United Nations Information Centre Canberra
- ^
Meoli, Dominic.
"Australia's Whaling Victory"
.
The Diplomat
.
- ^
"Calls for government to reverse funding cuts to Community Legal Centres"
. 27 March 2017.
- ^
"Election 2022 results: Anthony Albanese's Labor cabinet announced"
. June 2022.
- ^
"New Attorney-General promises national corruption watchdog will have power to investigate pork-barrelling"
. 7 June 2022.
- ^
"Long-awaited federal anti-corruption commission legislation introduced to parliament"
.
ABC News
. 28 September 2022
. Retrieved
30 September
2022
.
- ^
Karp, Paul (29 November 2022).
"
'Naccflip': National anti-corruption commission bill passes Senate after Greens backdown"
.
the Guardian
. Retrieved
30 November
2022
.
- ^
Dreyfus QC MP, The Hon Mark (7 July 2022).
"Discontinue the prosecution of Mr Bernard Collaery"
.
Attorney-General
.
- ^
Pender, Kieran (8 July 2022).
"Justice for Bernard Collaery must be the beginning of decisive action on whistleblowers"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
19 July
2022
.
- ^
Keane, Bernard (1 June 2022).
"More than halting the unjust Collaery trial awaits Mark Dreyfus"
.
Crikey.com
. Retrieved
14 June
2022
.
- ^
"The unjust prosecution of Bernard Collaery"
.
Human Rights Law Council
. Retrieved
21 October
2022
.
- ^
Dreyfus QC MP, The Hon Mark (25 August 2022).
"Establishment of the Royal Commission into Robodebt"
.
Attorney-General
.
- ^
Cassidy, Caitlin (6 February 2023).
"Australian universities split on decision to adopt controversial definition of antisemitism"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Jackson, Lewis (8 January 2024).
"Australia bans Nazi salute and public display of terror group symbols"
.
Reuters
. Retrieved
19 January
2024
.
- ^
"Striking a different role" ?
Young Lawyers Journal
Archived
20 January 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
ParlInfo ? GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH : Address-in-Reply
- ^
J-Wire Staff (3 February 2013).
"New Attorney-General to be sworn in tomorrow"
. JWire. Archived from
the original
on 6 February 2013.
- ^
a
b
Schubert, Misha (7 February 2006).
"QC stands out among Labor candidates for Canberra"
.
The Age
. Melbourne.
- ^
"Attorney-General's wife Deborah Chemke dies after illness"
.
The Canberra Times
. 1 November 2023
. Retrieved
1 November
2023
.
- ^
"Race is on at Coast Guard"
. 12 February 2019.
- ^
"Run rematch for fireys' cause"
. 21 March 2018.
- ^
"Mark Dreyfus ? Featurettes ? Justinian"
. Justinian. 17 March 2013.
- ^
"Mark Dreyfus ? Labor for Isaacs"
.
External links
[
edit
]
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