Mark Dreyfus

Mark Alfred Dreyfus  (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
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. 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.

Legal career
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.
 
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.

Parliamentary career

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.  At the 2007 election, he defeated the Liberal candidate, Ross Fox, gaining a 5.9-point swing to Labor.

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. 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.

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', Dreyfus was re-elected with a 3.45 percent swing in his favour.

Dreyfus was again comfortably re-elected in the 2022 Australian federal election, 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.

Dreyfus is a member of Labor's right faction. He is a strong advocate for action on climate change and for the establishment a federal anti-corruption agency. Dreyfus was a vocal supporter of the 'yes' campaign during the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey and a vocal opponent against Abbott government era funding reductions to climate science research at the CSIRO.

Attorney-General in Rudd–Gillard government
On 2 February 2013, Dreyfus was promoted to Attorney-General and as Minister for Emergency Management after the resignation of Nicola Roxon. 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.

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. On 1 April 2014, the ICJ handed down its decision in favour of Australia that Japan cease whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Shadow Attorney-General

Dreyfus served as Labor's Shadow Attorney-General from 2013 to 2022, where he championed the establishment of a Federal Integrity Commission and greater funding for community legal centres.

Attorney-General in Albanese government 
Following Labor's victory in the 2022 Australian federal election, Dreyfus was appointed as Attorney-General in the Albanese government on 31 May 2022. 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. In September 2022, Dreyfus presented the legislation to create a national anti-corruption commission to Parliament, and the bill was passed on 30 November.

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. 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.

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.

Dreyfus is a member of the Parliamentary Friends of the IHRA, which has been advocating for universities to adopt a controversial definition of antisemitism.

Personal life
Dreyfus married Chilean-born Deborah Chemke. The couple had three children, Joe, Tom and Laura. Deborah died on 1 November 2023.

Dreyfus is a keen swimmer, cyclist and runner and is a frequent participant in open water swims and fun runs within his electorate.

Dreyfus speaks fluent Spanish and has stated that, had he not become a lawyer, he would have liked to become a park ranger in the Alpine National Park.

He is a supporter of the St Kilda Football Club.

See also
 First Gillard Ministry
 Second Gillard Ministry
 Second Rudd Ministry
 Albanese Ministry
List of Jewish members of the Australian parliament

References

External links
 
 Mark Dreyfus website
 The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC, MP at the Parliament of Australia website

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1956 births
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Labor Right politicians
Australian people of German-Jewish descent
Australian King's Counsel
Attorneys-General of Australia
Jewish Australian politicians
Living people
Melbourne Law School alumni
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Isaacs
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
People educated at Melbourne High School
21st-century King's Counsel
21st-century Australian politicians
Albanese government
Politicians from Perth, Western Australia