Bob Ellicott

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The Honourable
Bob Ellicott
AC, KC
Judge of the Federal Court of Australia
In office
2 March 1981 – 24 February 1983
Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment
In office
3 November 1980 – 17 February 1981
Prime MinisterMalcolm Fraser
Preceded byHimself (Home Affairs)
David Thomson (Environment)
Succeeded byMichael MacKellar
Minister for Home Affairs
In office
20 December 1977 – 3 November 1980
Prime MinisterMalcolm Fraser
Preceded byNew position
Succeeded byHimself
Minister for the Capital Territory
In office
20 December 1977 – 3 November 1980
Prime MinisterMalcolm Fraser
Preceded byTony Staley
Succeeded byMichael Hodgman
Attorney-General of Australia
In office
22 December 1975 – 6 September 1977
Prime MinisterMalcolm Fraser
Preceded byKep Enderby
Succeeded byPeter Durack
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Wentworth
In office
18 May 1974 – 17 February 1981
Preceded byLes Bury
Succeeded byPeter Coleman
Personal details
Born(1927-04-15)15 April 1927
Moree, New South Wales, Australia
Died31 October 2022(2022-10-31) (aged 95)
Political partyLiberal
OccupationBarrister

Robert James Ellicott, AC, KC (15 April 1927 – 31 October 2022) was an Australian barrister, politician and judge. He served as Solicitor-General of Australia (1969–1973) before entering the House of Representatives at the 1974 federal election as a member of the Liberal Party. He held senior ministerial office in the Fraser government, serving as Attorney-General (1975–1977), Minister for Home Affairs (1977–1980), the Capital Territory (1977–1980), and Home Affairs and the Environment (1980–1981). He retired from politics to be appointed to the Federal Court of Australia, serving as a judge from 1981 to 1983.

Early life[edit]

Ellicott was born on 15 April 1927 in Moree, New South Wales.[1] He attended Fort Street High School and the University of Sydney,[2] graduating Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.[1]

Ellicott was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1950 and was Solicitor-General of Australia from 1969 to 1973.[3] He was appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1964.[1] As solicitor-general, Ellicott "played a major role in leading the High Court to significantly more liberal interpretations of Commonwealth powers vis-a-vis the States".[4]

Politics[edit]

Ellicott was elected as the Liberal member for the Division of Wentworth in the 1974 election.[5] He was Attorney-General in the Fraser Ministry from 1975 to 1977. Ellicott resigned as Attorney-General as a result of a dispute with Malcolm Fraser over the payment of costs in the Sankey v Whitlam case,[6] where he believed that the Commonwealth should have paid the costs of the private individual, Danny Sankey, as well as those of the politicians, Gough Whitlam, Rex Connor, Jim Cairns and Lionel Murphy, but Fraser disagreed.[7]

Ellicott was reappointed to the third Fraser Ministry (1977 to 1980) as Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Capital Territory. As home affairs minister he played a key role in the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), prompted by Australia's poor performance at the 1976 Summer Olympics.[8] In 1978 he also cancelled Film Australia's funding of a film adaptation of The Unknown Industrial Prisoner on the grounds it was uncommercial, a rare instance of political interference in the Australian film industry.[9][10] He was later Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment from November 1980 until his resignation on 17 February 1981 to become a judge on the Federal Court of Australia.

Ellicott is the only person to serve both as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General.[11]

Judicial career and later activities[edit]

Ellicott is one of only six politicians to have served in both the Parliament of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia, along with Nigel Bowen, Merv Everett, Tony Whitlam, John Reeves and Duncan Kerr. He resigned from the court in February 1983,[12] in order to return to the bar and "to take an interest in public affairs again".[13] Writing for The Canberra Times, Jack Waterford assessed him as an "outstanding judge" who had "particularly demonstrated his ability, and his radicalism, in his work in administrative law – the field that he, as a former Attorney-General, played a considerable role in creating".[4]

As of 2007 he was an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport.[14] On 20 November 2007, he was named as chair of the tribunal to investigate allegations of misbehaviour against the suspended Chief Justice of Fiji, Daniel Fatiaki.[15]

Honours[edit]

In May 2006, the Australian Olympic Committee awarded him the Olympic Order of Merit, particularly in his role of establishing the Australian Institute of Sport when Minister for Home Affairs.[16] In October 2016, he was inducted as a General Member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.[17] In 2017 Ellicott was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly as Attorney-General, to legal practice and innovative policy development, to advancements in global trade law, and to the international arbitration of sporting disputes.[18]

Personal life[edit]

Ellicott was the double cousin of Sir Garfield Barwick, who like him attended Fort Street and the University of Sydney, was also an Attorney-General, and was later Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.[19]

Ellicott died on 31 October 2022, at the age of 95.[20][21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Biography for ELLICOTT, the Hon. Robert James, QC". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  2. ^ Sports Australia Hall of Fame - Bob Ellicott
  3. ^ "Board of Directors". Life Education Australia. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  4. ^ a b Waterford, Jack (19 January 1983). "Ellicott: profile of an outstanding judge". The Canberra Times.
  5. ^ "Members of the House of Representatives since 1901". Parliamentary Handbook. Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  6. ^ Sankey v Whitlam [1978] HCA 43, (1978) 142 CLR 1 (9 November 1978), High Court.
  7. ^ Leigh, Andrew (1999). "The successful Attorney General – an oxymoron?" (PDF). Australian Law Journal. 73 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 May 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  8. ^ "Ellicott created an Institute and with it a vision for Australian sport". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  9. ^ David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p16
  10. ^ Rod Bishop & Peter Beilby, "Ken Cameron", Cinema Papers, March–April 1979 p 258
  11. ^ "ParlInfo - Search Results".
  12. ^ "Alphabetical list of former judges". Federal Court of Australia. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  13. ^ Waterford, Jack (19 January 1983). "Ellicott resigns from the bench". The Canberra Times.
  14. ^ "Arbitrators". Court of Arbitration for Sport. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  15. ^ "Fatiaki tribunal named". Fiji Times. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
  16. ^ "Kemp and Ellicott awarded Olympic Order of Merit". Australian Olympic Committee News. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  17. ^ "King Wally becomes a Legend as Michelle Payne rides off with the 'The [sic] Don'". Sport Australia Hall of Fame website. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia" (PDF). Australia Day 2017 Honours List. Governor-General of Australia. 26 January 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  19. ^ "With nod (And wink) to past, it's more fodder for maintaining the rage". 30 August 2012.
  20. ^ "Robert James Ellicott: Death Notice – Sydney, New South Wales". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  21. ^ "AOC mourns loss of The Honourable Robert James "Bob" Ellicott AC KC". Olympics.com.au. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
Political offices
Preceded by Attorney General of Australia
1975–1977 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for the Capital Territory
1977–1980 		Succeeded by
New title Minister for Home Affairs
1977–1980 		Succeeded by
Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment
1980–1981
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Division of Wentworth
1974–1981 		Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by Solicitor-General of Australia
1969–1973 		Succeeded by
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