Former Attorney-General George Brandis joins NSC

Former Attorney-General and most recent High Commissioner to the United Kingdom George Brandis QC will join the ANU National Security College as a Professor in the Practice of National Security, Policy and Law, from 1 July 2022.

In this joint appointment to the NSC and the ANU College of Law, Professor Brandis will make a major contribution to an expanding program on national security law. He will bring direct practitioner insights on national security policy to the NSC’s education offerings, including the Master of National Security Policy degree and a range of executive and professional development courses.

This appointment also connects with plans for growing NSC/ANU engagement with the United Kingdom, including partnership with the new UK College for National Security and a range of collaborations in policy engagement, dialogue, research and teaching in the context of AUKUS and the UK tilt to the Indo-Pacific.

As Attorney-General from 2013-2017, Professor Brandis was a member of the National Security Committee of Cabinet, had ministerial responsibility for domestic national security law and policy, and ministerial oversight of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). He oversaw the development of several tranches of important national security legislation, including the introduction of laws dealing with Foreign interference, and was closely involved with assisting the UK government in the development of similar legislation based on the Australian model. During his political career he also served as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and as Leader of the Government in the Senate. Before entering the Senate in 2000, Professor Brandis practised at the commercial bar for 15 years, specialising in commercial and competition law, and appeared in many leading cases. He also lectured in Jurisprudence at the University if Queensland Law School.

Professor Brandis joins former ASIO Director-General Duncan Lewis AO as Professor in the Practice of National Security as well former Secretary of Industry, Innovation and Science, Professor Heather Smith, who joined the ANU National Security College in 2021. Distinguished appointments such as these help to deliver the signature pedagogy of the NSC, combining practitioner perspectives with academic rigour, to prepare students and course participants for policy careers.

Photo: CEBIT AU/flickr

Source

Former Attorney-General George Brandis joins NSC

Australian Government logo
‘The National Security College is a joint initiative of the Commonwealth Government and The Australian National University’

Updated:  29 March 2024/Responsible Officer:  Head of College, National Security College/Page Contact:  Web administrator