Thank you, Katherine, for that introduction. It is a privilege to be on Ngunnawal Country with you all today and I acknowledge any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are attending today.
Welcome to your grad year! I’m told there’s 56 of you. That’s a large group – and it means plenty of mutual support.
That is a pretty wonderful thing.
My first graduate job was as a Field Officer for the Northern Land Council. It was an incredible opportunity that allowed me to work closely with Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory – and it set me on the path to the law.
I imagine most of you started this graduate program with a mix of emotions. Excitement, of course. Curiosity about what working in the law and policy actually means… and maybe a bit of uncertainty. Have I made the right decision? Does Canberra really need this many roundabouts?
Let me reassure you – wherever you came from, however you got here, you are exactly where you are meant to be – and you should all be very proud.
This is not an opportunity that many graduates get – because this department-the Attorney-General’s Department-is not just another public service agency. It lies at the heart of everything government does.
You might not always see AGD in the headlines, but if something significant is happening-a landmark piece of domestic law reform, or international legal advancements-AGD is why it happened.
AGD are the quiet achievers. The ones making sure that when decisions are made, they are grounded in the rule of law. That they are legally sound, and-at their best-capable of making Australia a fairer, safer, and more just country.
The work is not always glamorous – mine isn’t either.
For every big reform, there’s also a lot of work that happens behind the scenes. Days spent wrestling with policy details and countless drafts of ministerial briefs.
But that’s the job. And that’s the privilege. And I hope it excites you all – because it should.
This department has been at the centre of some of the biggest legal and policy reforms in the country.
Just last year, we passed 16 pieces of legislation, established the Administrative Review Tribunal – or ART, and brought ASIO back under the Attorney-General’s portfolio. We have appointed 375 members to the ART through a merit-based appointment process.
We delivered major reforms, from strengthening our anti-money laundering laws, to overhauling family law to better protect women and children.
We improved justice for victims of sexual violence and gave Australians new privacy rights, including the ability to sue for serious invasions of privacy.
We also secured a $3.9 billion ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Access to Justice Partnership-because access to justice should never depend on where you live, or how much money you have.
None of that happens without the hard work of this department – and you are now part of it.
This year is no different.
We might be in an election year – but our reform agenda continues.
Our hate crimes legislation is before the parliament. We are working on criminalising sextortion, and reforms in copyright and AI, and we are establishing an independent Commonwealth Parole Board – ensuring experts with relevant experience in law enforcement, rehabilitation and victims’ perspectives make parole decisions.
Internationally, Australia, through the work of AGD, continues to seek to bring justice to victims and families of those who were killed by the downing of MH17.
When you work at AGD, you’re shaping the legal framework of the nation. You’re contributing to decisions that will impact generations to come.
There will come a moment when you’ll see the results of your work out in the world. It might be a law you helped draft being debated in Parliament. Or a piece of legal advice that changes the course of a major decision. It might even be a seemingly small reform – that makes a profound difference in someone’s life.
That’s when you’ll know – all those hours, all those meetings, all those footnotes in your legal advice – they mattered.
Welcome to the Attorney-General’s Department. I look forward to seeing what you achieve.
Thank you.
