Page 2281 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 15 September 1992
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Madam Speaker, as I said, at one time law officers were not as well thought of as ours, and with good reason. We all remember hearing of Sir Walter Raleigh at school. I guess that most of us remember him only as the gallant who spread his cloak across the puddle so that Queen Elizabeth would not get the hem of her dress muddy. He came to a sticky end. He was executed as a result of a charge of treason. Some reports have it that all he did was offend James I by not actively supporting that Scottish king's aspirations to the English throne. At his trial he faced the Attorney-General, Sir Edward Coke, and a reportedly unsympathetic and perhaps even biased bench. Coke's attitude to the duties of his office can be gleaned from the following extract from his opening address:
Thou art a monster; thou hast an English face, but a Spanish heart ... you are the absolutest traitor that ever was ... I protest before God, I never knew a clearer treason. Thou art the most vile execrable traitor that ever lived ... Well I will now make it appear to the world that there never lived a viler viper upon the face of the earth than thou.
Madam Speaker, incidents such as befell Sir Walter led to the offices of Attorney-General and Solicitor-General being described in the eighteenth century as:
... rocks upon which many aspiring lawyers have made shipwreck of their virtue and human nature. Some of these gentlemen have acted at the bar as if they thought themselves, by the duty of their places, absolved from all obligations of truth, honour and decency. But their names are upon record, and will be transmitted to after-ages with those characters of reproach and abhorrence that are due to the worst sort of murderers; those that murder under the sanction of justice.
Not even the reasonable man in the street who has become so popular in this place, even wearing a white coat, would think of describing our Attorneys-General in this way. To date, the following members of this Assembly have held that office: Rosemary Follett, from 18 May 1989 to 5 December 1989; Trevor Kaine, from 5 December 1989 to 14 December 1989; Bernard Collaery, from 14 December 1989 to 29 May 1991; Trevor Kaine again, from 29 May 1991 to 7 June 1991; Rosemary Follett, from 7 June 1991 to 18 June 1991; and Terry Connolly, from 18 June 1991 to the present.
Some idea of the importance of the office to the Territory can be got from the fact that only the title "Chief Minister" has a longer record. Madam Speaker, as all members know, that title was first held in this Territory by Rosemary Follett on self-government day, 11 May 1989. Madam Speaker, no doubt Gary Humphries and Terry Connolly will be able to confirm this, but I understand that the ACT has contributed two members to one of the most exclusive clubs around. Rosemary Follett and Trevor Kaine are non-lawyers who have held the office of Attorney-General.
Madam Speaker, the attitude of the Territory's Attorneys to the duties of their office and, for that matter, the attitude of this and, I am sure, all previous Territory governments to the office is apparent if one examines the details of the case that convinced the Government that this Bill should be brought forward.
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