Law, justice & securityDepartment of StateExists today
Attorney-General's Department
AGD
1 January 1901 – present
The Department of State responsible for the Commonwealth's legal affairs: legal policy and law reform, the federal courts and tribunals, administrative and family law, human rights, integrity and Commonwealth legal services. At various times it has also held industrial relations, security intelligence, federal policing, customs, emergency management and the arts.
How it came into existence
Established on 1 January 1901 as one of the seven original Departments of State, created by the Governor-General in Council at the inauguration of the Commonwealth under section 64 of the Constitution. Alfred Deakin was the first Attorney-General and Robert Garran, the first Commonwealth public servant, its first secretary; it had no Commonwealth predecessor.
Changes during its life
- 1932The separate staff of the Department of Industry were abolished and that department was thereafter administered within the Attorney-General's Department, the Attorney-General also holding the Industry portfolio, until it was replaced in 1940.
- Law enforcement policy and the Australian Federal Police
The Department of the Special Minister of State was abolished in the July 1987 restructure and its law enforcement responsibilities passed to the Attorney-General's Department.
- Portfolio responsibility for customs and the Australian Customs Service
The Australian Customs Service moved from the industry portfolio to the Attorney-General's portfolio, under a Minister for Justice and Customs.
- Emergency management (Emergency Management Australia)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services
- Family violence prevention programs
- Classification policy and the national classification scheme
- Administrative support for the Classification Board and Classification Review Board
- Territories administration
- Took over functions from Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport · 18 September 2013
- Arts and cultural policy (Office for the Arts)
- National collecting institutions
The Abbott government's Administrative Arrangements Order of 18 September 2013 dissolved the department and placed the arts in the Attorney-General's portfolio.
- Advice on the Commonwealth administrative law system
- Commonwealth legal services
- Commonwealth litigation
- Took over functions from Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business · 1 February 2020
- Industrial relations and workplace relations policy
- Fair Work framework
- Legal services to the Commonwealth
Established as an office within the department.
- Enforcement of Commonwealth law
Raised as a new force under the Attorney-General.
- Commonwealth peace officers
Formed on the Attorney-General's decision, with Commonwealth peace officers appointed under the Peace Officers Act 1925 as its first constables.
- Industrial relations
- Administration of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act
- Civil security intelligence
Established within the Attorney-General's portfolio.
- Drafting of bills
- Legal aid
Established as an office within the department.
- Commonwealth Police Force (matters under the Commonwealth Police Act 1957)
- Police forces of the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island
Wikipedia names the Attorney-General's Department as the preceding department for the police functions.
- Consumer affairs
Source of the consumer affairs function not confirmed against the AAO.
- Bankruptcy and insolvency
- Patents, trade marks and designs
- Copyright
- Trade practices regulation
- Administration of film and literature censorship
Formed from Commonwealth censorship administration in the Attorney-General's portfolio; exact branch lineage not confirmed.
- Strategic criminal intelligence assessment
- Bankruptcy administration
- Official Receivers and Official Trustee
- Consumer affairs
Consumer affairs had been in the Attorney-General's portfolio under the Keating government.
- National computer emergency response
- Cyber security engagement with critical infrastructure owners
- Part split off to form Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government · 14 September 2010
- Administration of the non-self-governing territories
Territories had been with the Attorney-General's Department since December 2007.
- Drafting of legislative instruments
- Publishing of Commonwealth legislation
The department's Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing moved to OPC.
- Customs and border control policy responsibility (the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service portfolio)
The Administrative Arrangements Order of 18 September 2013 moved the customs and border control matter, and the Service with it, from the Attorney-General's portfolio; the Service itself was merged into the department on 1 July 2015.
- Arts and cultural policy (Ministry for the Arts)
- National collecting institutions
- Movable cultural heritage
- Classification (previously described as censorship)
- Copyright policy
- National security and criminal justice policy
- Protective security policy
- Critical infrastructure security (Critical Infrastructure Centre)
- Cyber security (CERT Australia)
- Emergency management (Emergency Management Australia)
- Industrial and workplace relations policy
- Fair Work framework
- Work health and safety and workers' compensation policy
- Advice on the Commonwealth administrative law system
The functions of the defunded 1976 council had been absorbed into the department in 2015.
Main functions
- Legal advice and legal services to the Commonwealth
- Legal policy, law reform and administrative law
- Federal courts, tribunals and family law
- Human rights, privacy and freedom of information
- Integrity and anti-corruption policy
- Copyright, native title and international legal cooperation
- National security, federal policing and emergency management policy (to 2017)
- Conciliation and arbitration (1904–1928) and industrial relations (2020–2022)
Where it sits
- Type of body
- Non-corporate Commonwealth entity
- Portfolio
- Attorney-General's
- Accountable authority
- Secretary of the Department – Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 section 12(2) item 1
- ABN
- 92 661 124 436
Bodies in this portfolio (79)
- Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office 1903–1984
- High Court of Australia 1903–present
- Trade Marks Office 1906–1933
- Designs Office 1907–1933
- Commonwealth Police Force 1917–1919
- Commonwealth Investigation Branch 1919–1946
- Federal Capital Territory Police 1927–1938
- Commonwealth Film Censorship Board 1928–1996
- Federal Court of Bankruptcy 1930–1977
- Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory 1934–1992
- Commonwealth Security Service 1941–1946
- Peace Officer Guard 1942–1960
- Commonwealth Investigation Service 1946–1960
- Commissioner of Trade Practices 1967–1974
- Copyright Tribunal of Australia 1969–present
- Films Board of Review 1970–1996
- Office of Parliamentary Counsel 1970–present
- Australian Legal Aid Office 1973–1990
- Law Reform Commission 1975–1997
- Office of the Commissioner for Community Relations 1975–1986
- Administrative Review Council 1976–2015
- Family Court of Australia 1976–2021
- Administrative Appeals Tribunal 1976–2024
- Federal Court of Australia 1977–present
- Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman 1977–present
- National Companies and Securities Commission 1980–1991
- Security Appeals Tribunal 1980–1995
- Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence 1981–2003
- Human Rights Commission 1981–1986
- Federal Police Disciplinary Tribunal 1982–2006
- Special Prosecutor 1982–1984
- Accounting Standards Review Board 1984–1991
- Australian Government Solicitor 1984–2015
- Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions 1984–present
- National Crime Authority 1984–2003
- Australian Protective Service 1984–2004
- Australian Customs Service 1985–2009
- Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 1986–2009
- Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security 1987–present
- Anti-Dumping Authority 1988–1998
- Coastwatch 1988–2005
- Office of Film and Literature Classification 1988–2006
- Cash Transaction Reports Agency 1989–1992
- Australian Emergency Management Institute 1993–2015
- National Native Title Tribunal 1994–present
- Office of Strategic Crime Assessments 1994–2003
- Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia 1996–2013
- Australian Law Reform Commission 1997–present
- Trade Measures Review Officer 1998–2013
- Federal Magistrates Court 1999–2013
- CrimTrac Agency 2000–2016
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner 2000–2010
- Royal Commission to Inquire into the Centenary House Lease 2004
- Joint Offshore Protection Command 2005–2006
- Inquiry into certain Australian companies in relation to the UN Oil-for-Food Programme 2005–2006
- Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity 2006–2023
- Australian Human Rights Commission 2009–present
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner 2010–present
- Independent National Security Legislation Monitor 2011–present
- Defence Abuse Response Taskforce 2012–2016
- Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse 2013–2017
- Federal Circuit Court of Australia 2013–2021
- Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program 2013–2014
- Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption 2014–2015
- Immigration Assessment Authority 2015–2024
- Royal Commission into the Child Protection and Youth Detention Systems of the Government of the Northern Territory 2016–2017
- Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry 2017–2019
- National Office for Child Safety 2018–present
- Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety 2018–2021
- Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability 2019–2023
- Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements 2020
- Office of the Special Investigator 2021–present
- Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide 2021–2024
- Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia 2021–present
- Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme 2022–2023
- National Anti-Corruption Commission 2023–present
- Administrative Review Council 2024–present
- Administrative Review Tribunal 2024–present
- Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion 2026–present
Lineage
Loading lineage…
Sources
Primary sources
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 1 January 1901 (created it)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 May 2025, as amended to 1 July 2025 (sets it out)
47 more Administrative Arrangements Orders set it out
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 4 April 1912 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 22 September 1915 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 April 1932 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 16 November 1950 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 19 December 1972 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 22 December 1975 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 11 March 1983 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 11 March 1983, as amended to 30 January 1987 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 11 March 1996 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 26 November 2001 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 18 December 2003 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 26 October 2004 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 16 December 2004 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 21 September 2006 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 21 September 2006, as amended to 30 January 2007 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 3 December 2007 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 25 January 2008 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 14 September 2010 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 14 October 2010 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 14 December 2011 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 9 February 2012 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 16 May 2013 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 18 September 2013 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 12 December 2013 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 23 December 2014 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 9 July 2015 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 30 September 2015 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 30 September 2015, as amended to 18 February 2016 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 30 September 2015, as amended to 19 July 2016 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 1 September 2016 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 1 September 2016, as amended to 27 October 2016 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 1 September 2016, as amended to 13 April 2017 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 19 April 2018 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 19 April 2018, as amended to 28 August 2018 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 4 April 2019 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 29 May 2019 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 29 May 2019, as amended to 1 September 2019 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 5 December 2019 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 5 December 2019, as amended to 2 April 2020 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 18 March 2021 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 1 June 2022 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 23 June 2022 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 October 2022 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 October 2022, as amended to 8 June 2023 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 October 2022, as amended to 3 August 2023 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 October 2022, as amended to 29 July 2024 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 May 2025 (sets it out)
- List of Commonwealth entities and companies under the PGPA Act, 1 July 2026 (Department of Finance)
- Australian Government Organisations Register (Department of Finance, data.gov.au) (listed from 11 December 2014 to the latest release (30 June 2026))