George Brandis joined ANU in June 2022 as a Professor in the Practice of National Security, Policy and Law, in a joint appointment with the National Security College and the ANU College of Law.

Professor Brandis is a graduate of the University of Queensland and the University of Oxford. He is a barrister by profession, specialising in commercial and competition law. He also lectured at the University of Queensland Law School.

He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 – 2018 and served as a Minister in the Governments of John Howard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. He was Australia’s 36th Attorney-General in the Abbott and Turnbull Governments, and was also the Leader of the Government in the Senate under Prime Minister Turnbull. Among other Parliamentary roles, he was at various times the Chairman of the Senate Economics Committee, the Chairman of the Senate Privileges Committee, and the ranking Opposition member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

Upon retiring from Parliament in 2018, he became Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, serving for four years until May 2022.

In addition to his ANU role, he is a columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on legal and political topics.