Leading lawmaker George Brandis joins ANU

Former Attorney-General and most recent High Commissioner to the United Kingdom George Brandis QC will join The Australian National University (ANU) in a high-profile appointment to help drive the University’s vital work on national security and the law.

Professor Brandis has been appointed a Professor in the Practice of National Security and will be primarily based at the National Security College in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

He will also lend his incredible expertise to the ANU College of Law, where he will teach.

Professor Brandis will join ANU from 1 July following his four-year appointment as the Australian High Commissioner to the UK, which concluded in May 2022. His work will focus on national security, law and policy.

The position of Professor in the Practice of National Security brings to ANU the opportunity for students to engage directly with former senior officials who have practical experience at the highest levels of national security policymaking and law reform. 

A long-time politician, Professor Brandis was a minister in three governments. During his time in the Australian Parliament, Professor Brandis served as a Senator for Queensland between 2000 and 2018. He served as Attorney-General from 2013-2017.

As Attorney-General he 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. 

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

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.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Civil Law from Magdalen College, Oxford.