Michael Lavarch
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The Honourable Michael Lavarch AO |
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| Member of the Australian Parliament for Fisher |
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In office 11 July 1987 – 17 April 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Peter Slipper |
| Succeeded by | Peter Slipper |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Dickson |
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In office 17 April 1993 – 2 March 1996 |
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| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Tony Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 June 1961 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) | Larissa Behrendt Linda Lavarch |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Michael Hugh Lavarch AO (born 8 June 1961) is an Australian lawyer, educator and former politician. He was the Attorney-General of Australia between 1993 and 1996, and since 2004 has been dean and professor of law at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), his alma mater.
Lavarch commenced his legal career in Brisbane as a solicitor. He gained Australian Labor Party endorsement for the electorate of Fisher in Queensland's Sunshine Coast, and was elected to the Federal Parliament at the 1987 election.
By the 1993 election, boundary changes had erased Lavarch's majority and made Fisher notionally Liberal. Lavarch contested the newly created seat of Dickson in the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane, which covered much of the Brisbane portion of his former seat. Independent Walter Pegler died very shortly before the election, making it necessary to hold a supplementary election on 17 April (the rest of the country had already voted on 13 March). Following the return of the Labor Party to government, Prime Minister Paul Keating announced the makeup of the Second Keating Ministry to be sworn in on 24 March, but kept the portfolio of Attorney-General (outside Cabinet) open for Lavarch, subject to him winning Dickson on 17 April. Lavarch won the supplementary election, defeating future Queensland Liberal leader Bruce Flegg, and was duly appointed to the ministry on 27 April.
During his political career, he was particularly interested in human rights and native title issues. He was responsible for instigating the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families in 1995, culminating in the publication of the Bringing Them Home Report. He was defeated at the 1996 election, in which Labor was cut down to only two seats in Queensland. He then returned to his legal practice.
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