Information on Australia’s legal system is available at the Attorney-General’s Department’s web site.
The Hon Philip Ruddock MP was sworn-in as Australian Attorney-General on 7 October 2003. The Attorney-General is the first law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and the senior Minister of the Attorney-General and the Minister for Justice and Customs. The Attorney-General is an elected Member of Parliament and a senior Minister in Government, not an official. The Attorney-General is a member of Cabinet.
Further information is available at the Attorney-General's web site.
Senator, David Johnston was appointed to his current position of Minister for Justice and Customs in March 2007. Senator Johnston has portfolio responsibility for Commonwealth law enforcement agencies including the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Customs Service, including Coastwatch, the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Institute of Criminology, Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and CrimTrac. Senator Johnston is also responsible for Commonwealth Criminal Law and Justice issues including extradition, international transfer of prisoners, mutual assistance, anti-money laundering strategy, cybercrime, fraud, the model criminal code, proceeds of crime, firearm regulation, witness protection and the National Community Crime Prevention Programme.
Further information is available at the Minister for Justice and Customs’ web site.
