Bob Ellicott

The Honourable Bob Ellicott QC, BA, LLB
Member of the Australian Parliament for Wentworth
In office 18 May 1974 – 17 February 1981
Preceded by	Les Bury
Succeeded by	Peter Coleman
Personal details
Born	15 April 1927
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Occupation	Barrister

Robert James "Bob" Ellicott QC, BA, LLB (born 15 April 1927) is an Australian lawyer, politician and judge.^[1] Ellicott is one of only six politicians to have served in both the Parliament of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia, along with Nigel Bowen, Merv Everett, Tony Whitlam, John Reeves and Duncan Kerr.

Career

Ellicott was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1950 and was Solicitor-General of Australia from 1969 to 1973.^[2]

He was elected as the Liberal member for the Division of Wentworth in the 1974 election. He was Attorney-General in the Fraser Ministry from 1975 to 1977. Ellicott resigned as Attorney-General as a result of a dispute with Malcolm Fraser over the payment of costs in the Sankey v Whitlam and Others case,^[3] where he believed that the Commonwealth should have paid the costs of the private individual, Danny Sankey, as well as that of the politicians, Gough Whitlam, Rex Connor, Jim Cairns and Lionel Murphy, but Fraser disagreed.^[4] Ellicott was reappointed in the third Fraser Ministry (1977 to 1980) as Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Capital Territory. He was Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment from November 1980 until his resignation on 17 February 1981 to become a judge on the Federal Court of Australia.

Ellicott resigned from the court in February 1983.^[5] He is currently an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[6] On 20 November 2007, he was named as chair of the tribunal to investigate allegations of misbehaviour against the suspended Chief Justice of Fiji, Daniel Fatiaki.^[7]

In May 2006, the Australian Olympic Committee awarded him the Olympic Order of Merit, particularly in his role of establishing the Australian Institute of Sport when Minister for Home Affairs.^[8]

Personal life

He is the double cousin of Sir Garfield Barwick, also an Attorney-General, and later Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.^[9]

Notes

1. "Members of the House of Representatives since 1901". Parliamentary Handbook. Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
2. "Board of Directors". Life Education Australia. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
3. "Sankey v Whitlam [1978] HCA 43; (1978) 142 CLR 1". Australasian Legal Information Institute. 9 November 1978. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
4. Leigh, Andrew (1999). "The successful Attorney General – an oxymoron?" (PDF). Australian Law Journal 73 (2). Retrieved 21 September 2007.
5. "Alphabetical list of former judges". Federal Court of Australia. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
6. "Arbitrators". Court of Arbitration for Sport. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
7. "Fatiaki tribunal named". Fiji Times. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
8. "Kemp and Ellicott awarded Olympic Order of Merit". Australian Olympic Committee News. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
9. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/with-nod-and-wink-to-past-its-more-fodder-for-maintaining-the-rage-20120830-253c5.html