Mark Dreyfus will remain in parliament while also taking up his new Special Envoy role. Photo: Mark Dreyfus Facebook.
Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus KC has been appointed as Australia’s Special Envoy for International Human Rights.
It is a role he will carry out while continuing his duties as the Member for Isaacs in the House of Representatives.
Mr Dreyfus’s appointment was announced on Friday (28 November) via a statement issued jointly by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“As Special Envoy, Mr Dreyfus will renew Australia’s tradition as a global champion for human rights — a role we have played since we were an original signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948,” they said.
“In particular, Mr Dreyfus will take a special advocacy role for the abolition of the death penalty, as well as for the rights and protections of children, older persons, people living with a disability and LGBTIQ+ individuals — all issues on which Australia has a long record of international leadership.
“Mr Dreyfus is one of the most accomplished and widely respected parliamentarians of recent decades.
“He has served as attorney-general and Cabinet secretary in two governments, and before entering parliament was a prominent barrister for 20 years.
“His high standing as a parliamentarian means he can work effectively with other parliamentary representatives in our region leading their countries’ human rights agendas.
“We thank Mr Dreyfus for agreeing to share his wealth of experience and outstanding credentials through this role, in addition to his parliamentary responsibilities.”
Mr Dreyfus served as attorney-general in 2013 under prime ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.
He was also attorney-general in the first term of the Albanese Government but was relegated to the backbench in a factional shakeup following this year’s federal election.
Political commentator and author Niki Savva’s newly published book Earthquake reveals how, before the May election, Mr Albanese had privately promised Mr Dreyfus that he would remain attorney-general after the poll, but reneged.
The Prime Minister failed to intervene to save Mr Dreyfus’s Cabinet portfolio when Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles moved to oust him in order to promote his own number man and protege Sam Rae.
“The fact that the Deputy Prime Minister had embarked on such a cold-blooded exercise to satisfy the ambition of a backbencher, and that the Prime Minister had not stopped it, also sent a chilling message to other Ministers about their value to the government and about the security of their tenure,” Savva writes in her book.
“Thanks to a brutal power play, and despite assurances from the Prime Minister in February that he (Mr Dreyfus) would remain Attorney-General after the election, there he was, without a portfolio, without a seat at the cabinet table, banished from the frontbench altogether, with no prospect of a comeback.”
The factional power play, orchestrated by Mr Marles to cause Mr Dreyfus — a member of Labor’s right — to lose the support is now seen by many in the Labor Party (according to Savva’s book) as having future ramifications for the Deputy Prime Minister.
He outraged too many with his treatment of the then attorney-general, and the Labor Party members have long memories.
“They insist that Marles, who dreamt of being leader — which is probably where it should remain, in his dreams — has reached the pinnacle of his career,” Savva writes.
The Law Council of Australia took to social media on Friday to congratulate Mr Dreyfus on his new appointment as Australia’s Special Envoy for International Human Rights.
“The Law Council recalls the important rights-related work that Mr Dreyfus progressed as Attorney-General and shares the priorities he will now advocate as Special Envoy,” it posted on LinkedIn.
“The Law Council looks forward to working with Mr Dreyfus in his new role.”
