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Attorney-General of Western Australia

Chief law officer for the state of western Australia, Australia

Field	Value
post	Attorney-General
body	Western Australia
insignia	Western Australian Coat of Arms.svg
insigniasize	120px
insigniacaption	Western Australian coat of arms
flag	Flag of Western Australia.svg
flagsize	120px
flagcaption	Flag of Western Australia
image	Tony Buti.jpg
incumbent	Tony Buti
incumbentsince	19 March 2025
department	Department of Justice
style	The Honourable
member_of
reports_to	Premier of Western Australia
seat	Dumas House, Perth
nominator	Premier of Western Australia
appointer	Governor of Western Australia
appointer_qualified	on the advice of the premier
termlength	At the governor's pleasure
formation	1831
first	William Mackie
(as Advocate-General)
website

(as Advocate-General)

The Attorney-General of Western Australia is the member of the Government of Western Australia responsible for maintenance and improvement of Western Australia's system of law and justice. Before the advent of representative government in 1870, the title was Advocate-General of Western Australia. The Attorney-General must be a qualified legal practitioner. When there are none in the cabinet, a lay person is sometimes appointed to the office of Minister for Justice.

The current Attorney-General of Western Australia, since 19 March 2025, is Tony Buti who administers the portfolio through the Department of Justice and a range of other agencies.

List

This is a list of Attorneys-General of Western Australia, or any precedent titles. The office of Attorney-General was not always filled: the Australian Parliamentary Library notes that where there was no lawyer among the ministers elected, there would be a Minister for Justice instead of an Attorney-General.

Order	Minister	Party	Premier	Title	Term start	Term end	Time in office
	William Mackie	none	Advocate-General	1831	1834	years
	George Fletcher Moore	1834	1846	years
	Richard West Nash	Acting Advocate-General	1846	1847	years
()	George Fletcher Moore	Advocate-General	1847	1852	years
	B. W. Vigors	Acting Advocate-General	1852	1854	years
	George Frederick Stone	Advocate-General	1854	1857	years
	Richard Burnie	1857	1859	years
()	George Frederick Stone	1860	1870	years
	Robert John Walcott	Attorney-General	4 November 1870	December 1872
	Sir Henry Hicks Hocking	December 1872
	Sir George Walpole Leake	30 June 1874	16 January 1875
()	Henry Hicks Hocking	16 January 1875	25 February 1879
	Sir George Walpole Leake	1 March 1879	24 November 1879
	Edward Albert Stone	24 November 1879	21 March 1880
()	Sir George Walpole Leake	21 March 1880	21 March 1881
	Alexander Onslow	21 March 1881	9 April 1883
()	Sir George Walpole Leake	9 April 1883	10 July 1883
	Alfred Hensman	10 July 1883	18 June 1886
	Septimus Burt	19 June 1886	3 December 1886
	Charles Warton	9 December 1886	December 1890
()	Septimus Burt		none	Forrest	29 December 1890	27 October 1897
	Richard Pennefather		27 October 1897	20 March 1901
	William Sayer		Throssell	25 March 1901	27 May 1901
	George Leake		Leake	27 May 1901	21 November 1901
	Frederick Moorhead		Morgans	21 November 1901	23 December 1901
()	George Leake		Leake	23 December 1901	24 June 1902
	Walter James		James	1 July 1902	10 August 1904
	Norbert Keenan		Ministerialist	Moore	Attorney-General	14 May 1906	14 May 1909
	John Nanson		Ministerialist	Wilson	Attorney-General	16 September 1910	7 October 1911
	Thomas Walker			Labor	Scadden	7 October 1911	27 July 1916
	Robert Robinson			Liberal	Wilson	27 July 1916
		Nationalist	Lefroy
		Colebatch
	Thomas Draper			Mitchell	17 May 1919	12 March 1921
	Thomas Davy			Nationalist	Mitchell	Attorney-General	24 April 1930	18 February 1933
	Hubert Parker			Labor	Collier	22 February 1933	8 April 1933
	Robert Ross McDonald			Liberal	McLarty	Attorney-General	1 April 1947	5 January 1948
	Arthur Abbott			5 January 1948	23 February 1953
	Arthur Watts			Liberal	Brand	Attorney-General	2 April 1959	31 January 1962
	Ron Bertram			Labor	Tonkin	Attorney-General	3 March 1971	30 September 1971
	Tom Evans			12 October 1971	8 April 1974
	Ian Medcalf			Liberal	Court	Attorney-General	22 December 1975	25 January 1982
		O'Connor	25 January 1982	25 February 1983
	Joe Berinson			Labor	Burke	25 February 1983
		Dowding
		Lawrence
	Cheryl Edwardes			Liberal	Court	16 February 1993	21 December 1995
	Peter Foss			21 December 1995	16 February 2001
	Jim McGinty			Labor	Gallop	16 February 2001
		Carpenter
	Christian Porter			Liberal	Barnett	23 September 2008	12 June 2012
	Michael Mischin			28 June 2012	17 March 2017
	John Quigley			Labor	McGowan		8 June 2023
		Cook	8 June 2023	19 March 2025
	Tony Buti			19 March 2025	incumbent

References

(28 March 2013). "Justice Ministers of Western Australia". Parliament of Western Australia.
"Membership of the Legislative Council, 1832-70". Parliament of Western Australia.
"List of Australian Attorneys-General". Parliament of Australia.
E. M. Russell, ‘Early Lawyers of Western Australia’, Journal and Proceedings (Western Australian Historical Society), vol 4, part 3, 1951, pp 32-53
(8 December 1870). "Events of the Month". [[Fremantle Herald.
(12 October 1872). "Summary for the Mails". The Herald.
(15 February 1873). "Arrival of the English and Colonial Mails". The Herald.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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