This was published 6 years ago
Pat Brazil obituary: department head to 17 Australian attorneys-general
By Tom Sherman
Patrick (Pat) Brazil, AO, was head of the Attorney-General's Department from 1983 to 1989. He was the last career lawyer to rise through the ranks to head the department. In today's environment and public service culture, that's unlikely to happen again.
Brazil served and advised 17 attorneys-general from Sir John Spicer to Lionel Bowen. He was one of Australia's leading international and constitutional lawyers. He took these skills into private practice after he left the public service in 1989.
Pat Brazil in 1993, then chairman of the Calvary Hospital board.Credit: Bleuy Thomson
He also made a significant contribution to the Canberra community. He was the inaugural chairman of the Calvary Hospital Board and held the position for three terms, totalling nine years. He was president of the Telopea Swimming Club for four years and its patron for 25 years.
He was a devout Catholic and sang in the St Christopher's Choir for many years. He possessed an excellent singing voice and a repertoire that extended well beyond the liturgical. He was an active participant in a number of Catholic charitable organisations.
Brazil was born in Brisbane in 1930 and received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers College in Ipswich. He completed an arts/law degree in 1952, attaining first-class honours in law and a university medal.
He joined the Attorney-General's Department in Canberra in 1953. The department was then in West Block, a building shared with the Treasury, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Tax Office.
Among his cohort at that time were two other young lawyers, later known as Sir William Deane and Professor Leslie Zines.
Brazil had a rich, varied career during his 36 years with the department. From 1965 to 1969, he was seconded as legal adviser to Foreign Affairs. His international law work included:
- he led the Australian delegation to the second session of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in 1968;
- he prepared negotiations culminating in the Law of the Sea Convention in 1970;
- he helped settle the seabed (Timor Trough) treaty between Australia and Indonesia in 1972;
- he acted as agent for Australia in the French Pacific nuclear tests case in the International Court of Justice in 1975; and
- he helped settle the maritime boundary between Australia and New Guinea after 1975.
He was involved in several significant constitutional cases over his career, including:
- the second uniform tax case in 1956, the last hurrah for the states in the income-tax field;
- the Seas and Submerged Lands Act case in 1975, concerning the respective powers of the Commonwealth and the states over offshore waters; and
- The Tasmanian dam case in 1983, significantly extending the Commonwealth's external affairs power.
He also took part in the negotiations leading to the removal of residual links with Britain, in particular the cessation of appeals from decisions of Australian courts to Britain's Privy Council and the removal of the power of the British Parliament to legislate with respect to Australia. The exercise involved the passing of the Australia Act 1986 by the parliaments of both countries.
Brazil was heavily involved in the publication of attorneys-general opinions starting in 1901. He edited the first volume. The project today now extends to four volumes covering opinions up to 1950.
In law reform, he was proudest of his work on the enactment, in 1983, of section 15AB of the Acts Interpretation Act. Before this enactment, courts tended to confine the interpretation of a statute to the act. Section 15AB alllowed courts to look to extrinsic material, such as second-reading speeches, explanatory memoranda, Hansard and relevant official reports to clarify meaning when the terms of the statute were unclear.
Brazil's wife Colleen and two of this children, Patrick and Mary Anne, died before him.
He is survived by his children Nicholas, Sarah Jane and Felicity, his daughter-in-law Anne-Louise, his grandchildren Matilda, Harry, Elsie and Charlie and his great-grandchild Aria.