The Hon Robert McClelland MP

Recent Speaker

April 21, 2010

Robert McClelland is the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the Member for Barton, an electorate based in the St George area of Sydney.

Robert was born and raised in the St George area and still lives here with his wife, three daughters and a son. He attended Connells Point Primary School and Blakehurst High, where he was school captain in 1975.

A former junior representative footballer, he still likes to play touch football and is a proud supporter of the St George Illawarra Dragons rugby league team. His other sporting passion is surfing.

Robert has a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of NSW and a Master of Law from the University of Sydney. Before entering Federal Parliament he was a partner in the Sydney law firm Turner Freeman where he specialised in labour and sporting law.

He was first elected as the Federal Member for Barton in March 1996. He has served on several parliamentary committees, including as Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties and the Joint Select Committee on the Republic Referendum. In October 1998 Robert was appointed Shadow Attorney-General and later served in a range of shadow portfolios including Workplace Relations, Justice, Homeland Security, Defence and Foreign Affairs. Following the election of the Kevin Rudd Labor Government in November 2007, Robert was appointed Australia's 33rd Attorney-General.