1. Bob Ellicott served as Solicitor-General of Australia before entering the House of Representatives at the 1974 federal election as a member of the Liberal Party.
17 Facts About Bob Ellicott
1. 2.
Bob Ellicott held senior ministerial office in the Fraser government, serving as Attorney-General, Minister for Home Affairs, the Capital Territory, and Home Affairs and the Environment.
3.
Bob Ellicott retired from politics to be appointed to the Federal Court of Australia, serving as a judge from 1981 to 1983.
4.
Bob Ellicott was born on 15 April 1927 in Moree, New South Wales.
5.
Bob Ellicott attended Fort Street High School and the University of Sydney, graduating Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.
6.
Bob Ellicott was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1950 and was Solicitor-General of Australia from 1969 to 1973.
7.
Bob Ellicott was elected as the Liberal member for the Division of Wentworth in the 1974 election.
8.
Bob Ellicott was Attorney-General in the Fraser Ministry from 1975 to 1977.
9.
Bob Ellicott resigned as Attorney-General as a result of a dispute with Malcolm Fraser over the payment of costs in the Sankey v Whitlam case, where he believed that the Commonwealth should have paid the costs of the private individual, Danny Sankey, as well as those of the politicians, Gough Whitlam, Rex Connor, Jim Cairns and Lionel Murphy, but Fraser disagreed.
10.
Bob Ellicott was reappointed to the third Fraser Ministry as Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Capital Territory.
11.
Bob Ellicott was later 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.
12.
Bob Ellicott is the only person to serve both as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General.
13.
Bob 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.
14.
Bob Ellicott resigned from the court in February 1983, in order to return to the bar and "to take an interest in public affairs again".
15.
In 2017 Bob Ellicott was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly as Attorney-General, to legal practice and innovative policy development, to advancements in global trade law, and to the international arbitration of sporting disputes.
16.
Bob Ellicott was the double cousin of Sir Garfield Barwick, who like him attended Fort Street and the University of Sydney, was an Attorney-General, and was later Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.
17.
Bob Ellicott died on 31 October 2022, at the age of 95.