Version incorporating amendments as at
6 September 2023
table of provisions
Section Page
1 Short title 1
2 Repeal 1
3 Performance of Attorney-General's functions by Minister 2
4 Office of Solicitor-General 2
5 Functions of Solicitor-General 3
6 Pensions 3
7 Salary sacrifice 6
Schedule 7
Endnotes 8
1 General information 8
2 Table of Amendments 10
3 Explanatory details 12
Version No.031
Attorney-General and Solicitor-General Act 1972
No. 8305 of 1972
Version incorporating amendments as at
6 September 2023
An Act relating to the Offices of Attorney-General and
Solicitor-General.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say):
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General Act 1972.
2 Repeal
(1) The Acts mentioned in the Schedule to the extent thereby expressed to be repealed are hereby repealed accordingly.
(2) Except as in this Act expressly or by necessary implication provided all persons things and circumstances appointed or created by or under the repealed Acts or existing or continuing under such Acts immediately before the commencement of this Act shall under and subject to this Act continue to have the same status operation and effect as they respectively would have had if such Acts had not been so repealed.
S. 3 amended by No. 25/2023 s. 7(Sch. 1 item 3.1).
3 Performance of Attorney-General's functions by Minister
Where by virtue of any rule of law or practice the Attorney-General is entitled to exercise any power or required to perform any duty, the power may be exercised or the duty performed by any Minister for the time being acting for or on the behalf of the Attorney-General.
No. 6374 s. 3.
4 Office of Solicitor-General
S. 4(1) amended by Nos 51/2003 s. 3, 25/2023 s. 7(Sch. 1 item 3.2).
(1) The Governor in Council may subject to this Act appoint one of Her Majesty's counsel or His Majesty's counsel or a Senior Counsel to be the Solicitor-General and may remove any person so appointed.
(2) The office of Solicitor-General shall not be held by a responsible Minister of the Crown.
(3) The Solicitor-General—
S. 4(3)(a) amended by Nos 9019
s. 2(1)(Sch. item 6), 9462
s. 2(a) (as amended by No. 9549
s. 2(1)(Sch. item 9)), substituted by No. 109/1994 s. 34(4)(a).
(a) shall be paid such salary and allowances as are for the time being payable to a Judge of the Supreme Court (other than the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal or a Judge of Appeal);
S. 4(3)(b) amended by No. 23/2008 s. 19(1).
(b) shall not engage in the practice of his or her profession nor in any other employment except in the exercise of the functions of his or her office.
No. 6374 s. 4.
5 Functions of Solicitor-General
The Solicitor-General—
S. 5(a) amended by No. 25/2023 s. 7(Sch. 1 item 3.3).
(a) may act as counsel for the Crown in right of Victoria and may perform such other duties of counsel as the Attorney-General directs;
(b) subject to this Act may exercise any powers and functions conferred on the Solicitor-General by any Act;
S. 5(c) inserted by No. 35/1996
s. 446.
(c) has precedence after the Attorney-General in all cases whatever.
No. 6374 s. 5.
6 Pensions
S. 6(1) amended by No. 9019 s. 2(1)(Sch. item 6), substituted by No. 9462 s. 2(b), amended by Nos 109/1994 s. 34(4)(b)(i)(ii), 23/2008 s. 19(2).
(1) The Solicitor-General and the partner and children of the Solicitor-General shall be entitled to pensions in the same circumstances and at the same rates and on the same terms and conditions as a judge of the Supreme Court (other than the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal or a Judge of Appeal) and the partner and children of such a judge under Part III of the Constitution Act 1975 and any such pension shall be liable to be suspended or determined in the same circumstances and to the same extent as pensions under said Part III are liable to be suspended or determined.
S. 6(2) amended by No. 9019
s. 2(1)(Sch. item 6), repealed by No. 9462
s. 2(b), new s. 6(2) inserted by No. 19/2001 s. 3(1).
(2) A pension under this section may be commuted in the same circumstances and to the same extent as pensions under sections 83AC, 83AF and 83AI of the Constitution Act 1975 may be commuted and for that purpose sections 83AA to 83AI of that Act apply with such modifications as are necessary.
S. 6(3) repealed by No. 9462
s. 2(b),
new s. 6(3) inserted by No. 79/2006 s. 3.
(3) If, on the expiration of his or her term of office as Solicitor-General, a person who served as Solicitor-General for not less than 10 years is not under subsection (1) entitled to a pension only because he or she has not attained the age of 65 years—
(a) on that person attaining the age of 65 years he or she, and his or her spouse and children, become entitled to pensions under that subsection in the circumstances, at the rates and on the terms and conditions set out in that subsection as if he or she had only retired from the office of Solicitor-General on attaining that age; and
(b) any such pension is liable to be suspended or determined in the circumstances and to the extent set out in that subsection.
S. 6(3A) inserted by No. 79/2006 s. 3.
(3A) Without limiting or otherwise affecting section 83 of the Constitution Act 1975, the entitlement of a former Solicitor-General to a pension under this section arising by force of subsection (3) is suspended while he or she holds the office of Judge of the Supreme Court, having been appointed to that office after having attained the age of 65 years.
S. 6(4) amended by No. 19/2001 s. 3(2).
(4) All pensions under this section and any payments of lump sums provided by the commutation of those pensions shall be payable out of the Consolidated Fund which is hereby appropriated accordingly.
S. 6(5) repealed by No. 9019
s. 2(1)(Sch. item 7),
new s. 6(5) inserted by No. 4/2009 s. 37(Sch. 1 item 3).
(5) In this section—
domestic partner of a person means—
(a) a person who is, or was at the time of the person's death, in a registered domestic relationship with the person; or
(b) a person to whom the person is not married but with whom, in the opinion of the Minister, the person is, or was at the time of the person's death, living as a couple on a genuine domestic basis (irrespective of gender);
S. 6(5) def. of partner substituted by No. 40/2010 s. 110(1).
partner of a person means the person's spouse or domestic partner;
spouse of a person means a person to whom the person is, or was at the time of the person's death, married.
S. 6(6) inserted by No. 4/2009 s. 37(Sch. 1 item 3).
(6) For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (5)—
(a) registered domestic relationship has the same meaning as in the Relationships Act 2008; and
(b) in determining whether persons who are not in a registered domestic relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account, including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2) of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case.
S. 6(7) inserted by No. 40/2010 s. 110(2).
(7) For the purposes of subsection (1), the definition of partner as substituted by section 110(1) of the Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2010 applies in respect of the entitlement to a pension of a partner of a Solicitor-General or former Solicitor-General only if the death of the Solicitor-General or former Solicitor-General occurs on or after the commencement of the substituting section.
S. 7
repealed by No. 9863
s. 2(Sch.), new s. 7 inserted by No. 83/2008 s. 17.
7 Salary sacrifice
(1) The Solicitor-General may by notice in writing to the Attorney-General enter into an arrangement under which the Solicitor-General agrees to receive the whole or part of his or her total amount of future salary as non-salary benefits of an equivalent value.
(2) The notice must specify a date from which the arrangement is to take effect which must be the date on which the notice is given or a later date.
(3) A member may vary or revoke a notice he or she has given under subsection (1) by notice in writing to the Attorney-General*.*
(4) The notice of variation or revocation must specify a date from which the variation or revocation is to take effect which must be the date on which the notice is given or a later date.
(5) In this section non-salary benefits has the same meaning as it has in clauses 3(5) and 3(6) of Schedule 1A to the Public Administration Act 2004.
S. 2.
Schedule
Number of Act
Title of Act
Extent of Repeal
6374
Solicitor-General Act 1958
The whole
6980
Solicitor-General (Pensions) Act 1963
The whole
7066
Judges' Pensions Act 1963
Section 5
7958
Solicitor-General (Pensions) Act 1970
The whole
Endnotes
1 General information
See www.legislation.vic.gov.au for Victorian Bills, Acts and current Versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.
The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General Act 1972 was assented to on 24 October 1972 and came into operation on 24 October 1972.
INTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ACT 1984 (ILA)
Style changes
Section 54A of the ILA authorises the making of the style changes set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.
References to ILA s. 39B
Sidenotes which cite ILA s. 39B refer to section 39B of the ILA which provides that where an undivided section or clause of a Schedule is amended by the insertion of one or more subsections or subclauses, the original section or clause becomes subsection or subclause (1) and is amended by the insertion of the expression "(1)" at the beginning of the original section or clause.
Interpretation
As from 1 January 2001, amendments to section 36 of the ILA have the following effects:
• Headings
All headings included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Act. Any heading inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Act. This includes headings to Parts, Divisions or Subdivisions in a Schedule; sections; clauses; items; tables; columns; examples; diagrams; notes or forms. See section 36(1A)(2A).
• Examples, diagrams or notes
All examples, diagrams or notes included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Act. Any examples, diagrams or notes inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, form part of that Act. See section 36(3A).
• Punctuation
All punctuation included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 forms part of that Act. Any punctuation inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Act. See section 36(3B).
• Provision numbers
All provision numbers included in an Act form part of that Act, whether inserted in the Act before, on or after 1 January 2001. Provision numbers include section numbers, subsection numbers, paragraphs and subparagraphs. See section 36(3C).
• Location of "legislative items"
A "legislative item" is a penalty, an example or a note. As from 13 October 2004, a legislative item relating to a provision of an Act is taken to be at the foot of that provision even if it is preceded or followed by another legislative item that relates to that provision. For example, if a penalty at the foot of a provision is followed by a note, both of these legislative items will be regarded as being at the foot of that provision. See section 36B.
• Other material
Any explanatory memorandum, table of provisions, endnotes, index and other material printed after the Endnotes does not form part of an Act.
See section 36(3)(3D)(3E).
2 Table of Amendments
This publication incorporates amendments made to the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General Act 1972 by Acts and subordinate instruments.