Chancellor

The Hon. Christopher Ellison

A former Cabinet Minister in the Howard Government, the Hon. Chris Ellison represented Western Australia in the Senate from July 1993 to January 2009.

After graduating with a Law degree from the University of Western Australia, Mr Ellison spent two years as a lawyer with the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia.  He practised as a barrister and solicitor and was a partner in his own law firm, Williams Ellison between 1980 and 1993.

After his election in 1993 in Opposition he chaired the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee from 1993 to 1996, and was involved in a number of Senate committees.

In 1997, he entered the Howard ministry as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Family Services and to the Attorney-General.  He was promoted to Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs and Minister Assisting the Attorney-General (1997), then Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training (1997-1998), and Special Minister of State (1998-2001). He was Minister for Justice and Customs between January 2001 and March 2007. From March 2007 until the defeat of the Howard Government in the 2007 election, Mr Ellison was a member of Cabinet as Minister for Human Services, overseeing the service delivery of Government agencies including Centrelink, Medicare and the Child Support Agency.

In 2007 in Opposition he held the offices of Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, along with Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate from December 2007 to September 2008. In addition, Senator Ellison was the Chair of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee.

Since leaving the Senate in 2009 he has been on the Board of Doric Construction, is an Advisor to Doric Jaxon Consolidated (DJC) and is also a Director of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation.  He was also Chair of Australia’s Northwest Tourism (2010-2015) and Chair of Academic Board West for Study Group Australia (2010-2017).

He is currently Chair of the Trinity College Board and still holds a current legal practising certificate.