Chris Sumner
Christopher John Sumner AM (born 17 April 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who is the longest serving Attorney-General in the State of South Australia.
In 1985 he was the lead spokesperson for the Australian delegation and rapporteur at the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Milan.
[3] This conference established the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 29 November 1985.
[5] After leaving politics, Sumner spent 17 years as a member of Australia’s National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT), the last 12 as Deputy President.
He also was an active member of the ALP Club and formed a strong friendship with John Bannon, a future South Australian Premier.
Sumner was admitted to the Bar of the South Australian Supreme Court in December 1967 and worked as a barrister and solicitor in private practice until 1979.
Sumner was a part-time tutor in politics at the University of Adelaide between 1968 and 1972, and in 1973 was a member of the personal staff of Federal Minister Senator Reg Bishop.
When the ALP returned to office at the November 1982 election, Sumner was appointed Attorney-General by Premier John Bannon, and remained in that position until 15 December 1993.
In July of that year he became the longest-serving Attorney-General of South Australia, surpassing the term of Sir Shirley Williams Jeffries, who served from 1933 to 1944.
In an interview published by the Law Society[9], Sumner notes that the issue was whether or not the judge had the sufficient information to take into account the effect of the crime on the victim at the time of sentencing.
It argued that the conditions that generate crime need to be addressed by agencies concerned with planning and development, the family, health, employment and training, housing, social services, schools as well as the police and justice system.
• The Royal Commission into the murder conviction of Charles Edward Splatt[14] and subsequent decision to establish a State Forensic Science Centre independent of the police.
In his 2016 interview with the Law Society[9] Sumner says this “set the scene for a complete revolution in the way scientific evidence in criminal court cases was collected and assessed, so it was done by scientists”.
[19] • The Police Special Branch was abolished and replace by an Operations Intelligence Section with guidelines for the collection of security information by it clarified and strengthened to exclude non-violent activity and peaceful dissent.
[22] • The Liquor Licensing Act was rewritten to move from a judicial to an administrative model for granting licences and to remove the requirement to establish the need for some category of outlets.
A National Crime Authority inquiry was initiated to investigate the allegations, and Sumner was unreservedly exonerated by its Operation Hydra Report, published in 1991.
His role included mediating native title claims and conducting inquiries in relation to future acts, particularly the grant of mining tenements.
In 1996 he was appointed by the then President, Justice Robert French, to take responsibility for managing the NNTT’s future act operations in Western Australia, as the number of applications rose significantly.
Sumner was a member of the Law Foundation from 2013 to 2019 and in 2020 became a Patron of the Justice Reform Initiative[30], which advocates for policies that reduce levels of imprisonment.
For service to the South Australian Parliament, to the law, particularly establishing basic principles of justice for victims of crime, to multiculturalism and to the National Native Title Tribunal.
In recognition of services to Italy, its language and its culture, and for sustained works undertaken in the interest of our country and the Italian community in South Australia, while discharging his senior Ministerial duties.
• Chris J Sumner “ Response to ‘Nemer and the DPP’”, Law Society of South Australia Bulletin, Volume 26, Number 7, August 2004, 26.
