Williams was born in East Fremantle, Western Australia, and was educated at Richmond School, East Fremantle, and Perth Modern School.
He went on to the University of Western Australia and Wadham College, Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar in 1965.
After the Liberal ministerial shakeup of 2003, Williams was appointed Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
Williams was seriously considered as a candidate to replace Justice Mary Gaudron as a judge of the High Court of Australia in 2003,[4] and was the nominee of the Western Australian Law Society for the post.
[6] Susan Crennan was eventually appointed as McHugh's replacement.