He was the Attorney-General for Australia between 1993 and 1996, and from 2004 to 2012 was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), his alma mater, where he has been since then emeritus professor.
Lavarch won the supplementary election, defeating future Queensland Liberal leader Bruce Flegg, and was duly appointed to the ministry on 27 April.
He was responsible for instigating the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families in 1995, culminating in the publication of the Bringing Them Home Report.
[4] In 2003 he was appointed by the Prime Minister to an expert panel to review proposals to change the way in which conflicts between the House of Representatives and the Senate are resolved.
[1] In 2019 the Queensland Government of Annastacia Palaszczuk announced its interest in pursuing a pathway to an Indigenous treaty process.
[9] Lavarch lives between Brisbane and Sydney with his wife, Indigenous academic, lawyer and writer, Larissa Behrendt.