Editing Duncan Kerr (section)

==Career==

===Politics===

Kerr was the Labor candidate in the [[Division of Braddon]] in the [[1977 Australian federal election]], losing to future [[Premier of Tasmania]] [[Ray Groom]]. In the Australian federal election in 1987, Kerr defeated the sitting Liberal member, [[Michael Hodgman]] [[Queen's Counsel|QC]], for the Hobart-based seat of Denison to become the first Labor member elected from Tasmania since the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975.

Kerr served in the [[Australian House of Representatives]] as Member for [[Division of Denison|Denison]] from 11 July 1987 to 19 July 2010. Prior to entering politics, Kerr acted as [[Crown Counsel]] in the Tasmanian Solicitor-General's Department, as lecturer in constitutional law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the [[University of Papua New Guinea]], and as Principal Solicitor for the [[Aboriginal Legal Service of New South Wales]].

Kerr served as [[Minister for Justice (Australia)|Minister for Justice]] from 1993 to 1996, and briefly also as [[Attorney-General of Australia|Attorney-General]] in 1993. Prime Minister [[Paul Keating]]'s original choice for Attorney-General in 1993 had been [[Michael Lavarch]], but Lavarch's re-election was delayed by the death of an opposing candidate for the seat of [[Division of Dickson|Dickson]]; Kerr held the portfolio in the interim until Lavarch won the resulting supplementary election. Kerr served as Attorney-General for 26 days.

Kerr was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1996 to 2001. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs in the Rudd Ministry in 2007.

Prior to his appointment to the [[First Rudd Ministry]], Kerr was Co-Convenor of the Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform, a cross-party group that advocates harm minimisation as being more effective, more cost-efficient and less harmful than zero-tolerance when it comes to dealing with drug use.

On 14 December 2009, Kerr resigned his appointment as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs and indicated he intended to return to legal practice. Kerr retired from politics at the [[2010 Australian federal election|2010 election]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26053696-5013871,00.html |title=Duncan Kerr to retire from politics: The Australian 10/9/2009 |access-date=10 September 2009 |archive-date=11 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911184602/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26053696-5013871,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Upon Kerr's retirement, the previously safe Labor seat of Denison was won by [[Andrew Wilkie]], an independent.

===Law===

Kerr is the author of ''Annotated Constitution of Papua New Guinea'' (1985), ''Essays on the Constitution'' (1985), ''Reinventing Socialism'' (1992) and ''Elect the Ambassador; Building Democracy in a Globalised World'' (2001).

Kerr was leading counsel in the [[High Court of Australia]] case ''[[Plaintiff S157 v The Commonwealth]]'', which concerned a [[privative clause]] in the ''[[Migration Act 1958]]'' (Cth) and the availability of [[judicial review]] under [[section 75 of the Constitution of Australia]]. In 2010, [[Michael Kirby (judge)|Michael Kirby]] described the decision as "one of the most important in recent years for its affirmation of the centrality in [Australian] constitutional law of the [[rule of law]]."<ref>{{cite speech
|first=Michael|last=Kirby|author-link=Michael Kirby (judge)
|title=Formal opening of Michael Kirby Chambers
|url=http://www.michaelkirbychambers.com/opening-of-chambers/
|date=3 February 2010}}
Quoted in {{cite speech
|title=Ceremonial Sitting of the Tribunal for the Swearing In and Welcome of the Honourable Justice Kerr
|date=16 May 2012
|url=http://www.aat.gov.au/about-the-aat/engagement/speeches-and-papers/the-honourable-justice-duncan-kerr-chev-lh-presid/ceremonial-sitting-of-the-tribunal-for-the-swearin
|first=Mark|last=Dreyfus|author-link=Mark Dreyfus}}</ref>

Kerr was appointed a [[senior counsel]] in 2004, and as adjunct professor of law, Faculty of Law, [[Queensland University of Technology]] in 2007. Kerr has acted as counsel in the [[High Court of Australia]], the [[Federal Court of Australia]], the [[Family Court of Australia]], the [[Supreme Court of Tasmania]], the [[District Court of New South Wales]], the [[Supreme Court of New South Wales]], and the [[Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea]].

In 2010, Kerr became a founding member of Michael Kirby Chambers in Hobart where he practised as a barrister specialising in public, constitutional, administrative, refugee and human rights law, and appellate work.

On 12 April 2012, he was appointed to the [[Federal Court of Australia]], taking his seat on the bench on 10 May 2012. In 2015, with the consent of the Australian Government, he was appointed by [[Papua New Guinea]] as its nominee as an arbitrator in a proceeding in the [[International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes]] (ICSID). Concurrently with his judicial duties, from 2012 to 2017 he served as President of the [[Administrative Appeals Tribunal]].  He was Chair of the Council of Australasian Tribunals (COAT) from 2014 to 2017. He is one of six former federal politicians to have served on the Federal Court, along with [[Robert Ellicott]], [[Nigel Bowen]], [[Tony Whitlam]], [[Merv Everett]] and [[John Reeves (judge)|John Reeves]].

Kerr ceased to serve as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia on 25 February 2022 upon reaching the statutory retirement age.

He chairs the National Appeals and Review Panel for Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd.

In 2023–2024 he undertook a 20 Year Review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.