senator Andrew McLachlan CSC Contact information

Senator Andrew McLachlan CSC CStJ was elected by a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia to serve as a Senator for the State on the 6th February 2020. In May 2022, he was elected by the people of South Australia to the Commonwealth Parliament to continue his service as a Senator for South Australia.

Senator McLachlan was elected to the position of Deputy President of the Senate and Chair of Committees on 26th July 2022.

Prior to his service in the Australian Parliament, Andrew was elected to the Legislative Council of the South Australian Parliament in March 2014. He was subsequently elected President of the South Australian Legislative Council in May 2018.

Before his election to Parliament, Andrew held national senior leadership and executive positions in the financial services industry. This included being a senior executive of one of Australia’s leading financial service companies as well as the Director of the International Centre for Financial Services at the University of Adelaide. He has served on the national executive of the Trustee Corporations Association of Australia and on the compliance and investment boards of the Financial Services Council.

Andrew first commenced practice as a lawyer in Adelaide. He then moved to Port Augusta to provide legal services to the people living and working in the north of South Australia. Upon returning to Adelaide he specialised in superannuation, banking and finance law. This led to his subsequent career in financial services.

He is a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide, a Master of Laws from the University of Edinburgh and a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management (University of Sydney and University of New South Wales).

Andrew is a Colonel in the Australian Army Reserve and has seen service in Afghanistan. In 2007 he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross for his services to the Army. Andrew’s service in the Army inspired him to become a legatee of Legacy.

He is also a member of St John Ambulance. He has served on its State and National Boards. In 2014 he was made a Commander in The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.

Parliamentary positions

Deputy President of the Senate

Chair of Committees

Committee service

Chair of Committee: Procedures

Deputy Chair of Committee: Appropriations, Staffing and Security

Member of Joint Standing Committee: National Capital and External Territories

Member of References Committee: Legal and Constitutional Affairs

ABOUT ANDREW

Andrew Lockhart McLachlan is an Australian politician and member of the Liberal Party of Australia. He was born in Adelaide on January 14, 1966. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide, a Master of Laws from the University of Edinburgh, and a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Before his political career, McLachlan worked as a lawyer in regional South Australia, focusing on superannuation, banking, and finance law. He later held senior leadership and executive positions in the financial services industry, including serving on the national executive of the Trustee Corporations Association of Australia and on the compliance and investment boards of the Financial Services Council. McLachlan also served as the Director of the International Centre for Financial Services at the University of Adelaide. He is a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

McLachlan entered politics as a member of the South Australian Legislative Council, having been elected at the 2014 state election for an eight-year term. During his time in state politics, he paid the licence renewal fee for a historical site at Centennial Park for an ANZAC World War I veteran, as no family was located to pay for the continuation of the lease. McLachlan also crossed the floor in July 2015 and voted against the Statutes Amendment (Serious and Organised Crimes) Amendment Bill 2015, which was contrary to the Liberal Party’s position at the time. He argued that the provision in the bill breached the principle of the separation of powers and was the only Liberal Member of Parliament to vote against the bill. McLachlan is a strong supporter of the rule of law.

In late 2015, McLachlan introduced a Bill that would give legal protections to the identity of individuals who provide sensitive information to journalists, but the Bill was ultimately not supported by the Government. In August 2017, he introduced an amendment to a motion put forward by the SA Greens and Advance SA MLCs calling for the Australian Government to ‘recognise the State of Palestine, as we have recognised the state of Israel, and announce the conditions and timelines to achieve such recognition.’ The amended motion was passed by the South Australian Legislative Council and welcomed by many Jewish organisations, including the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council and the Jewish Community Council of South Australia.

McLachlan was nominated to serve as President of the South Australian Legislative Council on May 3, 2018, and was elected by the Members of the Legislative Council unopposed. He resigned as president and a member of the Legislative Council on February 5, 2020, to take up the vacant seat in the Senate caused by the resignation of Cory Bernardi.

McLachlan was selected by the South Australian Liberal Party to fill the vacant seat in the Australian Senate caused by Bernardi’s resignation on February 1, 2020, defeating former Law Council of Australia president Morry Bailes and former state party treasurer Michael van Dissel. He was appointed to the Senate by a joint sitting of the South Australian Parliament on February 6, 2020, and served the remainder of Bernardi’s term, which expired on June 30, 2022. He was re-elected for another six-year term at the 2022 federal election.

McLachlan is a member of the Moderate/Modern Liberal faction of the Liberal Party.