Samuel Griffith Society

The Samuel Griffith Society
Established1992
ChairIan Callinan
Executive DirectorXavier Boffa
Websitewww.samuelgriffith.org

The Samuel Griffith Society is an Australian conservative[1] legal organisation founded in 1992 by a group led by former Chief Justice of Australia Sir Harry Gibbs, former Senator John Stone, businessman Hugh Morgan and legal academic Greg Craven.[2][1] Named after Sir Samuel Griffith, one of the architects of the Australian Constitution, the society describes its aims as being: "to undertake and support research into [Australia's] constitutional arrangements, to encourage and promote widespread debate about the benefits of federalism, and to defend the present Constitution."[3] It holds annual conferences, runs an annual national constitutional law essay competition and publishes an annual journal of conference proceedings entitled "Upholding the Australian Constitution".[4][5][6]

It is one of a number of groups including the H. R. Nicholls Society, Bennelong Society and Lavoisier Group, that were promoted by Australian business leader and political activist Ray Evans.[7]

The Society is currently led by former High Court Justice Ian Callinan.[8]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference monthly was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "About Us".
  3. ^ "The Samuel Griffith Society".
  4. ^ National Library of Australia, Catalogue
  5. ^ "Published papers".
  6. ^ Deakin Law Students' Society The National Sir Samuel Griffith Prize 2016
  7. ^ Kelly, Dominic (2019), Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics: The Hard Right in Australia, La Trobe University Press, Melbourne, Australia, ISBN 9781743820766, "The H.R. Nicholls Society [...], the Samuel Griffith Society (1992, constitutional issues), the Bennelong Society [...], and the Lavoisier Group [...] were each established by Western Mining Corporation executives Hugh Morgan and Ray Evans, with the assistance of various other figures associated with the political right."
  8. ^ [1] Callinan, Ian (2019) "Concluding Remarks", Upholding the Australian Constitution.