Bret Walker AO SC was admitted to the New South Wales bar and as a practitioner of the High Court of Australia in 1979. He was appointed senior counsel in 1993 and served as the President of the Law Council of Australia from 1997 to 1998, and later as the President of the New South Wales Bar Association from November 2001 to November 2003. Mr Walker was Australia’s inaugural Independent National Security Legislation Monitor 2011 – 2013. Mr Walker has served as a member of numerous councils and foundations, including the Board of Governors of Law Foundation of NSW, various Advisory Committees to the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Uniform Legal Services Council. He was the Chairman of the Law Council of Australia National Criminal Law Liaison Committee from 1998-2001 and continues to act as a Constitutional Law Advisor to the Law Council of Australia. Mr Walker was also the Editor of the New South Wales Law reports from 2009 to 2018. Mr Walker has been appointed to several inquiries as a Commissioner, including the Special Commission of Inquiry into Sydney Ferries (2007) and the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission (2018-2019). He most recently has been appointed as Commissioner on the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess (2020).