Lionel Murphy’s complex legacy encompasses both public scandal and parliamentary reform. Determined to make the Senate more effective and accountable, Murphy was instrumental in establishing the legislative and general purpose standing committee system.

Murphy’s greatest legislative achievements during his time in the Senate were the passing of the Death Penalty Abolition Bill 1970 and the Family Law Bill 1974, as well as abolishing appeals to the Privy council, removing censorship, reforming corporations and trade practices law, protecting the environment and outlawing racial and other discrimination.

Before he left the Senate to take up his High Court appointment in 1975, Murphy also established a systematic legal aid service in Australian courts, as well as the Australian Law Reform Commission.

Response by cartoonist Geoff Pryor to the Senate Privileges Committee finding that John Fairfax and Sons Ltd were in ‘serious contempt’ by the publication in the National Times of in camera evidence given before the Senate select committee investigating Justice Lionel Murphy.

The select committees into Lionel Murphy were the first concerning the conduct of an individual since the 1939 Select Committee on the Discharge of Captain T.P. Conway from the Australian Military Forces. Over the Senate’s first 40 years, nearly half of all select committee inquiries were held on the conduct or treatment of individuals. Former Clerk of the Senate Rosemary Laing has highlighted this ‘surprising’ figure, remarking that it is ‘a sign that we perhaps take for granted the now well-established role of the Ombudsman’.