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Period as Attorney-General
McClelland was Attorney-General of Australia from 3 December 2007 to 14 December 2011. His ministerial responsibilities included human rights, courts and tribunals, national security, emergency management, international law, constitutional law, legal aid and community legal services, native title, family law, and legal services to government.

Removal of same-sex discrimination
In his first year as Attorney-General, McClelland introduced the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws - Superannuation) Act 2008 and the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws - General Law Reform) Act 2008. Together, the Acts amended 81 pieces of federal legislation to remove discrimination against people in same-sex relationships, in areas including superannuation, social security, taxation, Medicare, veteran’s affairs, defence force entitlements, workers’ compensation, family law, aged care and educational assistance.

Torture and the death penalty
McClelland introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Torture Prohibition and Death Penalty Abolition) Act 2010. The Act introduced, for the first time, a specific federal offence of torture. The offence has extraterritorial effect, and was expressed to fulfil Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture to ban all acts of torture, wherever they occur.

The Act also extended the existing prohibition on the death penalty under federal law to state laws, to prevent the reintroduction of the death penalty anywhere in Australia in future. This was said to safeguard Australia’s ongoing compliance with the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires all necessary measures be taken to ensure that no one is subject to the death penalty.