The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC was Chairman of the ALRC from January 1988 to November 1993.
Prior to her appointment, she was the first Chief Judge of the Family Court and the first woman to win the Sydney University Medal in Law. In 1973, Justice Evatt was Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. In 1974, she headed the Royal Commission on Human Relationships and in 1984 she was elected as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
In 1995 Elizabeth Evatt became the first Australian to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and was also appointed Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. She has been a Judge of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal and served as Commissioner of the International Committee of Jurists.
In 1982 Elizabeth Evatt was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, and in 1995 she was granted Australia’s highest civil honour and made a Companion of the Order of Australia.
In 1995 Elizabeth Evatt was commissioned by the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to review the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984. Her extensive report, Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (‘the Evatt Review’) was presented to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in 1996 and paved the way for legislative reform to a complex and controversial area of law.