Fr Frank Brennan

Fr Frank Brennan

Adjunct Professor

Frank Brennan is a Jesuit priest and superior of the Alberto Hurtado Community of Jesuits in the parishes of St Lucia, Toowong and Indooroopilly in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. He was previously Rector of Newman College at the University of Melbourne and CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia. He was a peritus at the Fifth Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia.

He is an Adjunct Professor at the Thomas More Law School at ACU and Adjunct Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. 

He chaired the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s Review of the Australian Journalists’ Code of Ethics in 1996. He chaired the National Human Rights Consultation for the Rudd Government and was a member of the Turnbull Government’s expert panel which conducted the Religious Freedom Review. The Morrison Government appointed him to the Voice Co-Design Senior Advisory Group to help guide the Co-Design process to develop options for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

His books include:

• Too Much Order with Too Little Law (University of Queensland Press, 1983)
• Land Rights Queensland Style (University of Queensland Press, 1992)
• Sharing the Country (Penguin Books, 2 editions, 1992 and 1994)
• One Land, One Nation (University of Queensland Press, 1995)
• Legislating Liberty (University of Queensland Press, 1998)
• The Wik Debate (UNSW Press 1998)
• Tampering with Asylum (University of Queensland Press, 2 editions, 2003 and 2007)
• Acting On Conscience (University of Queensland Press, 2007)
• The 2015 Gasson Lectures: Maintaining a Convinced and Pondered Trust (ATF Press, 2015)
• No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia (University of Queensland Press, 2015)
• Amplifying That Still, Small Voice (ATF Press, 2015)
• The People’s Quest for Leadership in Church and State (ATF Press, 2015)
• Observations on the Pell Proceedings (Connor Court Publishing, 2 editions, 2021)
• A Virtual Year: Homilies During Pandemic (Newman College, 2021)
• An Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Considering a Constitutional Bridge (Garratt Publishing, 2023, 3 editions)
• Lessons from Our Failure to Build a Constitutional Bridge in the 2023 Referendum (Connor Court, 2024)
• Pope Francis: The Disruptive Pilgrim’s Guide (ATF Theology 2025)

He has also edited and contributed chapters to:

• Finding Common Ground (Collins Dove, 2 editions, 1985 and 1986)
• Reconciling our Differences (David Lovell Publishing, 1992)
• Discerning the Australian Social Conscience (Jesuit Publications, 1999)
• Gerard Brennan’s Articles and Speeches: Maintaining the Law’s Skeleton of Principle (Connor Court, 2025).

An Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to Aboriginal Australians, particularly as an advocate in the areas of law, social justice and reconciliation, he was the recipient of the Migration Institute of Australia’s 2013 Distinguished Service to Immigration Award and of the 2015 Eureka Democracy Award in recognition of his endeavours which have contributed to strengthening democratic traditions in Australia. He is also a recipient of the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal for his work in Timor Leste when Director of the local Jesuit Refugee Service, and a recipient of the Australian Centenary Medal for service with refugees and human rights work in the Asia Pacific Region.

He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of New South Wales and the Queensland University of Technology.

In 1994, the National Australia Day Council name him an Australian Achiever. In 1996, he shared the ACFOA Human Rights Award with Patrick Dodson. When launching Frank’s book Acting on Conscience on the place of religion in Australian politics and law, Kevin Rudd described Frank as ‘an ethical burr in the nation’s saddle’. Earlier during the 1998 Wik debate, Paul Keating labelled him ‘the meddling priest’. The National Trust has classified him as a Living National Treasure.

Frank serves on the board of the National Apology Foundation for Indigenous Australians and on the Advisory Council of the Global Foundation. His research interests include conscience and faith, human rights and the rule of law, and the rights of Indigenous peoples and asylum seekers.

In 2025, he celebrated 40 years a priest and 50 years a Jesuit.