Matthew Blunn, Australian Government Solicitor

Matthew Blunn is the Australian Government Solicitor. Appointed in June 2023, he leads the AGS Group within the department. Before this role, Matthew was the National Leader of AGS Dispute Resolution, a position he held from 2011. He also acted as AGS’s Chief Operating Officer on multiple occasions and was the department’s chief negotiator for the 2019 enterprise agreement.

He has a specialist litigation practice in the area of regulatory law enforcement, including advising on significant competition law matters. He has regularly acted for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in a range of sensitive competition matters, involving a broad range of significant issues. Matthew has also acted for the government in sensitive public law matters.

Matthew is often called on to provide strategic advice in matters of particular sensitivity to agencies and senior members of the government.

Matthew joined AGS in 2000 as a Senior Lawyer. Before this, he worked as a Solicitor and Senior Associate at Hunt & Hunt, 1995–2000, and started his career at Sneddon, Hall & Gallop in 1993. He holds a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts, both from the Australian National University.