The Law Department replaced the Attorney-General’s Department in 1983. It was an amalgamation of the Attorney-General’s Department, the Solicitor-General, Corporate Affairs, and the Prisons Department, known as the Corrective Services Division. In 1989, the new Labor government transferred the Division to the Department for Community Services. The Law Department became the Department of Justice in about 1992.
From 1989, the Law Department managed the Magistracy Departments. Lower courts, including the children’s courts, came under the Magistracy Departments.