Politics & The Law
While recovering in an English hospital he agreed to stand for election to the Victorian Legislative Assembly. In November 1917 he was elected to the seat of Dundas.[2] The Argus newspaper later reported that fellow patients at the hospital mistook his appointment as a Member of Parliament as being a promotion to the Military Police.[5]
He left for Australia in early 1918. Returning to Australia he was arrested by military police in Fremantle for speaking in defence of John Curtin, then the editor of a trade union newspaper. He was discharged from active service due to a recurrence of his varicose veins.[2][4]
On his return to Victoria he was engaged by Maurice Blackburn as an articled clerk. When he was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1922 he became a partner in Blackburn's practice which was renamed Blackburn and Slater.[2][6]
Slater was President of the Law Institute of Victoria 1928–29.
He was Attorney-General and Solicitor General on 5 occasions. In July 1924 he was appointed Attorney-General and Solicitor General in the Prendergast government which only lasted five months. He was given the same cabinet posts under the premierships of Edmond Hogan in 1927–1928 and 1929–1932.[2]
At the 1932 state election, Slater was defeated in Dundas by United Australia Party candidate Athol Cooper. However the closeness of the result prompted a recount, and on 6 September 1932, the Committee of Elections and Qualifications presented its report on the recount to the parliament, which unseated Cooper and declared Slater duly elected.[7]
In 1935 he entered into partnership with Hugh Gordon, his brother-in-law, forming Slater & Gordon.[2][8] He focussed on legal work for the Trade Union movement.
Slater was appointed as Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1940.[2]
In 1942 he was appointed by Prime Minister John Curtin as minister to the Soviet Union, the first Australian diplomatic representative to the country. En route to his new appointment he visited the United States, eventually arriving in the Soviet Union in late 1942. He took residence in Kuybyshev in January 1943. After falling ill in April 1943 he returned to Australia in June. Although the official reason given for his early return was illness, speculation in the Australian press centred on a disillusionment with the Soviet version of Socialism.[2][9][10]
Under John Cain he was Attorney-General and Solicitor-General between 1945 and 1947 when he lost his seat. In 1949 he returned to Parliament in the Victorian Legislative Council seat of Doutta Galla. He once again served as Attorney-General and Solicitor-General between 1952 and 1955.[2]
