High Court case over the collapse of The Bell Group in 1991. The Western Australian government had passed legislation (Bell Group Company’s Finalisation of Matters and Distribution of Proceeds Act 2015), elevating the Insurance Commission of WA in the queue of Bell Group creditors ahead of the ATO. In April 2015, the WA state government received an assurance from then federal Treasurer Joe Hockey that the Commonwealth would not intervene, however the ATO sought advice from Gleeson as its counsel that federal taxation law overrode the state legislation. The paper alleged that Brandis had told Gleeson not to run the argument, however it was still contained in the ATO's submission to the High Court, which subsequently unanimously rejected the WA government's case and struck down the Bell Act. Appointments Prior to the 2016 federal election, Brandis appointed a Liberal Party donor and Brisbane lawyer, Theo Tavoularis, who had represented Brandis' son in court, to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Later in December 2016, Brandis appointed two former Members of Parliament and members of the Liberal Party, who had been voted out at the 2016 federal election, to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a 7-year term. Each role has a salary of over $200,000. Resignation Leading up to the 2018 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spills, Brandis was increasingly willing to assert 'small-l liberal' positions and publicly criticised the coalition government and members of his own party, particularly the Conservative-wing of the party, including Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Brandis was reported as being concerned about the new formation of the Department of Home Affairs under Dutton. Shortly after Dutton criticised lawyers who represented refugees and asylum seekers as 'un-Australian', Brandis gave a speech which championed lawyers and their role in ensuring the supremacy of the law against the executive government, which was largely seen as an attack on Dutton's comments. Brandis formally resigned from the Senate on 8 February 2018. In his farewell speech to the Senate he was critical of anti-terrorism laws being used by his own party as a 'political weapon' and warned against the 'powerful elements of right-wing politics' who had abandoned concern for the rights of the individual in favour of a 'belligerent, intolerant populism'. Post-political career Brandis was appointed to fill the post of Australia's next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Due to take up the role in March 2018, an Achilles tendon injury delayed his