THE Federal Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband will be the keynote speaker at Southern Cross University's sixth Michael Kirby Lecture Series.

The School of Law and Justice will host Malcolm Turnbull at its Gold Coast lecture named after the former High Court Judge, Michael Kirby.

Mr Kirby was Australia's longest-serving judge when he retired in 2009.

School professor Bee Chen Goh said Mr Turnbull had been a successful barrister, journalist and investment banker before turning to politics.

"He graduated in Arts and Law from Sydney University and was a Rhodes Scholar, completing a further law degree at Oxford," Prof Goh said.

"It is an honour and a privilege for the university to host Mr Turnbull.

"The annual Michael Kirby Lecture Series is a signature event for the university and we have been fortunate to secure a speaker of such a high intellectual calibre as Mr Turnbull.

"Who, no doubt, will enthral the audience with his wit and eloquence."

The minister started his own legal practice in 1980 and even successfully defended the former MI5 agent Peter Wright in his efforts to publish his memoir, Spycatcher.

Mr Turnbull was also a leader of the Australian Republican Movement: a stance that will certainly be at odds with Mr Kirby who was a founder of the group Australians for a Constitutional Monarch.

Mr Kirby was a member of the Eminent Persons Group which investigated the future of the Commonwealth of Nations.

He has remained active in retirement, serving as president of the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia and as editor-in-chief of The Laws of Australia.

He is an Honorary Visiting Professor at 12 Universities, including SCU.

Mr Kirby is also a commissioner with the UNDP Global Commission of HIV and the Law.

In 2010, he was appointed to the Arbitration Panel of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (World Bank).

The lecture and dinner will be held at Radisson Resort's Masters Ballroom on Friday, July 6, from 6.30pm.

The function will include a book signing by Mr Kirby of his published work, A Private Life.

Phone 02 6620 3375 or email lawevents@scu.edu.au for bookings.