 Wise was Attorney-General from September 1899 to June 1904, and from July 1901 was also Minister of Justice.He was now able to put through some of his ideas for social reform and succeeded in passing important legislation, including the Industrial Arbitration Act (1901), the Early Closing Act (1899), the Old-age Pensions Act (1900) and the Women's Franchise Act (1902).In October 1900, he moved to the New South Wales Legislative Council to pilot the Arbitration bill through.