Leaders of the Australian Labor Party

The leader of the Australian Labor Party is the highest political office within the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP). Leaders of the party are chosen from among the sitting members of the parliamentary caucus either by members alone or with a vote of the party’s rank-and-file membership. The current leader of the Labor Party, since 2019, is Anthony Albanese, who has served as the prime minister of Australia since 2022.^[1] There have been 21 leaders since 1901 when Chris Watson was elected as the inaugural leader following the first federal election.

Leader of the Australian Labor Party
Incumbent Anthony Albanese since 30 May 2019
Member of	ALP National Executive ALP Caucus
Term length	No fixed term
Inaugural holder	Chris Watson
Formation	20 May 1901; 123 years ago (1901-05-20)
Deputy	Richard Marles
Website	Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Australian Labor Party

Every Australian state and territory has its own branch of the Australian Labor Party, which has its own leader elected from the party members of that jurisdiction.

Background

The federal Labor Caucus comprising the elected members of the Labor party in both Houses of the national Parliament is involved in the election of the federal parliamentary leaders from among its members. The leader has historically been a member of the House of Representatives. Caucus also has the power to dismiss a party leader in a process called a leadership spill. Until 2013, a spill vote could be called at any time and a simple majority of votes in Caucus was sufficient to remove a leader. Following the return of Kevin Rudd to the leadership of the ALP in 2013, he sought changes to the party's rules so that leadership spills would be more difficult to launch in future, including a requirement for 75% majority in Caucus for a leadership spill against a sitting Labor prime minister, or 60% against an opposition leader.^[2] The changes also provided for equally weighted voting rights between Caucus and party rank and file members. These changes were adopted by Caucus in July 2013, which was not a change to the party's constitution^[3] (and theoretically can be reverted by a simple majority in Caucus). At the October 2013 leadership spill Bill Shorten was the first leader elected under the new rules. Shorten received 55-43 votes in Caucus, which was sufficient to overcome his 40% support among party members.^[4]

When the Labor Party is in government, the party leader becomes the Prime Minister and the deputy leader becomes the Deputy Prime Minister. If a Labor prime minister resigns or dies in office, the deputy leader becomes party leader and is sworn in as prime minister on an interim basis until a party successor is elected. This was the case upon the death in office of John Curtin on 5 July 1945. Frank Forde, the deputy party leader, was sworn in as interim prime minister until Ben Chifley was elected by Caucus as party leader on 13 July. If the leader is out of the country or is on leave, the deputy leader acts as party leader and prime minister, without being sworn into the office.

According to recent convention, the leader and deputy leader must be from different factions and from different states.^[5] The leadership and deputy leadership have also been gender-balanced.

Federal leadership

Leader

The federal Leaders of the Australian Labor Party have been as follows (acting leaders indicated in italics):

#	Leader (birth–death)		Electorate	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Prime Minister (term)
1		Chris Watson (1876–1953)	Bland (1901–1906); South Sydney (1906–1910)	20 May 1901	30 October 1907	6 years, 163 days		Barton 1901–1903
								Deakin 1903–1904
								Himself 1904
								Reid 1904–1905
								Deakin 1905–1908
2		Andrew Fisher (1862–1928)	Wide Bay	30 October 1907	27 October 1915	7 years, 362 days
								Himself 1908–1909
								Deakin 1909–1910
								Himself 1910–1913
								Cook 1913–1914
								Himself 1914–1915
3		Billy Hughes (1862–1952)	West Sydney	27 October 1915	14 November 1916	1 year, 18 days		Himself 1915–1916
4		Frank Tudor (1866–1922)	Yarra	14 November 1916	10 January 1922†	5 years, 57 days		Hughes 1916–1917
								Hughes 1917–1923
5		Matthew Charlton (1866–1948)	Hunter	16 January 1922	16 May 1922	111 days
				16 May 1922	29 March 1928	5 years, 318 days
								Bruce 1923–1929
6		James Scullin (1876–1953)	Yarra	26 April 1928	1 October 1935	7 years, 128 days
								Himself 1929–1932
								Lyons 1932–1939
7		John Curtin (1885–1945)	Fremantle	1 October 1935	5 July 1945†	9 years, 277 days
								Page 1939
								Menzies 1939–1941
								Fadden 1941
								Himself 1941–1945
–[6]		Frank Forde (1890–1983)	Capricornia	6 July 1945	13 July 1945	7 days		Himself 1945
8		Ben Chifley (1885–1951)	Macquarie	13 July 1945	13 June 1951†	5 years, 335 days		Himself 1945–1949
								Menzies 1949–1966
9		H. V. Evatt (1894–1965)	Barton (1940–1958); Hunter (1958–1960)	20 June 1951	9 February 1960	8 years, 241 days
10		Arthur Calwell (1896–1973)	Melbourne	7 March 1960	8 February 1967	6 years, 338 days
								Holt 1966–1967
11		Gough Whitlam (1916–2014)	Werriwa	9 February 1967	22 December 1977	10 years, 316 days
								McEwen 1967–1968
								Gorton 1968–1971
								McMahon 1971–1972
								Himself 1972–1975
								Fraser 1975–1983
12		Bill Hayden (1933-2023)	Oxley	22 December 1977	8 February 1983	5 years, 48 days
13		Bob Hawke (1929–2019)	Wills	8 February 1983	19 December 1991	8 years, 314 days
								Himself 1983–1991
14		Paul Keating (b. 1944)	Blaxland	19 December 1991	19 March 1996	4 years, 91 days		Himself 1991–1996
15		Kim Beazley (b. 1948)	Brand	19 March 1996	22 November 2001	5 years, 248 days		Howard 1996–2007
16		Simon Crean (1949–2023)	Hotham	22 November 2001	2 December 2003	2 years, 10 days
17		Mark Latham (b. 1961)	Werriwa	2 December 2003	18 January 2005	1 year, 47 days
(15)		Kim Beazley (b. 1948)	Brand	18 January 2005	4 December 2006	1 year, 320 days
18		Kevin Rudd (b. 1957)	Griffith	4 December 2006	24 June 2010	3 years, 202 days
								Himself 2007–2010
19		Julia Gillard (b. 1961)	Lalor	24 June 2010	26 June 2013	3 years, 2 days		Herself 2010–2013
(18)		Kevin Rudd (b. 1957)	Griffith	26 June 2013	13 September 2013	79 days		Himself 2013
–		Chris Bowen (b. 1973)	McMahon	18 September 2013	13 October 2013	25 days		Abbott 2013–2015
20		Bill Shorten (b. 1967)	Maribyrnong	13 October 2013	30 May 2019	5 years, 229 days
								Turnbull 2015–2018
								Morrison 2018–2022
21		Anthony Albanese (b. 1963)	Grayndler	30 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 157 days
								Himself 2022–present

Deputy Leader

Shown in chronological order of leadership

#	Deputy Leader		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Leader
1		Gregor McGregor	20 May 1901	30 July 1914	13 years, 71 days	Chris Watson
						Andrew Fisher
2		Billy Hughes	18 September 1914	27 October 1915	1 year, 39 days
3		George Pearce	27 October 1915	14 November 1916	1 year, 18 days	Billy Hughes
4		Albert Gardiner[lower-alpha 1]	14 November 1916	30 June 1926	9 years, 228 days	Frank Tudor
						Matthew Charlton
5		James Scullin	17 March 1927	29 March 1928	1 year, 12 days
6		Arthur Blakeley	26 April 1928	5 February 1929	285 days	James Scullin
7		Ted Theodore	5 February 1929	19 December 1931	2 years, 317 days
8		Frank Forde	16 February 1932	28 September 1946	14 years, 224 days
						John Curtin
						Ben Chifley
9		H. V. Evatt	31 October 1946	20 June 1951	4 years, 232 days
10		Arthur Calwell	20 June 1951	7 March 1960	8 years, 261 days	H. V. Evatt
11		Gough Whitlam	7 March 1960	9 February 1967	6 years, 339 days	Arthur Calwell
12		Lance Barnard	9 February 1967	12 June 1974	7 years, 123 days	Gough Whitlam
13		Jim Cairns	12 June 1974	2 July 1975	1 year, 20 days
14		Frank Crean	2 July 1975	22 December 1975	173 days
15		Tom Uren	22 December 1975	22 December 1977	2 years, 0 days
16		Lionel Bowen	22 December 1977	4 April 1990	12 years, 103 days	Bill Hayden
						Bob Hawke
17		Paul Keating	4 April 1990	3 Jun 1991	1 year, 60 days
18		Brian Howe	3 June 1991	20 June 1995	4 years, 17 days
						Paul Keating
19		Kim Beazley	20 June 1995	19 March 1996	273 days
20		Gareth Evans	19 March 1996	19 October 1998	2 years, 214 days	Kim Beazley
21		Simon Crean	19 October 1998	22 November 2001	3 years, 34 days
22		Jenny Macklin	22 November 2001	4 December 2006	5 years, 12 days	Simon Crean
						Mark Latham
						Kim Beazley
23		Julia Gillard	4 December 2006	24 June 2010	3 years, 202 days	Kevin Rudd
24		Wayne Swan	24 June 2010	27 June 2013	3 years, 3 days	Julia Gillard
25		Anthony Albanese	27 June 2013	14 October 2013	109 days	Kevin Rudd
26		Tanya Plibersek	14 October 2013	30 May 2019	5 years, 228 days	Bill Shorten
27		Richard Marles	30 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 157 days	Anthony Albanese

Notes

1. As Gardiner was a member of the Senate, the party also elected a deputy leader or assistant leader in the House of Representatives. T. J. Ryan was elected assistant leader on 9 September 1920.^[7] After Ryan died in office in 1 August 1921, Matthew Charlton was elected as the new deputy leader on 29 September 1921.^[8] Charlton was elected leader of the ALP in the House of Representatives on 25 January 1922, following the death of Frank Tudor two weeks earlier.^[9] Frank Anstey was elected deputy leader to Charlton on 16 May 1922.^[10]

Senate Leader

#	Senate Leader		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Leader(s)
1		Gregor McGregor	20 May 1901	13 August 1914	13 years, 85 days	Watson Fisher
2		George Pearce	17 September 1914	14 November 1916	2 years, 58 days	Fisher Hughes
3		Albert Gardiner	14 November 1916	30 June 1926	9 years, 228 days	Tudor Charlton
4		Ted Needham	9 July 1926	25 June 1929	2 years, 351 days	Charlton Scullin
5		John Daly	25 June 1929	3 March 1931	1 year, 251 days	Scullin
6		John Barnes	25 June 1929	30 June 1935	6 years, 5 days	Scullin
7		Joe Collings	30 June 1935	20 September 1943	8 years, 82 days	Scullin Curtin
8		Richard Keane	20 September 1943	26 April 1946	2 years, 218 days	Curtin Chifley
9		Bill Ashley	17 June 1946	11 June 1951	4 years, 359 days	Chifley
10		Nick McKenna	11 June 1951	17 Aug 1966	15 years, 67 days	Chifley Evatt Calwell
11		Don Willesee	17 August 1966	8 February 1967	175 days	Calwell
12		Lionel Murphy	8 February 1967	9 February 1975	8 years, 1 day	Whitlam
13		Ken Wriedt	10 February 1975	25 September 1980	5 years, 228 days	Whitlam Hayden
14		John Button	7 November 1980	24 March 1993	12 years, 137 days	Hayden Hawke Keating
15		Gareth Evans	24 March 1993	6 February 1996	2 years, 319 days	Keating
16		John Faulkner	19 March 1996	22 October 2004	8 years, 217 days	Beazley Crean Latham
17		Chris Evans	22 October 2004	4 February 2013	8 years, 103 days	Latham Beazley Rudd Gillard
18		Stephen Conroy	4 February 2013	26 June 2013	142 days	Gillard
19		Penny Wong	26 June 2013	Incumbent	11 years, 130 days	Rudd Shorten Albanese

State and territory leadership

Australian Capital Territory

See also: Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch)

• Rosemary Follett (1989, 1991–1995, inaugural Chief Minister of the ACT, and first female head of government of an Australian state or territory)
• Jon Stanhope (2001–2011)
• Katy Gallagher (2011–2014)
• Andrew Barr (2014-)

New South Wales

See also: Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)

• James McGowen (1910–1913)
• William Holman (1913–1916)
• John Storey (1920–21)
• James Dooley (1921, 1921–22)
• Jack Lang (1925–1927, 1930–1932)
• William McKell (1941–1947)
• James McGirr (1947–1952)
• Joseph Cahill (1952–1959)
• Bob Heffron (1959–1964)
• Jack Renshaw (1964–65)
• Neville Wran (1976–1986)
• Barrie Unsworth (1986–1988)
• Bob Carr (1995–2005)
• Morris Iemma (2005–2008)
• Nathan Rees (2008–09)
• Kristina Keneally (2009–2011, first female premier of New South Wales)
• Chris Minns (2023-)

Northern Territory

See also: Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch)

• Clare Martin (2001–2007, first Labor Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory)
• Paul Henderson (2007–2012)
• Michael Gunner (2016-2022)
• Natasha Fyles (2022-2023)
• Eva Lawler (2023-2024)

Queensland

See also: Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch)

• Anderson Dawson (1899, world's first leader of a parliamentary socialist government)
• T. J. Ryan (1915–1919)
• Ted Theodore (1919–1925)
• William Gillies (1925)
• William McCormack (1925–1929)
• William Forgan Smith (1932–1942)
• Frank Cooper (1942–1946)
• Ned Hanlon (1946–1952)
• Vince Gair (1952–1957)
• Wayne Goss (1989–1996)
• Peter Beattie (1998–2007)
• Anna Bligh (2007–2012, first female premier of Queensland, and first woman in Australia to win an election as premier)
• Annastacia Palaszczuk (2015-2023)
• Steven Miles (2023-)

South Australia

See also: Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)

• Thomas Price (1905–1909)
• John Verran (1910–1912)
• Crawford Vaughan (1915–1917)
• John Gunn (1924–1926)
• Lionel Hill (1926–27, 1930–1933)
• Robert Richards (1933)
• Frank Walsh (1965–1967)
• Don Dunstan (1967–68, 1970–1979)
• Des Corcoran (1979)
• John Bannon (1982–1992)
• Lynn Arnold (1992–93)
• Mike Rann (2002–2011)
• Jay Weatherill (2011–2018)
• Peter Malinauskas (2022-)

Tasmania

See also: Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch)

• John Earle (1909, 1914–1916)
• Joseph Lyons (1923–1928)
• Albert Ogilvie (1934–1939)
• Edmund Dwyer-Gray (1939)
• Robert Cosgrove (1939–1947, 1948–1958)
• Edward Brooker (1947–48)
• Eric Reece (1958–1969, 1972–1975)
• Bill Neilson (1975–1977)
• Doug Lowe (1977–1981)
• Harry Holgate (1981–82)
• Michael Field (1989–1992)
• Jim Bacon (1998–2004)
• Paul Lennon (2004–2008)
• David Bartlett (2008–2011)
• Lara Giddings (2011–2014, first female Premier of Tasmania)

Victoria

See also: Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch)

• George Elmslie (1913)
• George Prendergast (1924)
• Edmond Hogan (1927–28, 1929–1932)
• John Cain (34th Premier of Victoria) (1943, 1945–1947, 1952–1955)
• John Cain (41st Premier of Victoria) (1982–1990)
• Joan Kirner (1990–1992, first female premier of Victoria)
• Steve Bracks (1999–2007)
• John Brumby (2007–2010)
• Daniel Andrews (2014-2023)
• Jacinta Allan (2023-)

Western Australia

See also: Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)

• Henry Daglish (1904–05)
• John Scaddan (1911–1916)
• Philip Collier (1924–1930, 1933–1936)
• John Willcock (1936–1945)
• Frank Wise (1945–1947)
• Albert Hawke (1953–1959)
• John Tonkin (1971–1974)
• Brian Burke (1983–1988)
• Peter Dowding (1988–1990)
• Carmen Lawrence (1990–1993, first female premier of an Australian state)
• Geoff Gallop (2001–2006)
• Alan Carpenter (2006–2008)
• Mark McGowan (2017-2023)
• Roger Cook (2023-)

References

1. Wu, David (22 May 2022). "Five Labor MPs to be immediately sworn in ahead of key Quad trip". Sky News Australia. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
2. "Rudd reveals plan for Labor leadership voting reform". ABC News. 8 July 2013.
3. Kevin Rudd wins over party-p leadership-p rules
4. Harrison, Bill (13 October 2013). "Bill Shorten elected Labor leader". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
5. "Plibersek says she can't reconcile family responsibilities with leadership". ABC News. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
6. Prime Ministers of Australia: Frank Forde. National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
7. "Mr Ryan: Assistant Leader, Federal Labour Party". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 September 1920.
8. "Mr. Tudor asked to continue". The Age. Melbourne. 30 September 1921.
9. "MR. CHARLTON LEADER IN THE HOUSE". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 January 1922.
10. "Federal Labor Party: Executive Officers Appointed". Geelong Advertiser. 17 May 1922.