President of the Liberal Party of Australia

The President of the Liberal Party of Australia is a senior position within the federal party. A member of both the party's two governing bodies (Federal Council, Federal Executive), the position was established at the same time as the party's foundation. The position was established by the party's constitution and has had nineteen different office-holders. The current president is John Olsen, elected president in August 2020.

President of the Liberal Party
Incumbent John Olsen since August 2020
Member of	Federal Executive Federal Council
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	Clause 11.1, Constitution of the Federal Liberal Party[1]
Inaugural holder	Malcolm Ritchie
Formation	1945; 79 years ago (1945)

Presidents of the Liberal Party

Note: the right-hand column does not allocate height proportional to time in office.

A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1945.^[2]

No.	Leader (birth–death)	Portrait	Took office	Left office	State	Other/former positions
1	Malcolm Ritchie (1894–1971)		July–September 1945	2 September 1947	Victoria	Federal provisional chairman.[3]
2	Richard Casey (1890–1976)		2 September 1947[4]	10 December 1949[a]	Victoria	MP for Corio (1931–1940); 15th Treasurer of Australia (1935–1939); 1st Minister to the United States (1940–1942); Governor of Bengal (1944–1946).
No federal president between 11 December 1949 – 26 January 1950.
(1)	Malcolm Ritchie (1894–1971)		27 January 1950[6]	19 November 1951[7]	Victoria	President of the Liberal Party.
3	W. H. Anderson (1897–1968)		19 November 1951[7]	13 November 1956[8]	Victoria	—
4	Lyle Moore (1899–1982)		13 November 1956[8]	14–17 November 1960[9][10]	New South Wales	President of the New South Wales Liberal Party (1949–1956).
5	Philip McBride (1892–1982)		14–17 November 1960	9 November 1965[11]	South Australia	MP for Grey (1931–1937) and Wakefield (1946–1958); Senator for South Australia (1937–1944); 39th Minister for Defence (1950–1958).
6	Jock Pagan (1892–1982)		9 November 1965[12]	9 June 1970[13]	New South Wales	President of the New South Wales Liberal Party (1962–1965).
7	Robert Southey (1922–1998)		9 June 1970[13]	11 October 1975[14]	Victoria	—
8	John Atwill (1926–2001)		11 October 1975[14]	15 May 1982[15]	New South Wales	President of the New South Wales Liberal Party (1970–1975).
9	A. J. Forbes (1923–2019)		15 May 1982[16]	18 July 1985[17]	South Australia	MP for Barker (1956–1975); Minister for the Navy (1963–1964); Minister for the Army (1963–1966); Minister for Health (1966–1971); Minister for Immigration (1971–1972); President of the South Australian Liberal Party (1979–1982);
10	John Valder (1931–2017)		18 July 1985[18]	30 October 1987[19]	—	—
11	John Elliott (1941–2021)		30 October 1987[19]	23 October 1990[20]	Victoria	—
12	Ashley Goldsworthy (b. 1935)		23 October 1990[20]	28 August 1993[21]	Queensland	Vice-president of the Liberal Party.
13	Tony Staley (1939–2023)		28 August 1993[21]	2 July 1999[22]	Victoria	MP for Chisholm (1970–1980); Minister for the Capital Territory (1976–1977); Minister for Post and Telecommunications (1977–1980).
14	Shane Stone (b. 1950)		2 July 1999[22]	25 June 2005	Victoria Northern Territory	Northern Territory MLA for Port Darwin (1990–2000); Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (1995–1999).
15	Chris McDiven (b. 1949)		25 June 2005	19 February 2008	Western Australia New South Wales	—
16	Alan Stockdale (b. 1945)		19 February 2008	25 June 2014	Victoria	Victoria MLA for Brighton (1985–1999); Treasurer of Victoria (1992–1999).
17	Richard Alston (b. 1941)		27 June 2014[23]	June 2017	Victoria	Senator for Victoria (1986–2004); Minister for Communications and the Arts (1996–1997); Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts (1997–1998); Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (1998–2003); High Commissioners of Australia to the United Kingdom (2005–2008).
18	Nick Greiner (b. 1941)		June 2017	August 2020	New South Wales	Premier of New South Wales (1988–1992); Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party (1983–1992); New South Wales MLA for Ku-ring-gai (1980–1992).
19	John Olsen (b. 1945)		August 2020	Incumbent	South Australia	Premier of South Australia (1996–2001); Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party (1982–1990; 1996–2001); President of the South Australian Liberal Party (1976–1979; 2017–2020); Australian Consul General in New York (2006–2009); Australian Consul-General in Los Angeles (2002–2006).

Notes

1. Casey resigned the post of President following his election to the House of Representatives for La Trobe.^[5]

References

1. "Liberal Party of Australia Federal Constitution" (PDF). cdn.liberal.org.au. Liberal Party of Australia. 2019.
2. "Party People". Liberal Party. 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022.
3. "Liberals' New Chairman". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 479. New South Wales, Australia. 12 April 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "Casey Liberal Party President". The Courier-Mail. No. 3362. Queensland, Australia. 3 September 1947. p. 4. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Liberal Party's President". The Queensland Times. No. 19, 707. Queensland, Australia. 1 March 1950. p. 5 (Daily). Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Liberal Party's President". The Queensland Times. No. 19, 707. Queensland, Australia. 1 March 1950. p. 5 (Daily). Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
7. "New Liberal Party President". The Advocate. Tasmania, Australia. 20 November 1951. p. 2 (Daily). Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "New President of the Liberal Party". The Canberra Times. Vol. 31. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 14 November 1956. p. 13. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "Liberal Party Platform Review Planned". The Canberra Times. Vol. 35, no. 9, 753. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 8 November 1960. p. 7. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
10. "Revision of Liberal Party Policy". The Canberra Times. Vol. 35, no. 9, 761. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 17 November 1960. p. 2. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
11. "Liberal Leader To Retire". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 304. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 4 November 1965. p. 1. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
12. "Liberal Leader Noted Former Soldier". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 309. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 10 November 1965. p. 12. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
13. "New President Backs Gorton". The Canberra Times. Vol. 44, no. 12, 644. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 10 June 1970. p. 15. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
14. "Atwill elected new president of Liberal Party". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 43, 001 (Late ed.). Canberra: John Fairfax and Sons. 13 October 1975. p. 2.
15. "Forbes New President of Liberals". The Canberra Times. Vol. 56, no. 17, 032. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 16 May 1982. p. 1. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
16. "Liberal Disunity 'Over'". The Canberra Times. Vol. 56, no. 17, 034. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 18 May 1982. p. 9. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
17. "Forbes To Quit As Liberal President". The Canberra Times. Vol. 59, no. 18, 153. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 12 June 1985. p. 1. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
18. "Liberal Party National Council Meeting – Loyal to Liberal leader: Valder". The Canberra Times. Vol. 59, no. 18, 190. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 19 July 1985. p. 6. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
19. "'No more personal views' on Liberal policy Elliott promise of loyalty to Howard". The Canberra Times. Vol. 62, no. 19, 019. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 31 October 1987. p. 3. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
20. "Libs Vote Out Born-To-Rule Vics". The Canberra Times. Vol. 65, no. 20, 285. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 25 October 1990. p. 3. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
21. "Fraser savages Lib leadership". The Canberra Times. Vol. 67, no. 21, 313. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 29 August 1993. p. 1. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
22. Wright, Tony (3 July 1999). "Liberals turn to Stone to fill shoes of a giant". The Age. John Fairfax and Sons. p. 8.
23. Yaxley, Louise (27 June 2014). "Liberal Federal Council elects Richard Alston as new president". ABC News. Retrieved 22 January 2023.