Vice-President of the Executive Council (New South Wales)

For the federal Australian office, see Vice-President of the Executive Council.

The Vice-President of the Executive Council of New South Wales is a position in the Australian state of New South Wales governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Executive Council of New South Wales in the absence of the Governor.^[1]

Vice-President of the Executive Council
Incumbent Ron Hoenig since 5 April 2023 (2023-04-05)
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales
Inaugural holder	Edward Deas Thomson
Formation	23 May 1857

The Vice-President of the Executive Council is appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Premier.^[2] The Vice-President is usually a senior minister and may summon executive councillors and preside at Council meetings when the Governor is not present. However, the Vice-President cannot sign Executive Council documents on behalf of the Governor. The current Vice-President of the Executive Council is Penny Sharpe, since 28 March 2023.^[3]

Duties and history

As the duties of the post are not rigorous, it is usually given to a government minister who holds another portfolio. In this sense, it is usually not a 'Minister without portfolio' such as the equivalent position, Lord President of the Council, is in the United Kingdom, although it has sometimes been used thus in the past, particularly in the pre-Federation period. Since 1920 it has typically been given to the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council or its chief representative.^[4] However, following the 2023 New South Wales state election, the position was given to Ron Hoenig, who sits in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales.

Vice-presidents of the Executive Council

Ordinal	Vice-President	Party		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
1	Edward Deas Thomson [a]		None	23 May 1857	7 September 1857	107 days
2	John Plunkett		None	23 November 1863	2 February 1865	1 year, 71 days
3	Saul Samuel [b]		None	14 May 1872	8 February 1875	2 years, 270 days
4	Joseph Docker [a]		None	17 August 1877	17 December 1877	122 days
5	John Marks [a]			18 December 1877	20 December 1878	1 year, 2 days
6	Sir John Robertson [a]			21 December 1878	10 November 1881	2 years, 324 days
7	Frederick Darley [a]			14 November 1881	4 January 1883	1 year, 51 days
8	Sir Patrick Jennings [a]			5 January 1883	31 July 1883	207 days
9	Charles Mackellar [a]		None	26 February 1886	23 December 1886	300 days
10	Sir Henry Parkes MLA		Free Trade	20 January 1887	6 March 1887	45 days
11	Julian Salomons [a]			7 March 1887	16 January 1889	1 year, 315 days
12	Sir John Lackey		Protectionist	17 January 1889	7 March 1889	49 days
13	William Suttor Jr.[a]		Free Trade	30 April 1889	22 October 1891	2 years, 175 days
(11)	Sir Julian Salomons [a]		Protectionist	23 October 1891	26 January 1893	1 year, 95 days
14	Normand MacLaurin [a]			5 April 1893	2 August 1894	1 year, 119 days
(13)	William Suttor Jr.[a]		Free Trade	7 August 1894	15 March 1895	220 days
15	Andrew Garran [a]			19 March 1895	18 November 1898	3 years, 244 days
16	John Hughes [a]			22 November 1898	13 September 1899	295 days
17	William Lyne [a]		Protectionist	14 September 1899	15 September 1899	1 day
18	Kenneth Mackay [a]			15 September 1899	24 April 1900	221 days
19	Francis Suttor [a]			12 June 1900	9 April 1901	301 days
			Progressive	9 April 1901	23 May 1903	2 years, 44 days
(18)	Kenneth Mackay [a]			6 June 1903	29 August 1904	1 year, 84 days
(16)	John Hughes [a]		Liberal Reform	29 August 1904	20 October 1910	6 years, 52 days
20	Fred Flowers [a]		Labor	21 October 1910	27 April 1915	4 years, 188 days
21	Jack FitzGerald [a]			27 April 1915	15 November 1916	1 year, 202 days
			Nationalist	15 November 1916	30 July 1919	2 years, 257 days
22	David Hall MLA			30 July 1919	9 February 1920	194 days
23	Sir George Fuller MLA			9 February 1920	27 February 1920	18 days
24	Edward Kavanagh [a]		Labor	21 April 1920	20 December 1921	1 year, 243 days
25	Sir Joseph Carruthers [a]		Nationalist	20 December 1921 a.m.	20 December 1921 p.m.	7 hours
(24)	Edward Kavanagh [a]		Labor	20 December 1921	13 April 1922	114 days
(25)	Sir Joseph Carruthers [a]		Nationalist	13 April 1922	17 June 1925	3 years, 65 days
26	Albert Willis [a]		Labor	17 June 1925	18 October 1927	2 years, 123 days
27	Francis Boyce [a]		Nationalist	18 October 1927	3 November 1930	3 years, 16 days
26	Albert Willis [a]		Labor	4 November 1930	2 April 1931	149 days
28	James Concannon [a]			3 April 1931	15 October 1931	195 days
			Labor (NSW)	15 October 1931	13 May 1932	211 days
29	James Ryan [a]		United Australia	16 May 1932	17 June 1932	32 days
30	Henry Manning [a]			18 June 1932	16 May 1941	8 years, 332 days
31	Reg Downing [a]		Labor	16 May 1941	13 May 1965	23 years, 362 days
32	Arthur Bridges [a]		Liberal	13 May 1965	22 May 1968	3 years, 9 days
33	Sir John Fuller [a]		Country	10 July 1968	14 May 1976	7 years, 309 days
34	Paul Landa [a]		Labor	14 May 1976	5 April 1984	7 years, 327 days
35	Barrie Unsworth [a]			5 April 1984	4 July 1986	2 years, 90 days
36	Jack Hallam [a]			4 July 1986	25 March 1988	1 year, 265 days
37	Ted Pickering [a]		Liberal	25 March 1988	22 October 1992	4 years, 211 days
38	John Hannaford [a]			22 October 1992	4 April 1995	2 years, 164 days
39	Michael Egan [a]		Labor	4 April 1995	21 January 2005	9 years, 292 days
40	John Della Bosca [a]			3 August 2005	2 April 2007	1 year, 242 days
41	Tony Kelly			2 April 2007	8 September 2008	1 year, 159 days
(40)	John Della Bosca [a]			8 September 2008	1 September 2009	358 days
42	John Hatzistergos [a]			1 September 2009	28 March 2011	1 year, 208 days
43	Michael Gallacher [a]		Liberal	3 April 2011	2 May 2014	3 years, 29 days
44	Duncan Gay [a]		National	6 May 2014	30 January 2017	2 years, 269 days
45	Don Harwin [a]		Liberal	30 January 2017	15 April 2020	3 years, 76 days
46	Damien Tudehope [a]			15 April 2020	3 July 2020	79 days
(45)	Don Harwin [a]			3 July 2020	21 December 2021	1 year, 171 days
(46)	Damien Tudehope [a]			21 December 2021	17 February 2023	3 years, 146 days	[5]
47	Sarah Mitchell		National	17 February 2023	28 March 2023	39 days	[6]
48	Penny Sharpe [a]		Labor	28 March 2023	5 April 2023	8 days	[3]
49	Ron Hoenig [c]			5 April 2023	incumbent	2 years, 41 days	[3]

  Ministers are members of the Legislative Council unless otherwise noted.

Notes

1. Concurrently Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.
2. Saul Samuel was concurrently Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council from 14 May 1872 until 13 September 1873.
3. Ron Hoenig sits in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales as the MP for Heffron and is also the Leader of the House.