Leader of the Government in the Senate (Australia)

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The Leader of the Government in the Senate, also known (especially before the 1940s) as Leader of the Senate, is a party office held by the most senior minister in the Australian Senate, elected to lead the governing party (or parties) in the body.[1] Though the leader in the Senate does not have the power of the office of prime minister, there are some parallels between the latter's status in the House of Representatives and the former's in the Senate.[1] In addition to his or her own ministerial portfolio, the leader has overarching responsibility for all policy areas and acts as the government's principal spokesperson in the upper house. The leader, like the prime minister, is entitled to sit at the table of the Senate,[1] and has priority in gaining recognition from the President of the Senate to speak in debate. Another similarity is that the leader typically announces changes to government officeholders in the Senate, including ministers, leadership and whips.[2] The leader also has some responsibility for appointing government senators to committees, a role filled by the Leader of the House and whips in the lower house. The current leader is George Brandis. The leader is assisted by a Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, currently Mathias Cormann.

Leaders of the Government

Leader Term began Term ended Portfolio[3] Party Prime Minister
  Richard O'Connor Federation[4][5] 24 September 1903 Vice-President of the Executive Council Protectionist Edmund Barton
Tom Playford 24 September 1903[6] 27 April 1904 Vice-President of the Executive Council Protectionist Alfred Deakin
Gregor McGregor 27 April 1904[7] 18 August 1904 Vice-President of the Executive Council Labor Chris Watson
Josiah Symon 18 August 1904[8] 5 July 1905 Attorney-General Free Trade George Reid
Tom Playford 5 July 1905[9][10] 31 December 1906[n 1] Defence Protectionist Alfred Deakin
Robert Best 20 February 1907[3][12] 13 November 1908 Vice-President of the Executive Council Protectionist Alfred Deakin
Gregor McGregor 13 November 1908[13][14] 2 June 1909 Vice-President of the Executive Council Labor Andrew Fisher
Edward Millen 2 June 1909[15] 29 April 1910 Vice-President of the Executive Council Commonwealth
Liberal
Alfred Deakin
Gregor McGregor 29 April 1910[16][17] 24 June 1913 Vice-President of the Executive Council Labor Andrew Fisher
Edward Millen 24 June 1913[18] 17 September 1914 Defence Commonwealth
Liberal
Joseph Cook
George Pearce 17 September 1914[19][20] 17 February 1917 Defence Labor Andrew Fisher
Billy Hughes
National Labor
Edward Millen 17 February 1917[21] 9 February 1923 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Commonwealth
Liberal
Nationalist
George Pearce 9 February 1923[22][23] 19 October 1929 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Nationalist Stanley Bruce
John Daly 22 October 1929[24] 3 March 1931 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Labor James Scullin
John Barnes 3 March 1931[25] 6 January 1932 Vice-President of the Executive Council Labor
George Pearce 6 January 1932[26] 29 November 1937 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
United
Australia
Joseph Lyons
Alexander McLachlan 29 November 1937[27] 7 November 1938 Postmaster-General United
Australia
George McLeay 8 November 1938[28] 7 October 1941 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
United
Australia
Earle Page
Robert Menzies
Arthur Fadden
  Joe Collings 7 October 1941[29][30] 20 September 1943 the Interior Labor John Curtin
Richard Keane 20 September 1943[31] 26 April 1946 Trade and Customs Labor
Frank Forde
Ben Chifley
Bill Ashley 17 June 1946[32] 19 December 1949 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Labor
Neil O'Sullivan 21 February 1950[33] 8 December 1958 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Liberal Robert Menzies
Bill Spooner 8 December 1958[34] 2 June 1964[35] <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Liberal
Shane Paltridge 10 June 1964[36] 19 January 1966[37] Defence Liberal
Denham Henty 26 January 1966[38] 10 January 1968 Supply Liberal Harold Holt
John McEwen
John Gorton 10 January 1968[39] 1 February 1968 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Liberal Himself
Ken Anderson 28 February 1968[n 2] 5 December 1972 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Liberal John Gorton
William McMahon
Lionel Murphy 19 December 1972[41] 9 February 1975 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Labor Gough Whitlam
Ken Wriedt 10 February 1975[42] 11 November 1975 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Labor
Reg Withers 12 November 1975[43] 7 August 1978[44] <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Liberal Malcolm Fraser
John Carrick 7 August 1978[45] 11 March 1983 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Liberal
John Button 11 March 1983[46] 24 March 1993 Industry, Technology and Commerce[n 4] Labor Bob Hawke
Paul Keating
Gareth Evans 24 March 1993[47] 6 February 1996[n 5] Foreign Affairs Labor
Robert Hill 11 March 1996[48] 20 January 2006 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Liberal John Howard
Nick Minchin 27 January 2006[49] 3 December 2007 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Liberal
Chris Evans 12 December 2007[50][51] 4 February 2013 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> Labor Kevin Rudd
Julia Gillard
Stephen Conroy 4 February 2013[52][53] 26 June 2013 Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Labor
Penny Wong 26 June 2013[54][55] 18 September 2013 Finance and Deregulation Labor Kevin Rudd
Eric Abetz 18 September 2013[56][57] 21 September 2015 Employment Liberal Tony Abbott
Malcolm Turnbull
George Brandis 21 September 2015 Incumbent Attorney-General
Vice-President of the Executive Council
Liberal Malcolm Turnbull

See also

Notes

  1. Playford lost his seat at the federal election on 12 December. The year 1906 was the last in which terms ended in on the last day of December rather than June.[11]
  2. Anderson was appointed Leader of the Government before the second session of the 26th Parliament,[40] and Gorton made his appointments on 28 February 1968.[3]
  3. Withers was appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council the day after the Dismissal as part of Fraser's Caretaker Cabinet, but he continued in that office for his entire tenure as Leader of the Government. On the same date, he was appointed caretaker the Capital Territory, Special Minister of State, Minister for the Media, and Tourism and Recreation. He served in those offices until 22 December, when Fraser's first full Cabinet was sworn in. The Senate did not meet during the period 12 November to 22 December 1975 (indeed it was dissolved for most of that time). Withers gained the Administrative Services portfolio as part of 22 December reshuffle.
  4. Minister for Industry and Commerce 1983–1984.
  5. Resigned to contest (successfully) the lower house seat of Holt.
  6. Minister for Environment 1996–98.
  7. Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research 2011–13.

References

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  11. Constitution Alteration (Senate Elections Act) 1906.
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