Leaders of the Australian Labor Party

There are Leaders of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the federal level as well as in each Australian state and territory. Australian Labor Party leaders are chosen from among the members of the respective parliamentary parties either by the members only or with an input from the ALP rank-and-file members.

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. 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 (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.

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. 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		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Prime Minister
1	60px	Chris Watson	20 May 1901	30 October 1907		Yes (1904)
2	60px	Andrew Fisher	30 October 1907	27 October 1915		Yes (1908–09, 1910–1913, 1914–15)
3	60px	Billy Hughes	27 October 1915	14 November 1916		Yes (1915–1923)
4	60px	Frank Tudor	14 November 1916	10 January 1922†		No
5	60px	Matthew Charlton	16 January 1922	16 May 1922		No
			16 May 1922	29 March 1928
6		James Scullin	26 April 1928	1 October 1935		Yes (1929–1932)
7		John Curtin	1 October 1935	5 July 1945†		Yes (1941–1945)
–	60px	Frank Forde	6 July 1945	13 July 1945		Yes (1945)
8		Ben Chifley	13 July 1945	13 June 1951†		Yes (1945–1949)
9		H. V. Evatt	20 June 1951	9 February 1960		No
10	60px	Arthur Calwell	7 March 1960	8 February 1967		No
11	60px	Gough Whitlam	9 February 1967	22 December 1977		Yes (1972–1975)
12	60px	Bill Hayden	22 December 1977	3 February 1983		No
13	60px	Bob Hawke	3 February 1983	20 December 1991		Yes (1983–1991)
14	60px	Paul Keating	20 December 1991	2 March 1996		Yes (1991–1996)
15	60px	Kim Beazley	19 March 1996	22 November 2001		No
16	60px	Simon Crean	22 November 2001	2 December 2003		No
17		Mark Latham	2 December 2003	18 January 2005		No
(15)	60px	Kim Beazley	18 January 2005	4 December 2006		No
18		Kevin Rudd	4 December 2006	24 June 2010		Yes (2007–2010)
19		Julia Gillard	24 June 2010	26 June 2013		Yes (2010–2013)
(18)		Kevin Rudd	26 June 2013	13 September 2013		Yes (2013)
–	60px	Chris Bowen	18 September 2013	13 October 2013		No
20	60px	Bill Shorten	13 October 2013	30 May 2019		No
21	88x88px	Anthony Albanese	30 May 2019	Incumbent		Yes (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		Chris Watson
						Andrew Fisher
2	60px	Billy Hughes	18 September 1914	27 October 1915
3		George Pearce	27 October 1915	14 November 1916		Billy Hughes
4		Albert Gardiner	14 November 1916	30 June 1926		Frank Tudor
						Matthew Charlton
5	60px	James Scullin	17 March 1927	29 March 1928
6		Arthur Blakeley	26 April 1928	5 February 1929		James Scullin
7	60px	Ted Theodore	5 February 1929	19 December 1931
8	60px	Frank Forde	16 February 1932	28 September 1946
						John Curtin
						Ben Chifley
9		H. V. Evatt	31 October 1946	20 June 1951
10	60px	Arthur Calwell	20 June 1951	7 March 1960		H. V. Evatt
11	60px	Gough Whitlam	7 March 1960	9 February 1967		Arthur Calwell
12	60px	Lance Barnard	9 February 1967	12 June 1974		Gough Whitlam
13	60px	Jim Cairns	12 June 1974	2 July 1975
14	60px	Frank Crean	2 July 1975	22 December 1975
15	60px	Tom Uren	22 December 1975	22 December 1977
16		Lionel Bowen	22 December 1977	4 April 1990		Bill Hayden
						Bob Hawke
17	60px	Paul Keating	4 April 1990	3 Jun 1991
18	60px	Brian Howe	3 June 1991	20 June 1995
						Paul Keating
19	60px	Kim Beazley	20 June 1995	19 March 1996
20	60px	Gareth Evans	19 March 1996	19 October 1998		Kim Beazley
21	60px	Simon Crean	19 October 1998	22 November 2001
22	60px	Jenny Macklin	22 November 2001	4 December 2006		Simon Crean
						Mark Latham
						Kim Beazley
23	60px	Julia Gillard	4 December 2006	24 June 2010		Kevin Rudd
24	60px	Wayne Swan	24 June 2010	27 June 2013		Julia Gillard
25		Anthony Albanese	27 June 2013	14 October 2013		Kevin Rudd
26	60px	Tanya Plibersek	14 October 2013	30 May 2019		Bill Shorten
27	60px	Richard Marles	30 May 2019	Incumbent		Anthony Albanese

Senate Leader

#	Senate Leader		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Leader(s)
1		Gregor McGregor	20 May 1901	13 August 1914		Watson Fisher
2	60px	George Pearce	17 September 1914	14 November 1916		Fisher Hughes
3		Albert Gardiner	14 November 1916	30 June 1926		Tudor Charlton
4	60px	Ted Needham	9 July 1926	25 June 1929		Charlton Scullin
5	60px	John Daly	25 June 1929	3 March 1931		Scullin
6	60px	John Barnes	25 June 1929	30 June 1935		Scullin
7	60px	Joe Collings	30 June 1935	20 September 1943		Scullin Curtin
8		Richard Keane	20 September 1943	26 April 1946		Curtin Chifley
9	60px	Bill Ashley	17 June 1946	11 June 1951		Chifley
10	60px	Nick McKenna	11 June 1951	17 Aug 1966		Chifley Evatt Calwell
11	60px	Don Willesee	17 August 1966	8 February 1967		Calwell
12	60px	Lionel Murphy	8 February 1967	9 February 1975		Whitlam
13	60px	Ken Wriedt	10 February 1975	25 September 1980		Whitlam Hayden
14		John Button	7 November 1980	24 March 1993		Hayden Hawke Keating
15	60px	Gareth Evans	24 March 1993	6 February 1996		Keating
16	60px	John Faulkner	19 March 1996	22 October 2004		Beazley Crean Latham
17	60px	Chris Evans	22 October 2004	4 February 2013		Latham Beazley Rudd Gillard
18		Stephen Conroy	4 February 2013	26 June 2013		Gillard
19	60px	Penny Wong	26 June 2013	Incumbent		Rudd Shorten Albanese

State 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)