Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia

The Leader of the Liberal Party is the highest office within the Liberal Party of Australia and the Liberal–National Coalition. The position is currently, and has been since 24 August 2018, held by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who represents the Division of Cook in New South Wales. Scott Morrison is the fourteenth leader of the Liberal Party.

Leader of the Liberal Party
Incumbent
Scott Morrison
since 24 August 2018
TypeThe Honourable
Member ofFederal Executive,
Coalition
Term lengthNo fixed term
Inaugural holderRobert Menzies
Formation21 February 1945
Unofficial namesLeader of the Coalition
DeputyJosh Frydenberg
WebsiteScott Morrison

The current Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party is Member for Kooyong and Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Frydenberg was elected under the same circumstances as Scott Morrison after the 2018 leadership spills.

History

The Liberal Party leadership was first held by former United Australia Party leader and eventual co–founder Robert Menzies, along with eighteen political organisations and groups.[1]

Scott Morrison is the current leader and was elected to be Leader and Prime Minister, first in a leadership spill,[2][3] and second, in an upset federal election victory on the 18th of May 2019.[4][5]

Following the oustings of two Liberal Prime Ministers in 3 years, Scott Morrison introduced a new threshold to trigger a Liberal Party leadership change in government, requiring two-thirds of the partyroom vote to trigger a spill motion. The change was introduced at an hour long party room meeting on the evening of 3 December 2018. Morrison said the changes, which were drafted with feedback from former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, would only apply to leaders who lead the party to victory at a federal election.[6]

Role

Since the days of Menzies, the Liberal Party has either been in government with a coalition or in opposition to the Labor. Thus, the leader of the Liberal Party can often be the Prime Minister of Australia or Leader of the Opposition. Furthermore, the leader picks the Cabinet and is also the leader of the Coalition. The Liberal Party only had one leader of the party from the Senate, John Gorton, for a brief period in January 1968 before he resigned from the Senate to contest the Higgins by-election in February 1968.

Leaders 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.[7]

No. Leader
(birth–death)		 Portrait Electorate Took office Left office Prime Minister (term)
1 Robert Menzies
(1894–1978)		 Kooyong, Vic. 21 February 1945 20 January 1966 Curtin (1941–1945)
Forde (1945)
Chifley (1945–1949)
Himself (1949–1966)
2 Harold Holt
(1908–1967)		 Higgins, Vic. 20 January 1966
(unopposed)		 17 December 1967
(died in office)		 Himself (1966–1967)
3 John Gorton
(1911–2002)		 Higgins, Vic. 9 January 1968
(elected)		 10 March 1971 McEwen[lower-alpha 1] (1967–1968)
Himself (1967–1971)
4 William McMahon
(1908–1988)		 Lowe, NSW 10 March 1971
(elected)		 20 December 1972 Himself (1971–1972)
Whitlam (1972–1975)
5 Billy Snedden
(1926–1987)		 Bruce, Vic. 20 December 1972
(elected)		 21 March 1975
6 Malcolm Fraser
(1930–2015)		 Wannon, Vic. 21 March 1975
(elected)		 11 March 1983
Himself (1975–1983)
Hawke (1983–1991)
7 Andrew Peacock
(b. 1939)
(1st time)		 Kooyong, Vic. 11 March 1983
(elected)		 5 September 1985
8 John Howard
(b. 1939)
(1st time)		 Bennelong, NSW 5 September 1985
(elected)		 9 May 1989
(7) Andrew Peacock
(b. 1939)
(2nd time)		 Kooyong, Vic. 9 May 1989
(elected)		 3 April 1990
9 John Hewson
(b. 1946)		 Wentworth, NSW 3 April 1990
(elected)		 23 May 1994
Keating (1991–1996)
10 Alexander Downer
(b. 1951)		 Mayo, SA 23 May 1994
(elected)		 30 January 1995
(8) John Howard
(b. 1939)
(2nd time)		 Bennelong, NSW 30 January 1995
(unopposed)		 29 November 2007
Himself (1996–2007)
11 Brendan Nelson
(b. 1958)		 Bradfield, NSW 29 November 2007
(elected)		 16 September 2008 Rudd (2007–2010)
12 Malcolm Turnbull
(b. 1954)
(1st time)		 Wentworth, NSW 16 September 2008
(elected)		 1 December 2009
13 Tony Abbott
(b. 1957)		 Warringah, NSW 1 December 2009
(elected)		 14 September 2015
Gillard (2010–2013)
Rudd (2013)
Himself (2013–2015)
(12) Malcolm Turnbull
(b. 1954)
(2nd time)		 Wentworth, NSW 14 September 2015
(elected)		 24 August 2018 Himself (2015–2018)
14 Scott Morrison
(b. 1968)		 Cook, NSW 24 August 2018
(elected)		 Incumbent Himself (2018–present)

Living former party leaders

There are seven living former party leaders, all of whom were elected, and four who were Prime Minister. From oldest to youngest:

Leader Term of office Date of birth
Andrew Peacock 1983–1985; 1989–1990 (1939-02-13) 13 February 1939
John Howard 1985–1989; 1995–2007 (1939-07-26) 26 July 1939
John Hewson 1990–1994 (1946-10-28) 28 October 1946
Alexander Downer 1994–1995 (1951-09-09) 9 September 1951
Malcolm Turnbull 2008–2009; 2015–2018 (1954-10-24) 24 October 1954
Tony Abbott 2009–2015 (1957-11-04) 4 November 1957
Brendan Nelson 2007–2008 (1958-08-19) 19 August 1958

Federal leaders by time in office
No Name Term began Term ended Time in office Term as Prime Minister
1 Sir Robert Menzies 21 February 194520 January 1966 20 years, 333 days (UAP 1939–41), 1949–66
(8) John Howard 30 January 199529 November 2007 12 years, 303 days 1996–2007
6 Malcolm Fraser 21 March 197511 March 1983 7 years, 355 days 1975–83
13 Tony Abbott 1 December 200914 September 2015 5 years, 287 days 2013–15
9 John Hewson 3 April 199023 May 1994 4 years, 50 days
8 John Howard 5 September 19859 May 1989 3 years, 246 days
3 Sir John Gorton 10 January 196810 March 1971 3 years, 59 days 1968–71
(12) Malcolm Turnbull 14 September 201524 August 2018 2 years, 344 days 2015–2018
7 Andrew Peacock 11 March 19835 September 1985 2 years, 178 days
14 Scott Morrison 24 August 2018Incumbent 2 years, 155 days 2018–present
5 Sir Billy Snedden 20 December 197221 March 1975 2 years, 91 days
2 Harold Holt 20 January 196619 December 1967 1 year, 333 days 1966–67
4 Sir William McMahon 10 March 19715 December 1972 1 year, 270 days 1971–72
12 Malcolm Turnbull 16 September 20081 December 2009 1 year, 76 days
(7) Andrew Peacock 9 May 19893 April 1990 329 days
11 Brendan Nelson 29 November 200716 September 2008 292 days
10 Alexander Downer 23 May 199430 January 1995 252 days

Totals for leaders who served multiple non-consecutive terms:

Federal deputy leaders
#NameStateTerm startTerm endDurationLeader(s)
1Eric HarrisonNew South Wales21 February 194526 September 195611 years, 218 daysRobert Menzies
2Harold HoltVictoria26 September 195620 January 19669 years, 116 days
3William McMahonNew South Wales20 January 196610 March 19715 years, 49 daysHarold Holt
John Gorton
4John GortonVictoria10 March 197116 August 1971159 daysWilliam McMahon
5Billy SneddenVictoria18 August 197120 December 19721 year, 124 days
6Phillip LynchVictoria20 December 19728 April 19829 years, 109 daysBilly Snedden
Malcolm Fraser
7John HowardNew South Wales8 April 19825 September 19853 years, 150 daysMalcolm Fraser
Andrew Peacock
8Neil BrownVictoria5 September 198517 July 19871 year, 315 daysJohn Howard
9Andrew PeacockVictoria17 July 19879 May 19891 year, 296 days
10Fred Chaney[lower-alpha 2]Western Australia9 May 19893 April 1990329 daysAndrew Peacock
11Peter ReithVictoria24 March 199013 March 19932 years, 354 daysJohn Hewson
12Michael WooldridgeVictoria13 March 199323 May 19941 year, 71 days
13Peter CostelloVictoria23 May 199429 November 200713 years, 190 daysAlexander Downer
John Howard
14Julie BishopWestern Australia29 November 200724 August 201810 years, 268 daysBrendan Nelson
Malcolm Turnbull
Tony Abbott
15Josh FrydenbergVictoria24 August 2018Incumbent2 years, 155 daysScott Morrison

See also

Notes
  1. After the Disappearance of Harold Holt, the Deputy Prime Minister, McEwen, took over as a caretaker until the leadership election of the Liberal Party was concluded.
  2. From 23 May 1989 to 24 March 1990 (305 days), Wal Fife occupied the unique position of "Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives". This was because Fred Chaney was a member of the Senate during that time; it was necessary to elect a temporary House-only deputy for procedural reasons.[8][9]

References
  1. "Menzies Creates the Liberal Party". ABC. 1944. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  2. Sweeney, Lucy; Belot, Henry. "Scott Morrison beats Peter Dutton in Liberal spill to succeed Malcolm Turnbull; Julie Bishop loses deputy position". ABC. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  3. "Scott Morrison is new Australian PM as Malcolm Turnbull ousted". BBC. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  4. Murphy, Katharine (22 May 2019). "Scott Morrison won the unwinnable election. Now the hard part begins". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  5. Probyn, Andrew (20 May 2019). "Scott Morrison goes from accidental Prime Minister to homespun hero in election 2019". ABC. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  6. "Scott Morrison summons Liberal MPs to after-hours meeting to pass changes to leadership spill rules". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  7. "Our History". Liberal Party. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  8. "Liberal brawl may defer deputy vote". The Canberra Times. 22 May 1989.
  9. "Peacock hopes brawling ended". The Canberra Times. 24 May 1989.
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