The table on this page lists all of Australia’s Federal Opposition Leaders since 1901 by the total length of their time in that office.
The Opposition Leader is the leader of the second largest grouping of members in the House of Representatives. He or she is chosen by the parliamentary members of the Opposition.
There have been thirty-five men who have served as Opposition Leader since 1901. They have served forty-seven separate terms in the position. Seventeen (48.6%) of them served as prime minister at some time.
Nine opposition leaders served non-consecutive terms. Joseph Cook is the only person to have held the position on three separate occasions, whilst Reid, Deakin, Fisher, Scullin, Whitlam, Peacock, Howard and Beazley each served two terms. Only Peacock and Beazley failed to become prime minister.
Ten opposition leaders have taken their parties from opposition into government at eleven federal elections: Fisher (1910 & 1914), Cook (1913), Scullin (1929), Lyons (1931), Menzies (1949), Whitlam (1972), Hawke (1983), Howard (1996), Abbott (2013), and Albanese (2022). Other prime ministers assumed office following parliamentary shifts, resignations, deaths, party-room challenges or vice-regal intervention.
There have been eleven Opposition Leaders who led their parties to twenty federal elections but never became prime minister: Tudor (1917, 1919), Charlton (1922, 1925), Evatt (1954, 1955, 1958), Calwell (1961, 1963, 1966), Snedden (1974), Hayden (1980), Peacock (1984, 1990), Hewson (1993), Beazley (1998, 2001), Latham (2004), and Shorten (2016, 2019).
There have been four Opposition Leaders who never led their parties to federal elections and never became prime minister: Latham (1929-31), Downer (1994-95), Crean (2001-03), and Nelson (2007-08).
Malcolm Turnbull served as opposition leader (2008-09) but never fought an election in that position. He became prime minister in government (2015) and fought his only election (2016) as prime minister.
Three men – John (Chris) Watson, Alfred Deakin and Arthur Fadden – became prime minister before they became Opposition Leader:
- Whilst Watson led the ALP at two federal elections (1903 and 1906), he is the only person to have been prime minister and opposition leader but who never fought an election in either capacity. He was Prime Minister for four months in 1904 and became Opposition Leader the day after he was defeated in the House of Representatives. He ceased to be Opposition Leader before the 1906 election.
- Deakin became prime minister in 1903, replacing Barton, who had been appointed a Justice of the High Court. He went on to win the 1903 election before spending fifteen months out of office between April 1904 and July 1905. He won the 1906 elections, briefly served as opposition leader in 1909, and served a third term as prime minister after the Fusion of the Protectionists and Free Traders/Anti-Socialists into the Liberal Party. He was opposition leader for most of Fisher’s prime ministership from 1910 to 1913. Like Fisher, Deakin served three separate terms as prime minister and two as opposition leader.
- Fadden became Opposition Leader after briefly serving as prime minister in 1941, and led the opposition at the 1943 election. He was replaced by Robert Menzies, who resumed the leadership of the United Australia Party before founding the modern Liberal Party.
Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese was the 34th opposition leader since 1901. He held the post for 2 years, 11 months, 26 days from May 27, 2019 until he was sworn in as prime minister on May 23, 2022,
Bill Shorten
Bill Shorten was the 33rd opposition leader and the 9th longest-serving opposition leader. He held the post between October 2013 and May 2019. He fought two elections (2016 and 2019) as leader of the ALP.
Shorten served longer in the position than ten previous Labor leaders (Watson, Fisher, Tudor, Scullin, Chifley, Hayden, Hawke, Crean, Latham and Rudd).
– Jan 03, 2019: Shorten passed James Scullin’s term of 5 years, 2 months and 21 days (over two terms).
– Nov 25, 2018: Shorten passed Bill Hayden’s term of 5 years, 1 month and 12 days.
– Sep 07, 2018: Shorten passed Frank Tudor’s term of 4 years, 10 months and 25 days.
– Jul 30, 2018: Shorten passed John Howard’s 4 years, 9 months and 17 days (over two terms).
– Dec 04, 2017: Shorten passed John Hewson’s term of 4 years, 1 month and 21 days.
– Jul 30, 2017: Shorten passed Tony Abbott’s term of 3 years, 9 months and 17 days.
| Federal Opposition Leaders – Terms of Office | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Name | Party | Period in Office | Length |
|
1.
|
Evatt, Herbert Vere, QC |
ALP
|
||
|
2.
|
Whitlam, Edward Gough, QC |
ALP
|
27.01.1976 – 22.12.1977 |
1 year, 10 months, 26 days Total: 7 years, 8 months, 23 days |
|
3.
|
Beazley, Kim Christian |
ALP
|
28.01.2005 – 04.12.2006 |
1 year, 10 months, 6 days Total: 7 years, 6 months, 9 days |
|
4.
|
Calwell, Arthur Augustus |
ALP
|
||
|
5.
|
Reid, George Houston |
FT
|
07.07.1905 – 16.11.1908 |
3 years, 4 months, 10 days Total: 6 years, 7 months, 20 days |
|
6.
|
Menzies, Robert Gordon |
UAP/LP
|
||
|
7.
|
Curtin, John |
ALP
|
||
|
8.
|
Charlton, Matthew |
ALP
|
||
|
9.
|
Shorten, Bill |
ALP
|
||
|
10.
|
Scullin, James Henry |
ALP
|
07.01.1932 – 01.10.1935 |
3 years, 8 months, 25 days Total: 5 years, 2 months, 21 days |
|
11.
|
Hayden, William George |
ALP
|
||
|
12.
|
Tudor, Frank Gwynne |
ALP
|
||
|
13.
|
Howard, John Winston |
LP
|
30.01.1995 – 11.03.1996 |
1 year, 1 month, 12 days Total: 4 years, 9 months, 17 days |
|
14.
|
Hewson, John Robert |
LP
|
||
|
15.
|
Abbott, Tony |
LP
|
||
|
16.
|
Peacock, Andrew Sharp |
LP
|
09.05.1989 – 03.04.1990 |
10 months, 26 days Total: 3 years, 4 months, 21 days |
|
17.
|
Cook, Joseph |
FT
|
20.01.1913 – 24.06.1913 08.10.1914 – 17.02.1917 |
5 months, 5 days 2 years, 4 months, 10 days Total: 3 years, 3 months, 25 days |
|
18.
|
Albanese, Anthony Norman |
ALP
|
||
|
19.
|
Deakin, Alfred |
LP
|
01.07.1910 – 20.01.1913 |
2 years, 6 months, 20 days Total: 2 years, 6 months, 28 days |
|
20.
|
Dutton, Peter |
LP
|
||
|
21.
|
Snedden, Billy Mackie, QC |
LP
|
||
|
22.
|
Fisher, Andrew |
ALP
|
08.07.1913 – 17.09.1914 |
1 year, 2 months, 10 days Total: 2 years, 1 month, 7 days |
|
23.
|
Crean, Simon |
ALP
|
||
|
24.
|
Fadden, Arthur William |
CP
|
||
|
25.
|
Latham, John Greig |
Nat
|
||
|
26.
|
Chifley, Joseph Benedict |
ALP
|
||
|
27.
|
Turnbull, Malcolm |
LP
|
||
|
28.
|
Latham, Mark |
ALP
|
||
|
29.
|
Rudd, Kevin |
ALP
|
||
|
30.
|
Watson, John Christian |
ALP
|
||
|
31.
|
Nelson, Brendan |
LP
|
||
|
32.
|
Lyons, Joseph Aloysius |
UAP
|
||
|
33.
|
Downer, Alexander John Gosse |
LP
|
||
|
34.
|
Fraser, John Malcolm |
LP
|
||
|
35.
|
Hawke, Robert James Lee |
ALP
|
||
| Bowen, Chris (Interim Leader) |
ALP
|
|||
Key
- ALP = Australian Labor Party
- CP = Country Party
- FT = Free Traders
- LP = Liberal Party
- NAT = Nationalists
- PROT = Protectionists
- UAP = United Australia Party