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 35 men who have served as Opposition Leader since 1901. They have served 47 separate terms in the position. Seventeen (48.6%) of them served as prime minister at some time.
Eight opposition leaders – Reid, Deakin, Fisher, Scullin, Whitlam, Peacock, Howard and Beazley – served two non-consecutive terms in the position. Only Peacock and Beazley failed to become prime minister.
Joseph Cook is the only person to have held the position on three separate occasions.
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 contested 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 contested federal elections and never became prime minister: Latham (1929-31), Downer (1994-95), Crean (2001-03), and Nelson (2007-08).
John (Chris) Watson is the only person to have become prime minister before he became opposition leader but who never fought an election as opposition leader. 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.
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.
Federal Opposition Leaders Since 1901 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Name | Party | Period in Office | Length |
1.
|
Reid, George Houston |
FT
|
||
2.
|
Watson, John Christian |
ALP
|
||
Reid, George Houston |
FT
|
Total: 6 years, 7 months, 20 days |
||
3.
|
Cook, Joseph |
FT
|
||
4.
|
Deakin, Alfred |
LP
|
||
5.
|
Fisher, Andrew |
ALP
|
||
Deakin, Alfred |
LP
|
Total: 2 years, 6 months, 28 days |
||
Cook, Joseph |
LP
|
|||
Fisher, Andrew |
ALP
|
Total: 2 years, 1 month, 7 days |
||
Cook, Joseph |
LP
|
Total: 3 years, 3 months, 25 days |
||
6.
|
Tudor, Frank Gwynne |
ALP
|
||
7.
|
Charlton, Matthew |
ALP
|
||
8.
|
Scullin, James Henry |
ALP
|
||
9.
|
Latham, John Greig |
Nat
|
||
10.
|
Lyons, Joseph Aloysius |
UAP
|
||
Scullin, James Henry |
ALP
|
Total: 5 years, 2 months, 21 days |
||
11.
|
Curtin, John |
ALP
|
||
12.
|
Fadden, Arthur William |
CP
|
||
13.
|
Menzies, Robert Gordon |
UAP
LP |
||
14.
|
Chifley, Joseph Benedict |
ALP
|
||
15.
|
Evatt, Herbert Vere, QC |
ALP
|
||
16.
|
Calwell, Arthur Augustus |
ALP
|
||
17.
|
Whitlam, Edward Gough, QC |
ALP
|
||
18.
|
Snedden, Billy Mackie, QC |
LP
|
||
19.
|
Fraser, John Malcolm |
LP
|
||
Whitlam, Edward Gough, QC |
ALP
|
Total: 7 years, 8 months, 23 days |
||
20.
|
Hayden, William George |
ALP
|
||
21.
|
Hawke, Robert James Lee |
ALP
|
||
22.
|
Peacock, Andrew Sharp |
LP
|
||
23.
|
Howard, John Winston |
LP
|
||
Peacock, Andrew Sharp |
LP
|
Total: 3 years, 4 months, 21 days |
||
24.
|
Hewson, John Robert |
LP
|
||
25.
|
Downer, Alexander John Gosse |
LP
|
||
Howard, John Winston |
LP
|
Total: 4 years, 9 months, 17 days |
||
26.
|
Beazley, Kim Christian |
ALP
|
||
27.
|
Crean, Simon |
ALP
|
||
28.
|
Latham, Mark |
ALP
|
||
Beazley, Kim Christian |
ALP
|
Total: 7 years, 6 months, 9 days |
||
29.
|
Rudd, Kevin |
ALP
|
||
30.
|
Nelson, Brendan |
LP
|
(elected party leader 29.11.2007) |
|
31.
|
Turnbull, Malcolm |
LP
|
||
32.
|
Abbott, Tony |
LP
|
||
Bowen, Chris |
ALP
|
13.09.2013 – 13.10.2013 |
||
33.
|
Shorten, Bill |
ALP
|
||
34.
|
Albanese, Anthony |
ALP
|
||
35.
|
Dutton, Peter |
LP
|
Key
- ALP = Australian Labor Party
- CP = Country Party
- FT = Free Traders
- LP = Liberal Party
- NAT = Nationalists
- PROT = Protectionists
- UAP = United Australia Party