The leader of the Australian Labor Party is the highest political office within the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP). Leaders of the party are chosen from among the sitting members of the parliamentary caucus either by members alone or with a vote of the party's rank-and-file membership. The current leader of the Labor Party, since 2019, is Anthony Albanese, who has served as the prime minister of Australia since 2022. There have been 21 leaders since 1901 when Chris Watson was elected as the inaugural leader following the first federal election.
Every Australian state and territory has its own branch of the Australian Labor Party, which has its own leader elected from the party members of that jurisdiction.
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 constitutionKevin Rudd wins over party-p leadership-p rules (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 Electorate Term start Term end Time in office Elections contestedPrime Minister 1Bland(1901–1906);South Sydney(1906–1910)1903, 1906Barton Deakin Himself Reid Deakin 2Wide Bay1910, 1913, 1914 Himself Deakin Himself Cook Himself 3 West Sydney 27 October 1915 None Himself 4Yarra14 November 1916†1917, 1919Hughes Hughes 5Hunter 1922, 1925Bruce 6Yarra1928, 1929, 1931, 1934 Himself Lyons 7Fremantle†1937, 1940, 1943Page Menzies Fadden Himself –Prime Ministers of Australia: Frank Forde . National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 22 August 2018. Capricornia None Himself 8Macquarie†1946, 1949, 1951 Himself Menzies 9 Barton(1940–1958);Hunter(1958–1960) 1954, 1955, 195810 Melbourne1961, 1963, 1966Holt 11Werriwa1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977McEwen Gorton McMahon Himself Fraser 12 Oxley 198013Wills1983, 1984, 1987, 1990 Himself 14 Blaxland 1993, 1996 Himself 15 Brand 1998, 2001Howard 16 Hotham None 17 Werriwa 2004 (15) Brand None18Griffith2007 Himself 19 Lalor 24 June 2010 2010 Herself (18) Griffith 2013 Himself – McMahon NoneAbbott 20Maribyrnong2016, 2019Turnbull Morrison 21Grayndler30 May 2019Incumbent2022, 2025 Himself
Deputy Leader Shown in chronological order of leadership # Deputy Leader Term start Term end Time in office Leader 1 Chris WatsonAndrew Fisher 2 3 Billy Hughes 4 Frank Tudor Matthew Charlton 5 6 James Scullin 7 8 John Curtin Ben Chifley 9 10 H. V. Evatt 11 Arthur Calwell 12 Gough Whitlam 13 14 15 16 Bill HaydenBob Hawke 17 18 Paul Keating 19 20 Kim Beazley 21 22 Simon Crean Mark Latham Kim Beazley 23 Kevin Rudd 24 Julia Gillard 25 Kevin Rudd 26 Bill Shorten 27 Incumbent Anthony Albanese
Notes
Senate Leader # Senate Leader Term start Term end Time in office Leader(s) 1 WatsonFisher 2 FisherHughes 3 TudorCharlton 4 CharltonScullin 5 Scullin 6 Scullin 7 ScullinCurtin 8 CurtinChifley 9 Chifley 10 ChifleyEvattCalwell 11 Calwell 12 Whitlam 13 WhitlamHayden 14 HaydenHawkeKeating 15 Keating 16 BeazleyCreanLatham 17 LathamBeazleyRuddGillard 18 Gillard 19 Incumbent RuddShortenAlbanese
State and territory heads of government Australian Capital Territory
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) Andrew Barr (2014–)
New South Wales
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) Chris Minns (2023–)
Northern Territory
Clare Martin (2001–2007, first Labor Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, first female Chief Minister of the Northern Territory) Paul Henderson (2007–2012) Michael Gunner (2016–2022) Natasha Fyles (2022–2023) Eva Lawler (2023–2024)
Queensland
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) Annastacia Palaszczuk (2015–2023) Steven Miles (2023–2024)
South Australia
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) Peter Malinauskas (2022–)
Tasmania
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
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) Daniel Andrews (2014–2023) Jacinta Allan (2023–2026) Ben Carroll (2026–)
Western Australia
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) Mark McGowan (2017–2023) Roger Cook (2023–)
Federal Leaders by time in office This list ranks federal leaders of the Labor Party by their time in office. Leaders that also served as Prime Minister are in bold. Where leaders served non-consecutive terms, their total time as leader is ranked together. Rank Leader Time in office 1 11th Gough Whitlam 10 years, 317 days 2 7th John Curtin 9 years, 277 days 3 13th Bob Hawke 8 years, 314 days 4 9th H. V. Evatt 8 years, 241 days 5 2nd Andrew Fisher 7 years, 362 days 6 15th Kim Beazley 7 years, 203 days 7 6th James Scullin 7 years, 128 days 8 21st Anthony Albanese 9 10th Arthur Calwell 6 years, 338 days 10 1st Chris Watson 6 years, 163 days 11 5th Matthew Charlton 6 years, 64 days 12 8th Ben Chifley 5 years, 335 days 13 20th Bill Shorten 5 years, 229 days 14 4th Frank Tudor 5 years, 57 days 15 12th Bill Hayden 5 years, 48 days 16 14th Paul Keating 4 years, 91 days 17 18th Kevin Rudd 3 years, 281 days 18 19th Julia Gillard 3 years, 2 days 19 16th Simon Crean 2 years, 10 days 20 17th Mark Latham 1 year, 47 days 21 3rd Billy Hughes 1 year, 18 days
See also Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia Leaders of the Australian Greens
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