List of Australian Leaders of the Opposition facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leader of the Opposition of the Commonwealth of Australia
Incumbent Peter Dutton since 30 May 2022
Opposition of Australia Shadow Cabinet of Australia
Member of	Shadow Cabinet
Reports to	Parliament
Term length	While leader of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not in government
Inaugural holder	George Reid
Formation	1901
Salary	$390,000

In the Australian House of Representatives, the Leader of the Opposition sits at the front table to the left of the Speaker's Chair (on the right-hand side in this photo).

In Australian Federal Politics the Leader of the Opposition is a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives. The Leader of the Opposition is usually the leader of the party which has the most seats but is not part of the Government. In Parliament the Leader of the Opposition sits on the left-hand side of the table in the centre, in front of the Opposition and opposite the Prime Minister. The Opposition Leader is elected by the Opposition Party. A new Opposition Leader may be elected if the person in the position dies, resigns or is challenged for the leadership.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. It is based on the British Westminster model. The term Opposition has a specific meaning in the parliamentary system. Its formal title is Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. This is an important part of the Westminster system. The Opposition directs its criticism at the Government and attempts to defeat and replace the Government. The Opposition is therefore the 'Government in waiting' and it is a formal part of the parliamentary system, just as is the Government. It is in opposition to the Government, but not to the Crown, hence the term 'Loyal Opposition'.

The current Leader of the Opposition is Peter Dutton since 30 May 2022, following the Liberal Party's defeat in the 2022 federal election.

Leaders of the Opposition

No.	Leader		Party		Constituency	Took office	Left office	Prime Minister		Ref
1	George Reid			Free Trade	East Sydney (NSW)	19 May 1901	17 August 1904		Barton 1901–03
									Deakin 1903–04
									Watson 1904
2	Chris Watson			Labor	Bland (NSW)	18 August 1904	5 July 1905		Reid 1904–05
(1)	George Reid			Free Trade / Anti-Socialist	East Sydney (NSW)	7 July 1905	16 November 1908		Deakin 1905–08
									Fisher 1908–09
3	Joseph Cook			Anti-Socialist	Parramatta (NSW)	17 November 1908	26 May 1909
4	Alfred Deakin			Liberal	Ballaarat (Vic)	26 May 1909	2 June 1909
5	Andrew Fisher			Labor	Wide Bay (Qld)	2 June 1909	29 April 1910		Deakin 1909
(4)	Alfred Deakin			Liberal	Ballaarat (Vic)	1 July 1910	20 January 1913		Fisher 1910–13
(3)	Joseph Cook				Parramatta (NSW)	20 January 1913	24 June 1913
(5)	Andrew Fisher			Labor	Wide Bay (Qld)	8 July 1913	17 September 1914		Cook 1913–14
(3)	Joseph Cook			Liberal	Parramatta (NSW)	8 October 1914	17 February 1917		Fisher 1914–15
									Hughes 1915–23
6	Frank Tudor			Labor	Yarra (Vic)	17 February 1917	10 January 1922
7	Matthew Charlton				Hunter (NSW)	25 January 1922	29 March 1928
									Bruce 1923–29
8	James Scullin				Yarra (Vic)	29 March 1928	22 October 1929
9	John Latham			Nationalist	Kooyong (Vic)	20 November 1929	7 May 1931		Scullin 1929–32
10	Joseph Lyons			United Australia	Wilmot (Tas)	7 May 1931	6 January 1932
(8)	James Scullin			Labor	Yarra (Vic)	6 January 1932	1 October 1935		Lyons 1932–39
11	John Curtin				Fremantle (WA)	1 October 1935	7 October 1941
									Page 1939
									Menzies 1939–41
									Fadden 1941
12	Arthur Fadden			Country	Darling Downs (Qld)	7 October 1941	23 September 1943		Curtin 1941–45
13	Robert Menzies			United Australia	Kooyong (Vic)	23 September 1943	19 December 1949
				Liberal					Forde 1945
									Chifley 1945–49
14	Ben Chifley			Labor	Macquarie (NSW)	19 December 1949	13 June 1951		Menzies 1949–66
15	H. V. Evatt				Barton (NSW) 1940–58 Hunter (NSW) 1958–60	20 June 1951	9 February 1960
16	Arthur Calwell				Melbourne (Vic)	7 March 1960	8 February 1967
									Holt 1966–67
17	Gough Whitlam				Werriwa (NSW)	8 February 1967	2 December 1972
									McEwen 1967–68
									Gorton 1968–71
									McMahon 1971–72
18	Billy Snedden			Liberal	Bruce (Vic)	20 December 1972	21 March 1975		Whitlam 1972–75
19	Malcolm Fraser				Wannon (Vic)	21 March 1975	11 November 1975
(17)	Gough Whitlam			Labor	Werriwa (NSW)	11 November 1975	22 December 1977		Fraser 1975–83
20	Bill Hayden				Oxley (Qld)	22 December 1977	3 February 1983
21	Bob Hawke				Wills (Vic)	3 February 1983	11 March 1983
22	Andrew Peacock			Liberal	Kooyong (Vic)	11 March 1983	5 September 1985		Hawke 1983–91
23	John Howard				Bennelong (NSW)	5 September 1985	9 May 1989
(22)	Andrew Peacock				Kooyong (Vic)	9 May 1989	3 April 1990
24	John Hewson				Wentworth (NSW)	3 April 1990	23 May 1994
									Keating 1991–96
25	Alexander Downer				Mayo (SA)	23 May 1994	30 January 1995
(23)	John Howard				Bennelong (NSW)	30 January 1995	11 March 1996
26	Kim Beazley			Labor	Brand (WA)	19 March 1996	22 November 2001		Howard 1996–07
27	Simon Crean				Hotham (Vic)	22 November 2001	2 December 2003
28	Mark Latham				Werriwa (NSW)	2 December 2003	18 January 2005
(26)	Kim Beazley				Brand (WA)	28 January 2005	4 December 2006
29	Kevin Rudd				Griffith (Qld)	4 December 2006	3 December 2007
30	Brendan Nelson			Liberal	Bradfield (NSW)	3 December 2007	16 September 2008		Rudd 2007–10
31	Malcolm Turnbull				Wentworth (NSW)	16 September 2008	1 December 2009
32	Tony Abbott				Warringah (NSW)	1 December 2009	18 September 2013
									Gillard 2010–13
									Rudd 2013
–	Chris Bowen (acting)			Labor	McMahon (NSW)	18 September 2013	13 October 2013		Abbott 2013–15
33	Bill Shorten				Maribyrnong (Vic)	13 October 2013	30 May 2019
									Turnbull 2015–18
									Morrison 2018–22
34	Anthony Albanese				Grayndler (NSW)	30 May 2019	23 May 2022
35	Peter Dutton			Liberal	Dickson (Qld)	30 May 2022	Incumbent		Albanese 2022–present

Related pages

• Leader of the Opposition
• Prime Minister of Australia

See also

In Spanish: Líder de la oposición (Australia) para niños