Deputy Premier of New South Wales

Deputy Premier of New South Wales
Coat of arms of New South Wales
Flag of New South Wales
Incumbent Paul Toole since 6 October 2021
Department of Premier and Cabinet
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Parliament Cabinet Executive Council
Reports to	Premier of New South Wales
Seat	52 Martin Place, Sydney
Nominator	Premier of New South Wales
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales on the advice of the premier
Term length	At the Governor's pleasure
Formation	16 May 1932
First holder	Sir Michael Bruxner

The Deputy Premier of New South Wales is the second-most senior officer in the Government of New South Wales. The deputy premiership has been a ministerial portfolio since 1932, and the deputy premier is appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Premier.

The current Deputy Premier is Paul Toole, since 6 October 2021. Toole is also the Minister for Police, and the Minister for Regional New South Wales.

Ultimately, the Deputy Premier is responsible to the Parliament of New South Wales.

History

The office of Deputy Premier was created in May 1932 for Michael Bruxner, the leader of the Country Party (later renamed the National Party). Prior to that time the term was sometimes used unofficially (without capital letters) for the second-highest ranking minister in the government.

In Labor governments, the deputy premier is the party's deputy leader. Generally speaking, this person has come from the left faction of the party whereas the premier has come from the right faction. In Liberal-National Coalition governments, the position has been held by the Leader of the National Party or its predecessors.

Three deputy premiers have subsequently become Premier in their own right: Joseph Cahill, Robert Heffron, and Jack Renshaw. However, this has not occurred since 1964.

Duties

The duties of the deputy premier are to act on behalf of the premier in his or her absence overseas or on leave. The deputy premier has always been a member of the Cabinet, and has always held at least one substantive portfolio (It would be technically possible for a minister to hold only the portfolio of Deputy Premier, but this has never happened).

If the premier were to die, become incapacitated or resign, the Governor would normally appoint the deputy premier as Premier. If the governing or majority party had not yet elected a new leader, that appointment would be on an interim basis. Should a different leader emerge, that person would then be appointed Premier.

List of deputy premiers of New South Wales

Political parties

   Country/National    Labor    United Australia    Liberal

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of office		Tenure	Premier
	1	Sir Michael Bruxner		16 May 1932	16 May 1941	9 years, 0 days		Stevens 1932–1939 Mair 1939–1941
	2	Jack Baddeley		16 May 1941	8 September 1949	8 years, 115 days		McKell 1941–1947
								McGirr 1947–1952
	3	Joseph Cahill		21 September 1949	2 April 1952	2 years, 194 days
	4	Bob Heffron		23 February 1953	28 October 1959	6 years, 247 days		Cahill 1952–1959
	5	Jack Renshaw		28 October 1959	14 March 1964	4 years, 169 days		Heffron 1959–1964
	6	Pat Hills		30 April 1964	13 May 1965	1 year, 13 days		Renshaw 1964–1965
	7	Sir Charles Cutler		13 May 1965	16 December 1975	10 years, 217 days		Askin 1965–1975
	8	Leon Punch		17 December 1975	14 May 1976	149 days		Lewis 1975–1976 Willis 1976
	9	Jack Ferguson		14 May 1976	10 February 1984	7 years, 272 days		Wran 1976–1988 Unsworth 1986–1988
	10	Ron Mulock		10 February 1984	25 March 1988	4 years, 44 days
	11	Wal Murray		25 March 1988	26 May 1993	5 years, 62 days		Greiner 1988–1992
								Fahey 1992–1995
	12	Ian Armstrong		26 May 1993	4 April 1995	1 year, 313 days
	13	Andrew Refshauge		4 April 1995	3 August 2005	10 years, 121 days		Carr 1995–2005
	14	John Watkins		10 August 2005	3 September 2008	3 years, 24 days		Iemma 2005–2008
	15	Carmel Tebbutt		5 September 2008	26 March 2011	2 years, 202 days		Rees 2008–2009 Keneally 2009–2011
	16	Andrew Stoner		28 March 2011	16 October 2014 (2014-10-16)	3 years, 202 days		O'Farrell 2011–2014
								Baird 2014–2017
	17	Troy Grant		16 October 2014 (2014-10-16)	15 November 2016 (2016-11-15)	2 years, 30 days
	18	John Barilaro		15 November 2016 (2016-11-15)	6 October 2021	4 years, 325 days
								Berejiklian 2017–2021
	19	Paul Toole		6 October 2021 (2021-10-06)	incumbent	3 years, 34 days		Perrottet 2021–

Living former deputy premiers

There are six living former deputy premiers. The most recent death of a deputy premier was that of Ian Armstrong (1993–1995), who died on 16 December 2020.

Name	Term of office	Date of birth	Current age
Andrew Refshauge	1995–2005	16 January 1949	75 years, 298 days
John Watkins	2005–2008	7 December 1955	68 years, 338 days
Carmel Tebbutt	2008–2011	22 January 1964	60 years, 292 days
Andrew Stoner	2011–2014	14 January 1960	64 years, 300 days
Troy Grant	2014–2016	11 February 1970	54 years, 272 days
John Barilaro	2016–2021	14 November 1971	52 years, 361 days

See also

• List of New South Wales government agencies
• Leader of the New South Wales National Party