Minister for Defence (Australia)

Minister for Defence
Incumbent Stephen Smith since 14 September 2010
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Australia
Inaugural holder	James Dickson
Formation	1901

The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence (Australia) and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.

Ministers for Defence

There was a Minister for Defence from 1 January 1901 until 13 November 1939. Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister, abolished the position on the outbreak of World War II and created separate Ministers for the Navy, the Army and the Air, with himself as Minister for Defence Coordination in his first ministry. He retained this position until the fall of his government, and then held the post in the brief government of Arthur Fadden. John Curtin initially followed the same arrangement as Menzies in his ministry until 14 April 1942, when he took the title of Minister for Defence. The separate titles of Ministers for the Navy, the Army and the Air were abolished in the second Whitlam Ministry on 30 November 1973, when the separate departments of Navy, Army and Air were also abolished. There had also been a separate Navy portfolio between 1915 and 1921.

There have also been ministers responsible for defence materiel at different times. From 1939 to 1974 they were called Minister of Supply or similar. The current Minister for Defence Materiel is Jason Clare. From 1939 to 1974 there was a position of Minister of Supply or similar. There have also been ministers responsible for defence personnel for most of the period since 1987, currently the Minister for Defence Personnel, Warren Snowdon.

Order	Minister	Period	Party affiliation
1	James Dickson	1901	Protectionist Party
2	John Forrest	1901
3	James Drake	1901–03
4	Austin Chapman	1903–04
5	Anderson Dawson	1904	Australian Labor Party
6	James McCay	1904–05	Protectionist Party
7	Thomas Playford	1905–07
8	Thomas Ewing	1907–08
9	George Pearce	1908–09	Australian Labor Party
10	Joseph Cook	1909–10	Protectionist Party
11	George Pearce	1910–13	Australian Labor Party
12	Edward Millen	1913–14	Commonwealth Liberal Party
13	George Pearce	1914–21	Australian Labor Party/ Nationalist Party of Australia
14	Walter Massy-Greene	1921–23	Nationalist Party of Australia
15	Eric Bowden	1923–25
16	Neville Howse	1925–27
17	William Glasgow	1927–29
18	Albert Green	1929–31	Australian Labor Party
19	John Daly	1931
20	Ben Chifley	1931–32
21	George Pearce	1932–34	United Australia Party
22	Archdale Parkhill	1934–37
23	Joseph Lyons	1937
24	Harold Thorby	1937–38	Country Party
25	Geoffrey Street	1938–39	United Australia Party
*	Robert Menzies	1939–41
*	John Curtin	1941–42	Australian Labor Party
26	John Curtin	1942–45
27	Jack Beasley	1945–46
28	Frank Forde	1946
29	John Dedman	1946–49
30	Eric Harrison	1949–50	Liberal Party of Australia
31	Philip McBride	1950–58
32	Athol Townley	1958–63
33	Paul Hasluck	1963–64
34	Shane Paltridge	1964–66
35	Allen Fairhall	1966–69
36	Malcolm Fraser	1969–71
37	John Gorton	1971
38	David Fairbairn	1971–72
39	Lance Barnard	1972–75	Australian Labor Party
40	Bill Morrison	1975
41	Jim Killen	1975–82	Liberal Party of Australia
42	Ian Sinclair	1982–83	National Party of Australia
43	Gordon Scholes	1983–84	Australian Labor Party
44	Kim Beazley	1984–90
45	Robert Ray	1990–96
46	Ian McLachlan	1996–98	Liberal Party of Australia
47	John Moore	1998–2001
48	Peter Reith	2001
49	Robert Hill	2001–06
50	Brendan Nelson	2006–07
51	Joel Fitzgibbon	2007–09	Australian Labor Party
52	John Faulkner	2009–10
53	Stephen Smith	2010–

* Minister for Defence Coordination.

Ministers for Air

Period	Minister	Party affiliation
1939–40	James Fairbairn	United Australia Party
1940	Arthur Fadden
1940–41	John McEwen	Country Party
1941–49	Arthur Drakeford	Australian Labor Party
1949–49	Thomas White	Liberal Party
1951	Philip McBride
1951–54	William McMahon
1954–56	Athol Townley
1956–60	Frederick Osborne
1960–61	Harrie Wade
1961–62	Les Bury
1962–64	David Fairbairn
1964–68	Peter Howson
1968–69	Gordon Freeth
1969	Dudley Erwin
1969–72	Tom Drake-Brockman
1972–73	Lance Barnard	Australian Labor Party

Ministers for the Army

Period	Minister	Party affiliation
1939–40	Geoffrey Street	United Australia Party
1940	Philip McBride
1940–41	Percy Spender
1941–46	Frank Forde	Australian Labor Party
1946–49	Cyril Chambers
1949–55	Josiah Francis	Liberal Party
1955–56	Eric Harrison
1956–63	John Cramer
1963–66	Jim Forbes
1966–68	Malcolm Fraser
1968–69	Phillip Lynch
1969–72	Andrew Peacock
1972	Bob Katter	Country Party
1972–73	Lance Barnard	Australian Labor Party

Ministers for the Navy

Period	Minister	Party affiliation
1915–16	Jens Jensen	Australian Labor Party
1916–17	Jens Jensen	National Labor Party
1917–	Joseph Cook	Nationalist Party of Australia
1920–21	William Laird Smith
1939–40	Frederick Stewart	United Australia Party
1940	Archie Cameron
1940–41	Billy Hughes
1941–46	Norman Makin	Australian Labor Party
1946	Arthur Drakeford
1946–49	Bill Riordan
1949–51	Josiah Francis	Liberal Party
1951	Philip McBride
1951–54	William McMahon
1954–55	Josiah Francis
1955–56	Eric Harrison
1956	Neil O'Sullivan
1956–58	Charles Davidson
1958–63	John Gorton
1963–64	Jim Forbes
1964–66	Fred Chaney, Sr.
1966–68	Don Chipp
1968–69	Bert Kelly
1969–71	James Killen
1971–72	Malcolm Mackay
1972–73	Lance Barnard	Australian Labor Party