Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia

Leader of the Liberal Party
Leader of the Liberal Party
	Incumbent; Scott Morrison; since 24 August 2018
Type	The Honourable
Member of	Federal Executive, ; Coalition
Term length	No fixed term
Inaugural holder	Robert Menzies
Formation	21 February 1945
Unofficial names	Leader of the Coalition
Deputy	Josh Frydenberg
Website	Scott Morrison

The Leader of the Liberal Party is the highest office within the Liberal Party of Australia and the Liberal–National Coalition. The position is currently held by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and has been since 24 August 2018, whom represents the Division of Cook in New South Wales. Scott Morrison is the fourteenth leader of the Liberal Party.

The current Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party is Member for Kooyong and Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Frydenberg was elected under the same circumstances as Scott Morrison after the 2018 leadership spills.

History

The Liberal Party leadership was first held by former United Australia Party leader and eventual co–founder Robert Menzies, along with eighteen political organisations and groups.^[1]

Scott Morrison is the current leader and was elected to be Leader and Prime Minister, first in a leadership spill,^[2]^[3] and second, in an upset federal election victory on the 18th of May 2019.^[4]^[5]

Following the oustings of two Liberal Prime Ministers in 3 years, Scott Morrison introduced a new threshold to trigger a Liberal Party leadership change in government, requiring two-thirds of the partyroom vote to trigger a spill motion. The change was introduced at an hour long party room meeting on the evening of 3 December 2018. Morrison said the changes, which were drafted with feedback from former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, would only apply to leaders who lead the party to victory at a federal election.^[6]

Role

Since the days of Menzies, the Liberal Party has either been in government with a coalition or in opposition to the Labor. Thus, the leader of the Liberal Party can often be the Prime Minister of Australia or Leader of the Opposition. Furthermore, the leader picks the Cabinet and is also the leader of the Coalition. The Liberal Party has never had a leader of the party from the Senate.

Leaders of the Liberal Party

Note: the right-hand column does not allocate height proportional to time in office.

A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1945.^[7]

No.	Leader (birth–death)	Electorate	Took office	Left office	Prime Minister (term)
1	Robert Menzies (1894–1978)	Kooyong, Vic.	21 February 1945	20 January 1966	height=20 style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Curtin (1941–1945)
					style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Forde (1945)
					height=40 style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Chifley (1945–1949)
					style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (1949–1966)
2	Harold Holt (1908–1967)	Higgins, Vic.	20 January 1966 (unopposed)	17 December 1967 (died in office)	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (1966–1967)
3	John Gorton (1911–2002)	Higgins, Vic.	9 January 1968 (elected)	10 March 1971	height=15 style="background-color: Template:National Party of Australia/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	McEwen^[a] (1967–1968)
3	John Gorton (1911–2002)	Higgins, Vic.	9 January 1968 (elected)	10 March 1971	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (1967–1971)
4	William McMahon (1908–1988)	Lowe, NSW	10 March 1971 (elected)	20 December 1972	height=60 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (1971–1972)
4	William McMahon (1908–1988)	Lowe, NSW	10 March 1971 (elected)	20 December 1972	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Whitlam (1972–1975)
5	Billy Snedden (1926–1987)	Bruce, Vic.	20 December 1972 (elected)	21 March 1975	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
6	Malcolm Fraser (1930–2015)	Wannon, Vic.	21 March 1975 (elected)	11 March 1983	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
					height=50 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (1975–1983)
					style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Hawke (1983–1991)
7	Andrew Peacock (b. 1939) (1st time)	Kooyong, Vic.	11 March 1983 (elected)	5 September 1985	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
8	John Howard (b. 1939) (1st time)	Bennelong, NSW	5 September 1985 (elected)	9 May 1989	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
(7)	Andrew Peacock (b. 1939) (2nd time)	Kooyong, Vic.	9 May 1989 (elected)	3 April 1990	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
9	John Hewson (b. 1946)	Wentworth, NSW	3 April 1990 (elected)	23 May 1994	height=20 style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
9	John Hewson (b. 1946)	Wentworth, NSW	3 April 1990 (elected)	23 May 1994	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Keating (1991–1996)
10	Alexander Downer (b. 1951)	Mayo, SA	23 May 1994 (elected)	30 January 1995	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
(8)	John Howard (b. 1939) (2nd time)	Bennelong, NSW	30 January 1995 (unopposed)	29 November 2007	height=15 style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
(8)	John Howard (b. 1939) (2nd time)	Bennelong, NSW	30 January 1995 (unopposed)	29 November 2007	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (1995–2007)
11	Brendan Nelson (b. 1958)	Bradfield, NSW	29 November 2007 (elected)	16 September 2008	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Rudd (2007–2010)
12	Malcolm Turnbull (b. 1954) (1st time)	Wentworth, NSW	16 September 2008 (elected)	1 December 2009	style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
13	Tony Abbott (b. 1957)	Warringah, NSW	1 December 2009 (elected)	14 September 2015	height=15 style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|
					style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Gillard (2010–2013)
					style="background-color: Template:Australian Labor Party/meta/color; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"\|	Rudd (2013)
					style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (2013–2015)
(12)	Malcolm Turnbull (b. 1954) (2nd time)	Wentworth, NSW	14 September 2015 (elected)	24 August 2018	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (2015–2018)
14	Scott Morrison (b. 1968)	Cook, NSW	24 August 2018 (elected)	Incumbent	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color" \|	Himself (2018–present)

Living former party leaders

There are seven living former party leaders, all of whom were elected, and four who were Prime Minister. From oldest to youngest:

Leader	Term of office	Date of birth
Andrew Peacock	1983–1985; 1989–1990	(1939-02-13) 13 February 1939 (age 85)
John Howard	1985–1989; 1995–2007	(1939-07-26) 26 July 1939 (age 85)
John Hewson	1990–1994	(1946-10-28) 28 October 1946 (age 78)
Alexander Downer	1994–1995	(1951-09-09) 9 September 1951 (age 73)
Malcolm Turnbull	2008–2009; 2015–2018	(1954-10-24) 24 October 1954 (age 70)
Tony Abbott	2009–2015	(1957-11-04) 4 November 1957 (age 67)
Brendan Nelson	2007–2008	(1958-08-19) 19 August 1958 (age 66)

Notes

^ After the Disappearance of Harold Holt, the Deputy Prime Minister, McEwen, took over as a caretaker until the leadership election of the Liberal Party was concluded.

References

^ "Menzies Creates the Liberal Party". ABC. 1944. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
^ Sweeney, Lucy; Belot, Henry. "Scott Morrison beats Peter Dutton in Liberal spill to succeed Malcolm Turnbull; Julie Bishop loses deputy position". ABC. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
^ "Scott Morrison is new Australian PM as Malcolm Turnbull ousted". BBC. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
^ Murphy, Katharine (22 May 2019). "Scott Morrison won the unwinnable election. Now the hard part begins". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
^ Probyn, Andrew (20 May 2019). "Scott Morrison goes from accidental Prime Minister to homespun hero in election 2019". ABC. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
^ "Scott Morrison summons Liberal MPs to after-hours meeting to pass changes to leadership spill rules". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
^ "Our History". Liberal Party. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

External links

[JohnMcEwen-8] After the Disappearance of Harold Holt, the Deputy Prime Minister, McEwen, took over as a caretaker until the leadership election of the Liberal Party was concluded.

[1] "Menzies Creates the Liberal Party". ABC. 1944. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

[2] Sweeney, Lucy; Belot, Henry. "Scott Morrison beats Peter Dutton in Liberal spill to succeed Malcolm Turnbull; Julie Bishop loses deputy position". ABC. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

[3] "Scott Morrison is new Australian PM as Malcolm Turnbull ousted". BBC. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

[4] Murphy, Katharine (22 May 2019). "Scott Morrison won the unwinnable election. Now the hard part begins". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

[5] Probyn, Andrew (20 May 2019). "Scott Morrison goes from accidental Prime Minister to homespun hero in election 2019". ABC. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

[6] "Scott Morrison summons Liberal MPs to after-hours meeting to pass changes to leadership spill rules". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.

[7] "Our History". Liberal Party. Retrieved 22 December 2019.

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v t e Liberal Party of Australia
Leaders	Robert Menzies Harold Holt John Gorton William McMahon Billy Snedden Malcolm Fraser Andrew Peacock John Howard Andrew Peacock John Hewson Alexander Downer John Howard Brendan Nelson Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison Peter Dutton
Deputy Leaders	Eric Harrison Harold Holt William McMahon John Gorton Billy Snedden Phillip Lynch John Howard Neil Brown Andrew Peacock Fred Chaney Peter Reith Michael Wooldridge Peter Costello Julie Bishop Josh Frydenberg Sussan Ley
Presidents	Malcolm Ritchie Richard Casey W. H. Anderson Lyle Moore Philip McBride J. E. Pagan Robert Southey John Atwill A. J. Forbes John Valder John Elliott Ashley Goldsworthy Tony Staley Shane Stone Chris McDiven Alan Stockdale Richard Alston Nick Greiner John Olsen
Governments	Menzies Holt Gorton McMahon Fraser Howard Abbott Turnbull Morrison
Ministries	Menzies 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Holt 1 2 Gorton 1 2 McMahon Fraser 1 2 3 4 Howard 1 2 3 4 Abbott Turnbull 1 2 Morrison 1 2
Shadow cabinets	Snedden Fraser Peacock I Howard I Peacock II Hewson Downer Howard II Nelson Turnbull Abbott Dutton
State divisions	Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory (Country Liberal Party) Queensland (Liberal National Party) South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia
Party-related organisations	Australian Liberal Students' Federation Coalition Cormack Foundation Norfolk Liberals Young Liberals Young LNP Menzies Research Centre
Factions	Moderates Centre Right Independent Liberal National Right Ginger Group (defunct) Lyons Forum (defunct)
History	Protectionist Party Free Trade Party Fusion Liberal Party National Labor Party Nationalist Party Liberal Union Australian Party United Australia Party Citizens' Municipal Organisation
Leadership contests	1966 1968 1969 1971 1972 1975 1982 1983 1985 1987 1989 1990 1993 1994 1995 2007 2008 2009 2015 (Feb) 2015 (Sep) 2018 2022