Prime Minister of Australia

The first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton (sitting second from left), with his Cabinet, 1901

The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia.

By convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party or coalition which has the most seats in the lower house of the Federal Parliament, the House of Representatives. In times of constitutional crisis, however, this convention can be broken if necessary; this has occurred twice. At the time of Federation, no parliament had yet been established, so Edmund Barton was temporarily appointed as Prime Minister until elections were held. More controversially, during the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, Malcolm Fraser was appointed to replace Gough Whitlam.

The formal holder of executive power in the Commonwealth is the Governor-General. However, by convention the Governor-General can only act on the Prime Minister's advice. The Governor-General appoints and can dismiss the Prime Minister and the other ministers, though his power to do so is heavily circumscribed by convention.

The office of Prime Minister is nowhere mentioned in the Australian Constitution, although it does provide for the Governor-General to be advised by ministers. However, since the framers of the Australian constitution from the beginning intended it to largely follow the Westminster system, the office of Prime Minister has existed since the inauguration of the Commonwealth.

The Prime Minister chairs the Cabinet, a council of ministers where executive decision-making occurs. Like the Prime Minister, the Cabinet is nowhere explicitly provided for in the Australian Constitution. The intention nonetheless was for it always to exist, again following the Westminster model.

The current (25th) Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard (sitting, fifth from left), with his Cabinet, 1999

The Australian Constitution does explicitly provide for the Executive Council, which is composed of the Governor-General and the Ministers. (Former Ministers are also technically members, although only current members are invited to attend its meetings.) The Executive Council makes no real decisions, serving mainly to give formal approval to decisions of Cabinet. This separation between the Executive Council and the Cabinet is similar to that existing between the Privy Council and Cabinet in the United Kingdom, or between the Canadian Privy Council and the Cabinet in Canada.

The power of the Prime Minister is subject to a number of limitations. A Prime Minister may be removed as leader of his party and thus lose the support of the lower house. If this occurs, he must resign the office or be dismissed by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister must receive the support of both houses of Parliament to pass any legislation (though secondary legislation, called Regulations, can be made by ministerial decree). While the Prime Minister normally will have a majority in the House of Representatives, attaining the support of the Senate can be more difficult, since there the Government will often be in a minority.

So, while the Prime Minister's formal powers are minimal, his practical powers as chief spokesperson for the government and leader of the strongest party in parliament in the relatively rigid Australian party system are very considerable.

The Prime Minister's official residence is The Lodge in Canberra.

List of Prime Ministers of Australia

The parties shown are those to which the Prime Ministers belonged at the time they held office, and the electorates shown are those they represented at the time they held office. Several Prime Ministers belonged to other parties and represented other electorates before and after their Prime Ministerships.

Note: the Electoral Division of Ballaarat was spelled with a double A until 1977.

No	Name	Born	First elected	Party	Electorate	Assumed office	Left office	Left Parliament	Died
1	Edmund Barton	18 January 1849	29 March 1901	Protectionist	Hunter, NSW	1 January 1901	24 September 1903	resigned 30 September 1903	7 January 1920
2	Alfred Deakin	3 August 1856	29 March 1901	Protectionist	Ballaarat, Vic	24 September 1903	27 April 1904	(see below)	(see below)
3	Chris Watson	9 April 1867	29 March 1901	Labor	Bland, NSW	27 April 1904	18 August 1904	retired 19 February 1910	11 November 1941
4	Sir George Reid	25 February 1845	29 March 1901	Free Trade	East Sydney, NSW	18 August 1904	5 July 1905	resigned 24 November 1909	13 September 1918
-	Alfred Deakin	(see above)	(see above)	(see above)	(see above)	5 July 1905	13 November 1908	(see below)	(see below)
5	Andrew Fisher	29 August 1862	29 March 1901	Labor	Wide Bay, Qld	13 November 1908	2 June 1909	(see below)	(see below)
-	Alfred Deakin	(see above)	(see above)	Comwlth Liberal	(see above)	2 June 1909	29 April 1910	retired 23 April 1913	7 October 1919
-	Andrew Fisher	(see above)	(see above)	(see above)	(see above)	29 April 1910	24 June 1913	(see below)	(see below)
6	Joseph Cook	7 December 1860	29 March 1901	Comwlth Liberal	Parramatta, NSW	24 June 1913	17 September 1914	resigned 11 November 1921	30 July 1947
-	Andrew Fisher	(see above)	(see above)	(see above)	(see above)	17 September 1914	27 October 1915	resigned 26 October 1915	22 October 1928
7	Billy Hughes	25 September 1862	29 March 1901	Labor	West Sydney, NSW	27 October 1915	14 November 1916	(see below)	(see below)
-	Billy Hughes	(see above)	(see above)	National Labor	(see above)	14 November 1916	17 February 1917	(see below)	(see below)
-	Billy Hughes	(see above)	(see above)	Nationalist	Bendigo, Vic	17 February 1917	9 February 1923	died 28 October 1952	28 October 1952
8	Stanley Bruce	15 April 1883	11 May 1918	Nationalist	Flinders, Vic	9 February 1923	22 October 1929	resigned 6 October 1933	25 August 1967
9	James Scullin	18 September 1876	13 April 1910	Labor	Yarra, Vic	22 October 1929	6 January 1932	retired 31 October 1949	28 January 1953
10	Joseph Lyons	15 September 1879	12 October 1929	United Australia	Wilmot, Tas	6 January 1932	7 April 1939	died 7 April 1939	7 April 1939
11	Sir Earle Page	8 August 1880	12 December 1919	Country	Cowper, NSW	7 April 1939	26 April 1939	defeated 9 December 1961	20 December 1961
12	Robert Menzies	20 December 1894	15 September 1934	United Australia	Kooyong, Vic	26 April 1939	28 August 1941	(see below)	(see below)
13	Arthur Fadden	13 April 1895	19 December 1936	Country	Darling Downs, Qld	28 August 1941	7 October 1941	retired 14 October 1958	21 April 1973
14	John Curtin	8 January 1885	17 November 1928	Labor	Fremantle, WA	7 October 1941	5 July 1945	died 5 July 1945	5 July 1945
15	Frank Forde	18 July 1890	16 December 1922	Labor	Capricornia, Qld	6 July 1945	13 July 1945	defeated 28 September 1946	28 January 1983
16	Ben Chifley	22 September 1885	17 November 1928	Labor	Macquarie, NSW	13 July 1945	19 December 1949	died 13 June 1951	13 June 1951
-	Sir Robert Menzies	(see above)	(see above)	Liberal	(see above)	19 December 1949	26 January 1966	resigned 17 February 1966	15 May 1978
17	Harold Holt	5 August 1908	17 August 1935	Liberal	Higgins, Vic	26 January 1966	19 December 1967	presumed dead 19 December 1967	19 December 1967
18	John McEwen	29 March 1900	15 September 1934	Country	Murray, Vic	19 December 1967	10 January 1968	resigned 1 February 1971	20 November 1980
19	John Gorton	9 September 1911	22 February 1950	Liberal	Higgins, Vic	10 January 1968	10 March 1971	retired 11 November 1975	19 May 2002
20	William McMahon	23 February 1908	10 December 1949	Liberal	Lowe, NSW	10 March 1971	5 December 1972	resigned 4 January 1982	31 March 1988
21	Gough Whitlam	11 July 1916	29 November 1952	Labor	Werriwa, NSW	5 December 1972	11 November 1975	resigned 31 July 1978	-
22	Malcolm Fraser	21 May 1930	10 December 1955	Liberal	Wannon, Vic	11 November 1975	11 March 1983	resigned 31 March 1983	-
23	Bob Hawke	9 December 1929	18 October 1980	Labor	Wills, Vic	11 March 1983	20 December 1991	resigned 20 February 1992	-
24	Paul Keating	18 January 1944	25 October 1969	Labor	Blaxland, NSW	20 December 1991	11 March 1996	resigned 23 April 1996	-
25	John Howard	26 July 1939	18 May 1974	Liberal	Bennelong, NSW	11 March 1996	-	-	-

External links

Australia's Prime Ministers (http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/) / National Archive of Australia
Biographies of Australia's Prime Ministers (http://www.nma.gov.au/primeministers/contents.htm) / National Museum of Australia
Official website of the Prime Minister of Australia (http://www.pm.gov.au/)

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