Leader of the House (Australia)

Leader of the House
Commonwealth Coat of Arms
Flag of Australia
Incumbent Tony Burke since 1 June 2022 (2022-06-01)
Australian Government House of Representatives
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	The Prime Minister of Australia
Inaugural holder	Sir Eric Harrison
Formation	11 May 1951

In the Parliament of Australia, the Leader of the House is the government minister responsible for the management of government business in the House of Representatives, including the order in which the Government's agenda is to be dealt with, tactical matters in reaction to impediments to such management, negotiation with the Opposition's counterpart (the Manager of Opposition Business in the House) about the order in which bills are to be debated, and the time allotted for debates.^[1] The position is currently held by Tony Burke since June 2022.

As the Australian Parliament is bicameral, the Leader of the House must also be aware of developments in the Senate, for example, in order to anticipate whether a bill may be returned to the House with amendments.

The office was created in 1951 by the Prime Minister at the time, Robert Menzies. The Leader of the House and the Deputy Leader are appointed by the Prime Minister. The Deputy Leader's duties are largely contingent, coming into play only when the Leader of the House is absent from the House or is on leave, when they are referred to as Acting Leader of the House.

In the incumbent Albanese ministry, which took office in 2022, Tony Burke is the Leader of the House and Mark Butler his deputy. During the preceding Morrison ministry, Burke and Butler were the Manager of Opposition Business and Deputy Manager respectively.

List of Leaders of the House

The following individuals have been appointed as Leader of the Australian House of Representatives:

Order	Minister	Party		Prime Minister	Portfolio	Term start	Term end	Time in office
1	Sir Eric Harrison [2]		Liberal	Menzies	Vice-President of the Executive Council Minister for Defence Production Minister for Army Minister for the Navy	11 May 1951	September 1956	5 years, 4 months
2	Harold Holt [3]				Treasurer Minister for Labour and National Service	September 1956	26 January 1966	9 years, 4 months
3	Sir David Fairbairn [3]			Holt	Minister for National Development	26 January 1966	October 1966	9 months
4	Billy Snedden [3]				Minister for Immigration	February 1967	November 1968	1 year, 9 months
				McEwen
				Gorton
5	Dudley Erwin [3]				Minister for the Air	February 1969	September 1969	7 months
(4)	Billy Snedden [3]				Minister for Labour and National Service	November 1969	10 March 1971	1 year, 4 months
6	Reginald Swartz [3]			McMahon	Minister for National Development	10 March 1971	August 1972	1 year, 5 months
7	Don Chipp [4]				Minister for Customs and Excise	15 August 1972	5 December 1972	112 days
8	Fred Daly [3]		Labor	Whitlam	Minister for Services and Property Minister for Administrative Services	5 December 1972	22 December 1975	3 years, 17 days
9	Ian Sinclair [5]		National Country	Fraser	Minister for Primary Industry	22 December 1975	27 September 1979	3 years, 279 days
10	Ian Viner [6]		Liberal		Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs	27 September 1979	19 August 1980	327 days
(9)	Ian Sinclair [5]		National Country		Minister for Special Trade Representations Minister for Communications	19 August 1980	7 May 1982	1 year, 261 days
11	James Killen [3]		Liberal		Vice-President of the Executive Council	7 May 1982	11 March 1983	308 days
12	Mick Young [7]		Labor	Hawke	Special Minister of State Vice-President of the Executive Council	11 March 1983	14 July 1983	125 days
13	Lionel Bowen [8]				Deputy Prime Minister Vice-President of the Executive Council	14 July 1983	21 January 1984	191 days
(12)	Mick Young [7]				Special Minister of State Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs Vice-President of the Executive Council Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Multicultural Affairs	21 January 1984	12 February 1988	4 years, 22 days
14	Kim Beazley [9]				Vice-President of the Executive Council Minister for Defence Minister for Transport and Communications Minister for Employment, Education and Training Minister for Finance Deputy Prime Minister	15 February 1988	11 March 1996	8 years, 25 days
				Keating
15	Peter Reith [10]		Liberal	Howard	Minister for Industrial Relations Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service Minister for Defence	11 March 1996	8 October 2001	5 years, 211 days
16	Tony Abbott [11]				Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service Minister for Health and Ageing	12 February 2002	17 October 2007	5 years, 247 days
17	Anthony Albanese [12]		Labor	Rudd	Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Minister for Regional Development and Local Government Deputy Prime Minister	12 February 2008	5 August 2013	5 years, 174 days
				Gillard
				Rudd
18	Christopher Pyne [13]		Liberal	Abbott	Minister for Education / Minister for Education and Training Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Minister for Defence Industry Minister for Defence	12 November 2013	11 April 2019	5 years, 150 days
				Turnbull
				Morrison
19	Christian Porter [14]				Attorney-General Minister for Industrial Relations	29 May 2019	30 March 2021	1 year, 305 days
20	Peter Dutton [15]				Minister for Defence	30 March 2021	23 May 2022	1 year, 54 days
21	Tony Burke		Labor	Albanese	Minister for Employment and Workplace relations Minister for the Arts	1 June 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 210 days

Note: For terms during the period 1951 to 1972, exact dates are taken from changes in Prime Minister. Other dates coincide with sitting periods of the House as an approximation of when terms began and ended.

See also

• Leader of Government Business (disambiguation)

References

1. "Chapter 2: House, Government and Opposition, Leader of the House". House of Representatives Practice. May 2018. pp. 63–64. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
2. Macintyre, Stuart (1996). "Harrison, Sir Eric John". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
3. "Appendix 8: Leaders of the House" (PDF). House of Representatives Practice. May 2018. pp. 810–811. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
4. "Don Chipp". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
5. "Ian Sinclair". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
6. "Ian Viner". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
7. "Mick Young". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
8. "Lionel Bowen". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
9. "Hon Kim Beazley MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
10. "Hon Peter Reith MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
11. "Hon Tony Abbott MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
12. "Hon Anthony Albanese MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
13. "Hon Christopher Pyne MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
14. "Hon Christopher Porter MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
15. "Hon Peter Dutton MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.