Parts of this article (those related to state and territory leadership) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2023)
The leader of the Australian Labor Party is the highest political office within the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP). Leaders of the party are chosen from among the sitting members of the parliamentary caucus either by members alone or with a vote of the party’s rank-and-file membership. The current leader of the Labor Party, since 2019, is Anthony Albanese, who has served as the prime minister of Australia since 2022.[1] There have been 21 leaders since 1901 when Chris Watson was elected as the inaugural leader following the first federal election.
Every Australian state and territory has its own branch of the Australian Labor Party, which has its own leader elected from the party members of that jurisdiction.
Background
The federal Labor Caucus comprising the elected members of the Labor party in both Houses of the national Parliament is involved in the election of the federal parliamentary leaders from among its members. The leader has historically been a member of the House of Representatives. Caucus also has the power to dismiss a party leader in a process called a leadership spill. Until 2013, a spill vote could be called at any time and a simple majority of votes in Caucus was sufficient to remove a leader. Following the return of Kevin Rudd to the leadership of the ALP in 2013, he sought changes to the party's rules so that leadership spills would be more difficult to launch in future, including a requirement for 75% majority in Caucus for a leadership spill against a sitting Labor prime minister, or 60% against an opposition leader.[2] The changes also provided for equally weighted voting rights between Caucus and party rank and file members. These changes were adopted by Caucus in July 2013, which was not a change to the party's constitution[3] (and theoretically can be reverted by a simple majority in Caucus). At the October 2013 leadership spillBill Shorten was the first leader elected under the new rules. Shorten received 55-43 votes in Caucus, which was sufficient to overcome his 40% support among party members.[4]
When the Labor Party is in government, the party leader becomes the Prime Minister and the deputy leader becomes the Deputy Prime Minister. If a Labor prime minister resigns or dies in office, the deputy leader becomes party leader and is sworn in as prime minister on an interim basis until a party successor is elected. This was the case upon the death in office of John Curtin on 5 July 1945. Frank Forde, the deputy party leader, was sworn in as interim prime minister until Ben Chifley was elected by Caucus as party leader on 13 July. If the leader is out of the country or is on leave, the deputy leader acts as party leader and prime minister, without being sworn into the office.
According to recent convention, the leader and deputy leader must be from different factions and from different states.[5] The leadership and deputy leadership have also been gender-balanced.
Federal leadership
Leader
The federal Leaders of the Australian Labor Party have been as follows (acting leaders indicated in italics):
^As Gardiner was a member of the Senate, the party also elected a deputy leader or assistant leader in the House of Representatives. T. J. Ryan was elected assistant leader on 9 September 1920.[7] After Ryan died in office in 1 August 1921, Matthew Charlton was elected as the new deputy leader on 29 September 1921.[8] Charlton was elected leader of the ALP in the House of Representatives on 25 January 1922, following the death of Frank Tudor two weeks earlier.[9]Frank Anstey was elected deputy leader to Charlton on 16 May 1922.[10]
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