Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Deputy Leader

{{Infobox official post

| post = Leader

| body = the Australian Labor Party

| image = Anthony Albanese portrait (cropped).jpg

| imagesize =

| alt =

| incumbent = Anthony Albanese

| acting =

| incumbentsince = 30 May 2019

| department =

| status =

| member_of = {{hlist|ALP National Executive|ALP Caucus}}

| reports_to =

| residence =

| appointer_qualified =

| termlength = No fixed term

| termlength_qualified =

| constituting_instrument =

| formation = {{start date and age|df=y|1901|5|20}}

| inaugural = Chris Watson

| first =

| last =

| abolished =

| deputy = Richard Marles

| salary =

| website = {{URL|https://www.alp.org.au/our-people/our-people/anthony-albanese/

|Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Australian Labor Party}}

}}

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.{{cite web |last=Wu |first=David |date=22 May 2022 |title=Five Labor MPs to be immediately sworn in ahead of key Quad trip |url=https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/anthony-albanese-penny-wong-richard-marles-jim-chalmers-katy-gallagher-to-be-sworn-in-first-ahead-of-quad-meeting/news-story/002bf7e9acc07ede11353d4202c0081a |access-date=23 May 2022 |website=Sky News Australia |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531114655/https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/anthony-albanese-penny-wong-richard-marles-jim-chalmers-katy-gallagher-to-be-sworn-in-first-ahead-of-quad-meeting/news-story/002bf7e9acc07ede11353d4202c0081a |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-08/kevin-rudd-reveals-plan-for-labor-party-leadership-voting-reform/4806820|title = Rudd reveals plan for Labor leadership voting reform|newspaper = ABC News|date = 8 July 2013}} 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[http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/kevin-rudd-wins-over-party-leadership-rules-20130722-2qdly.html Kevin Rudd wins over party-p leadership-p rules] (and theoretically can be reverted by a simple majority in Caucus). At the October 2013 leadership spill Bill 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-elected-labor-leader-20131013-2vfzy.html|title=Bill Shorten elected Labor leader|author=Harrison, Bill|date=13 October 2013|access-date=19 July 2014|work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}

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.{{Cite news |date=2019-05-20 |title=Plibersek says she can't reconcile family responsibilities with leadership |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-20/tanya-plibersek-rules-out-running-for-labor-leadership/11130940 |access-date=2023-10-12}} 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):

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! #

! colspan=2| Leader
{{small|(birth–death)}}

! Electorate

! Term start

! Term end

! Time in office

! Elections contested

! colspan=2|Prime Minister {{small|(term)}}

rowspan=5|1

| rowspan=5|60px

| rowspan=5|{{sortname|Chris|Watson}}
{{small|(1876–1953)}}

| rowspan=5|Bland
(1901–1906);
South Sydney
(1906–1910)

| rowspan=5|{{dts|20 May 1901}}

| rowspan=5|{{dts|30 October 1907}}

| rowspan=5|{{ayd|20 May 1901|30 Oct 1907}}

| rowspan=5|1903, 1906

| style="background-color: {{party color|Protectionist Party}}|

! style="font-weight:normal"|Barton {{nowrap|1901–1903}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Protectionist Party}}|

! style="font-weight:normal"|Deakin {{nowrap|1903–1904}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|

| Himself {{nowrap|1904}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Free Trade Party}}|

! style="font-weight:normal"|Reid {{nowrap|1904–1905}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Protectionist Party}}; border-top:solid 0 gray; border-bottom:solid 0 gray" |

! rowspan=2 style="font-weight:normal"|Deakin {{nowrap|1905–1908}}

rowspan=6|2

| rowspan=6|60px

| rowspan=6|{{sortname|Andrew|Fisher}}
{{small|(1862–1928)}}

| rowspan=6|Wide Bay

| rowspan=6|{{dts|30 October 1907}}

| rowspan=6|{{dts|27 October 1915}}

| rowspan=6|{{ayd|30 Oct 1907|27 Oct 1915}}

| rowspan=6|1910, 1913, 1914,

| height=50 style="background-color: {{party color|Protectionist Party}}; border-top:solid 0 gray" |

style="background-color: {{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|

| Himself {{nowrap|1908–1909}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Commonwealth Liberal Party}}|

! style="font-weight:normal"|Deakin {{nowrap|1909–1910}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|

| Himself {{nowrap|1910–1913}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Commonwealth Liberal Party}}|

! style="font-weight:normal"|Cook {{nowrap|1913–1914}}

style="background-color: {{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|

| Himself {{nowrap|1914–1915}}

Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Deputy Leader

Background

Federal leadership

=Leader=

=Deputy Leader=

=Senate Leader=

State and territory heads of government

=Australian Capital Territory=

=New South Wales=

=Northern Territory=

=Queensland=

=South Australia=

=Tasmania=

=Victoria=

=Western Australia=

See also

References