Leader of the Opposition (Australia) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leader of the Opposition
Flag of Australia
Commonwealth Coat of Arms
Incumbent Angus Taylor since 13 February 2026
Opposition of Australia Shadow Cabinet of Australia
Member of	Shadow Cabinet Parliament
Reports to	Parliament
Term length	While leader of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not in government
Inaugural holder	George Reid
Formation	1901
Salary	$390,000

In Australia's federal government, the Leader of the Opposition is an important elected official. This person is a member of parliament (MP) in the Australian House of Representatives. They lead the main opposition party. By tradition, the Leader of the Opposition is the head of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not currently forming the government.

When parliament meets, the opposition leader sits on the left side of the main table. They sit opposite the Prime Minister. Their party chooses the opposition leader based on its own rules. A new leader can be chosen if the current one steps down, passes away, or if someone challenges their leadership.

Australia has a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. This system is similar to the one used in the United Kingdom, called the Westminster model. The "opposition" plays a key role. It questions the government's decisions and tries to show how it could do a better job. Because of this, the opposition is sometimes called the "government in waiting." It's a formal and important part of how Australia's parliament works. It opposes the government, but not the King or Queen, which is why it's called "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition."

So far, Australia has had 37 opposition leaders. 19 of these leaders later became Prime Minister.

Currently, Angus Taylor is the Leader of the Opposition. He took on this role on 13 February 2026.

What Does the Leader of the Opposition Do?

The Leader of the Opposition is like the main challenger to the Prime Minister. Their job is to lead the party that is not in power. They are expected to be ready to form a new government if the current government can no longer lead. This usually happens if the opposition party wins a federal election. After winning, the opposition leader then becomes the Prime Minister.

Sometimes, a new government might be formed if the current government loses the support of the House of Representatives. This happened in 1941. Or, if the Governor-General removed the government, as in 1975.

The opposition leader also leads the shadow ministry. This is a group of opposition members who "shadow" each government minister. They learn about those government departments. The opposition leader chooses who gets which "shadow" job. There is also a Deputy Leader of the Opposition. This person helps the leader and gets an extra salary. Both the leader and deputy leader receive special attention from the Speaker of the House.

The role of the opposition leader is not written in Australia's Constitution. Instead, it exists because of long-standing traditions in the Westminster system. In 1960, a study about parliamentary salaries noted how important this role is. It said the opposition leader must understand all the issues before parliament. They must be quick to respond and always active. They help guide public opinion on important policy matters.

A Look Back: The History of the Role

Billy Snedden and Andrew Peacock in 1973. Both served as Opposition Leader, but never became Prime Minister.

George Reid was the first unofficial Leader of the Opposition. This was before the first federal election in 1901. He took on this role after Edmund Barton became Australia's first Prime Minister. Reid's position was confirmed when the House of Representatives met for the first time.

At first, the opposition leader did not get any extra salary or benefits. They only received what a regular member of parliament got. Because of this, George Reid had to keep working as a lawyer in Sydney. He could only attend about one-third of the parliament's meetings in its first session.

Even though the role was clearly there, the House of Representatives didn't officially write it down until 1920. It was legally recognized for the first time with a law called the Parliamentary Allowances Act 1920. This law gave the opposition leader an extra allowance (money). Earlier, in 1910, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher offered Opposition Leader Alfred Deakin an allowance. Deakin said no, but he did accept a paid secretary. In 1931, the role was added to the House's standing orders. This gave the opposition leader the right to speak for longer than usual in some cases.

How Much Does the Leader of the Opposition Earn?

An independent group called the Remuneration Tribunal decides the opposition leader's salary. As of 1 July 2019, the person in this role receives a base salary of about A$211,250. They also get an extra 85% on top of that. This means their total salary is around $390,000 per year.

List of Leaders of the Opposition

No.	Leader		Party		Constituency	Took office	Left office	Prime Minister		Ref
1	George Reid			Free Trade	East Sydney (NSW)	19 May 1901	17 August 1904		Barton 1901–03
									Deakin 1903–04
									Watson 1904
2	Chris Watson			Labor	Bland (NSW)	18 August 1904	5 July 1905		Reid 1904–05
(1)	George Reid			Free Trade / Anti-Socialist	East Sydney (NSW)	7 July 1905	16 November 1908		Deakin 1905–08
									Fisher 1908–09
3	Joseph Cook			Anti-Socialist	Parramatta (NSW)	17 November 1908	26 May 1909
4	Alfred Deakin			Liberal	Ballaarat (Vic)	26 May 1909	2 June 1909
5	Andrew Fisher			Labor	Wide Bay (Qld)	2 June 1909	29 April 1910		Deakin 1909
(4)	Alfred Deakin			Liberal	Ballaarat (Vic)	1 July 1910	20 January 1913		Fisher 1910–13
(3)	Joseph Cook				Parramatta (NSW)	20 January 1913	24 June 1913
(5)	Andrew Fisher			Labor	Wide Bay (Qld)	8 July 1913	17 September 1914		Cook 1913–14
(3)	Joseph Cook			Liberal	Parramatta (NSW)	8 October 1914	17 February 1917		Fisher 1914–15
									Hughes 1915–23
6	Frank Tudor			Labor	Yarra (Vic)	17 February 1917	10 January 1922
7	Matthew Charlton				Hunter (NSW)	25 January 1922	29 March 1928
									Bruce 1923–29
8	James Scullin				Yarra (Vic)	29 March 1928	22 October 1929
9	John Latham			Nationalist	Kooyong (Vic)	20 November 1929	7 May 1931		Scullin 1929–32
10	Joseph Lyons			United Australia	Wilmot (Tas)	7 May 1931	6 January 1932
(8)	James Scullin			Labor	Yarra (Vic)	6 January 1932	1 October 1935		Lyons 1932–39
11	John Curtin				Fremantle (WA)	1 October 1935	7 October 1941
									Page 1939
									Menzies 1939–41
									Fadden 1941
12	Arthur Fadden			Country	Darling Downs (Qld)	7 October 1941	23 September 1943		Curtin 1941–45
13	Robert Menzies			United Australia	Kooyong (Vic)	23 September 1943	19 December 1949
				Liberal					Forde 1945
									Chifley 1945–49
14	Ben Chifley			Labor	Macquarie (NSW)	19 December 1949	13 June 1951		Menzies 1949–66
15	H. V. Evatt				Barton (NSW) 1940–58 Hunter (NSW) 1958–60	20 June 1951	9 February 1960
16	Arthur Calwell				Melbourne (Vic)	7 March 1960	8 February 1967
									Holt 1966–67
17	Gough Whitlam				Werriwa (NSW)	8 February 1967	2 December 1972
									McEwen 1967–68
									Gorton 1968–71
									McMahon 1971–72
18	Billy Snedden			Liberal	Bruce (Vic)	20 December 1972	21 March 1975		Whitlam 1972–75
19	Malcolm Fraser				Wannon (Vic)	21 March 1975	11 November 1975
(17)	Gough Whitlam			Labor	Werriwa (NSW)	11 November 1975	22 December 1977		Fraser 1975–83
20	Bill Hayden				Oxley (Qld)	22 December 1977	8 February 1983
21	Bob Hawke				Wills (Vic)	8 February 1983	11 March 1983
22	Andrew Peacock			Liberal	Kooyong (Vic)	11 March 1983	5 September 1985		Hawke 1983–91
23	John Howard				Bennelong (NSW)	5 September 1985	9 May 1989
(22)	Andrew Peacock				Kooyong (Vic)	9 May 1989	3 April 1990
24	John Hewson				Wentworth (NSW)	3 April 1990	23 May 1994
									Keating 1991–96
25	Alexander Downer				Mayo (SA)	23 May 1994	30 January 1995
(23)	John Howard				Bennelong (NSW)	30 January 1995	11 March 1996
26	Kim Beazley			Labor	Brand (WA)	19 March 1996	22 November 2001		Howard 1996–07
27	Simon Crean				Hotham (Vic)	22 November 2001	2 December 2003
28	Mark Latham				Werriwa (NSW)	2 December 2003	18 January 2005
(26)	Kim Beazley				Brand (WA)	28 January 2005	4 December 2006
29	Kevin Rudd				Griffith (Qld)	4 December 2006	3 December 2007
30	Brendan Nelson			Liberal	Bradfield (NSW)	3 December 2007	16 September 2008		Rudd 2007–10
31	Malcolm Turnbull				Wentworth (NSW)	16 September 2008	1 December 2009
32	Tony Abbott				Warringah (NSW)	1 December 2009	18 September 2013
									Gillard 2010–13
									Rudd 2013
33	Bill Shorten			Labor	Maribyrnong (Vic)	13 October 2013	30 May 2019		Abbott 2013–15
									Turnbull 2015–18
									Morrison 2018–22
34	Anthony Albanese				Grayndler (NSW)	30 May 2019	23 May 2022
35	Peter Dutton			Liberal	Dickson (Qld)	30 May 2022	3 May 2025		Albanese 2022–
36	Sussan Ley				Farrer (NSW)	13 May 2025	13 February 2026
37	Angus Taylor				Hume (NSW)	13 February 2026	Incumbent

Timeline of Leaders

List of Deputy Leaders of the Opposition

Deputy Leader		Party		Constituency	Took office	Left office	Leader		Ref
Joseph Cook			Commonwealth Liberal Party	Parramatta (NSW)	26 May 1909	2 June 1909		Deakin 1909
Gregor McGregor			Labor Party	Senator for South Australia (SA)	2 June 1909	29 April 1910		Fisher 1909–10
Joseph Cook			Commonwealth Liberal Party	Parramatta (NSW)	1 July 1910	20 January 1913		Deakin 1910–13
Sir John Forrest				Swan (WA)	20 January 1913	24 June 1913		Cook 1913
Gregor McGregor			Labor Party	Senator for South Australia (SA)	8 July 1913	7 September 1914		Fisher 1913–14
Sir John Forrest			Commonwealth Liberal Party	Swan (WA)	8 October 1914	17 February 1917		Cook 1914–17
Albert Gardiner			Labor Party	Senator for New South Wales (NSW)	17 February 1917	March 1927		Tudor 1917–22
								Charlton 1922–28
James Scullin				Yarra (Vic)	17 March 1927	29 March 1928
Arthur Blakeley				Darling (NSW)	29 March 1928	1929		Scullin 1928–29
Ted Theodore				Dalley (NSW)	1929	22 October 1929
Henry Gullett			Nationalist Party	Henty (Vic)	20 November 1929	7 May 1931		Latham 1929–31
John Latham			United Australia Party	Kooyong (Vic)	7 May 1931	6 January 1932		Lyons 1931–32
Frank Forde			Labor Party	Capricornia (Qld)	7 January 1932	7 October 1941		Scullin 1932–35
								Curtin 1935–41
Billy Hughes			United Australia Party	North Sydney (NSW)	9 October 1941	14 April 1944		Fadden 1941–43
								Menzies 1943–49
Eric Harrison				Wentworth (NSW)	14 April 1944	19 December 1949
			Liberal Party
H. V. Evatt			Labor Party	Barton (NSW)	19 December 1949	13 June 1951		Chifley 1949–51
Arthur Calwell				Melbourne (Vic)	13 June 1951	9 February 1960		Evatt 1951–60
Gough Whitlam				Werriwa (NSW)	7 March 1960	8 February 1967		Calwell 1960–67
Lance Barnard				Bass (Tas)	8 February 1967	5 December 1972		Whitlam 1967–72
Phillip Lynch			Liberal Party	Flinders (Vic)	20 December 1972	11 November 1975		Snedden 1972–75
								Fraser 1975
Frank Crean			Labor Party	Melbourne Ports (Vic)	11 November 1975	22 December 1975		Whitlam 1975–77
Tom Uren				Reid (NSW)	22 December 1975	22 December 1977
Lionel Bowen				Kingsford Smith (NSW)	22 December 1977	11 March 1983		Hayden 1977–83
								Hawke 1983
John Howard			Liberal Party	Bennelong (NSW)	11 March 1983	5 September 1985		Peacock 1983–85
Neil Brown				Menzies (Vic)	5 September 1985	17 July 1987		Howard 1985–89
Andrew Peacock				Kooyong (Vic)	17 July 1987	9 May 1989
Fred Chaney				Senator for Western Australia (WA) 1989–90 Pearce (WA) 1990	9 May 1989	3 April 1990		Peacock 1989–90
Peter Reith				Flinders (Vic)	3 April 1990	23 March 1993		Hewson 1990–94
Michael Wooldridge				Chisholm (Vic)	23 March 1993	23 May 1994
Peter Costello				Higgins (Vic)	23 May 1994	11 March 1996		Downer 1994–95
								Howard 1995–96
Gareth Evans			Labor Party	Holt (Vic)	19 March 1996	19 October 1998		Beazley 1996–2001
Simon Crean				Hotham (Vic)	19 October 1998	22 November 2001
Jenny Macklin				Jagajaga (Vic)	22 November 2001	18 September 2006		Crean 2001–03
								Latham 2003–05
								Beazley 2005–06
Julia Gillard				Lalor (Vic)	4 December 2006	3 December 2007		Rudd 2006–07
Julie Bishop			Liberal Party	Curtin (WA)	3 December 2007	18 September 2013		Nelson 2007–08
								Turnbull 2008–09
								Abbott 2009–13
Tanya Plibersek			Labor Party	Sydney (NSW)	14 October 2013	30 May 2019		Shorten 2013–19
Richard Marles				Corio (Vic)	30 May 2019	23 May 2022		Albanese 2019–22
Sussan Ley			Liberal Party	Farrer (NSW)	30 May 2022	13 May 2025		Dutton 2022–25
Ted O'Brien				Fairfax (Qld.)	13 May 2025	13 February 2026		Ley 2025–26
Jane Hume			Liberal Party	Senator for Victoria (VIC)	13 February 2026	Incumbent		Taylor 2026

See also

In Spanish: Líder de la oposición (Australia) para niños

• List of prime ministers of Australia
• Politics of Australia