Leader of the Opposition (Australia) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leader of the Opposition
Flag of Australia
Commonwealth Coat of Arms
Incumbent Sussan Ley since 13 May 2025
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 national government, the Leader of the Opposition is a very important job. This person is an elected member of parliament (MP) in the Australian House of Representatives. They lead the main political party that is not currently in charge of the government. Think of them as the captain of the 'other team' in parliament.

In the Parliament of Australia, the Leader of the Opposition sits across from the Prime Minister of Australia. Their job is to lead the group of politicians who are not in government. The party chooses its leader. A new leader is picked if the old one leaves or if someone else wants the job.

Australia has a special way of governing, called the Westminster system. In this system, the 'opposition' isn't against the country. Instead, it's a formal part of how parliament works. The opposition's job is to question the government and offer different ideas. They are sometimes called the "government in waiting." This means they are ready to take over if the current government can't continue.

So far, Australia has had 35 Leaders of the Opposition. Out of these, 19 have also become Prime Minister.

Since May 13, 2025, Sussan Ley has been the Leader of the Opposition. She is the first woman to hold this role. The current Deputy Leader of the Opposition is Ted O'Brien. He was chosen as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party on the same day.

What the Leader of the Opposition Does

The Leader of the Opposition is like the Prime Minister's main opponent. They need to be ready to form a new government if the current one can no longer lead. This usually happens when the opposition party wins a national election. Then, the Leader of the Opposition becomes the Prime Minister.

Sometimes, the opposition leader might form a government if the current government loses support. This happened in 1941 and 1975.

The Leader of the Opposition is also in charge of the shadow ministry. This is a team of politicians who watch over different government departments. The opposition leader also has a deputy leader. Both the leader and deputy leader get special attention from the Speaker of the House.

The job of Leader of the Opposition isn't written in Australia's main rulebook, the Constitution. It exists because of a long-standing tradition in the Westminster system. In 1960, a report said that the Leader of the Opposition must know about all the issues in parliament. They must be ready to speak up for those who disagree with the government. They help shape public opinion on important topics.

When the Coalition (a group of parties) is in government, the leader of the National Party becomes the Deputy Prime Minister. However, there is no such rule when they are in opposition. No National Party politician has ever been the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

History of the Role

Billy Snedden and Andrew Peacock both served as Opposition Leader.

George Reid was the first Leader of the Opposition. This was before Australia's first national election in 1901. He became the official leader when the House of Representatives met for the first time.

At first, the Leader of the Opposition did not get extra pay or benefits. George Reid had to keep working as a lawyer to support himself. Because of this, he could only attend about one-third of the parliament meetings.

The role became more formal over time. In 1920, the position was officially recognized by law. This law gave the Leader of the Opposition an extra allowance (salary). In 1931, the rules of the House of Representatives gave the opposition leader special rights. For example, they could speak for longer during debates.

Salary and Pay

The salary for the Leader of the Opposition is set by an independent group called the Remuneration Tribunal. As of July 1, 2019, the person in this role receives a base salary plus an extra 85%. This means their total salary is around $390,000 per year.

Leaders of the Opposition in Australia

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	Incumbent

Timeline of Leaders

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	24 March 1990		Peacock 1989–90
Peter Reith				Flinders (Vic)	24 March 1990	13 March 1993		Hewson 1990–94
Michael Wooldridge				Chisholm (Vic)	13 March 1993	23 May 1994
Peter Costello				Higgins (Vic)	23 May 1994	19 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	Incumbent		Ley 2025–

See Also

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

In the Australian House of Representatives, the Leader of the Opposition sits at the front table to the left of the Speaker's Chair (on the right-hand side in this photo).

• Prime Minister of Australia
• List of prime ministers of Australia
• Shadow Cabinet of Australia
• Politics of Australia