Prime Minister of Australia

The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. The Prime Minister is head of government for the Commonwealth and holds office on commission from the Governor-General. Barring exceptional circumstances, the Prime Minister is always the leader of the political party with majority support in the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister's official residence is the Lodge in Canberra. Since 1996 the office-holder has been John Howard of the Liberal Party.

Appointment

The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General under section 64 of the Australian Constitution. Section 64 of the Constitution empowers the Governor-General to appoint Ministers of State, and requires such Ministers to be members of the House of Representatives or the Senate. These Ministers are ex officio members of the Federal Executive Council and constitute the Cabinet. The Prime Minister in practice is the leader of the Cabinet. By convention, he or she will always be a Member of the House of Representatives.

The Prime Minister is, like other ministers, normally sworn in by the Governor General and then presented with the Commission (Letter patent) of office. When defeated in an election, or on resigning, the Prime Minister is said to "hand in the commission" and actually does so by returning it to the Governor General.

Despite the importance of the office of Prime Minister, the Constitution does not mention the office by name. The conventions of the Westminster system were thought to be sufficiently entrenched in Australia by the authors of the constitution that it was deemed unnecessary to detail them.

In rare circumstances, the Governor-General may appoint someone other than the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives to be Prime Minister. At the time of Federation, no parliament had yet been established, so Edmund Barton was temporarily appointed as Prime Minister until elections were held. Following the death or resignation of the Prime Minister, the Governor-General will appoint as Prime Minister the person most likely to have majority support in the House of Representatives - in most circumstances, the Deputy Prime Minister. More controversially, during the 1975 constitutional crisis, Malcolm Fraser was appointed as Caretaker Prime Minister to replace Gough Whitlam. Theoretically the Governor-General can dismiss the Prime Minister or any other Minister at any time, but his or her power to do so is heavily circumscribed by convention.

Powers

The powers of the Governor-General - to assent to legislation, to dissolve and prorogue Parliament, to call elections, and to make appointments - are exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister.

The power of the Prime Minister is subject to a number of limitations. If the Prime Minister is removed as leader of his or her party, or if he or she loses a vote of no-confidence in the House of Representatives, he or she must resign the office or be dismissed by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister must receive the support of both houses of Parliament to pass any legislation (though secondary legislation, called Regulations, can be made by ministerial decree). While the Prime Minister normally will have a majority in the House of Representatives, attaining the support of the Senate can be more difficult, since there the Government will often be in a minority.

History

Since the framers of the Australian constitution from the beginning intended it to largely follow the Westminster system, the office of Prime Minister has existed since the inauguration of the Commonwealth.

List of Prime Ministers

No.	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office
1	Edmund Barton	Protectionist	1 January 1901	24 September 1903
2	Alfred Deakin	Protectionist	24 September 1903	27 April 1904
3	Chris Watson	Labor	27 April 1904	18 August 1904
4	Sir George Reid	Free Trade	18 August 1904	5 July 1905
-	Alfred Deakin (2nd time)	Comwlth. Liberal	5 July 1905	13 November 1908
5	Andrew Fisher	Labor	13 November 1908	2 June 1909
-	Alfred Deakin (3rd time)	Comwlth. Liberal	2 June 1909	29 April 1910
-	Andrew Fisher (2nd time)	Labor	29 April 1910	24 June 1913
6	Joseph Cook	Comwlth. Liberal	24 June 1913	17 September 1914
-	Andrew Fisher (3rd time)	Labor	17 September 1914	27 October 1915
7	Billy Hughes	Labor	27 October 1915	14 November 1916
-	Billy Hughes (2nd time)	National Labor	14 November 1916	17 February 1917
-	Billy Hughes (3rd time)	Nationalist	17 February 1917	9 February 1923
8	Stanley Bruce	Nationalist	9 February 1923	22 October 1929
9	James Scullin	Labor	22 October 1929	6 January 1932
10	Joseph Lyons	United Australia	6 January 1932	7 April 1939
11	Sir Earle Page	Country	7 April 1939	26 April 1939
12	Robert Menzies	United Australia	26 April 1939	28 August 1941
13	Arthur Fadden	Country	28 August 1941	7 October 1941
14	John Curtin	Labor	7 October 1941	5 July 1945
15	Frank Forde	Labor	6 July 1945	13 July 1945
16	Ben Chifley	Labor	13 July 1945	19 December 1949
-	Sir Robert Menzies (2nd time)	Liberal	19 December 1949	26 January 1966
17	Harold Holt	Liberal	26 January 1966	19 December 1967
18	John McEwen	Country	19 December 1967	10 January 1968
19	John Gorton	Liberal	10 January 1968	10 March 1971
20	William McMahon	Liberal	10 March 1971	5 December 1972
21	Gough Whitlam	Labor	5 December 1972	11 November 1975
22	Malcolm Fraser	Liberal	11 November 1975	11 March 1983
23	Bob Hawke	Labor	11 March 1983	20 December 1991
24	Paul Keating	Labor	20 December 1991	11 March 1996
25	John Howard	Liberal	11 March 1996	Incumbent

Graphical timeline

External links

Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archive of Australia
Biographies of Australia's Prime Ministers / National Museum of Australia
Official website of the Prime Minister of Australia
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

Lists of office-holders | Politics of Australia | Government ministers of Australia