AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT

Prime Ministers of Australia

The Prime Minister is the head of the Australian Government. The leader of the coalition or party which has the most seats in the Federal House of Representatives is appointed by the Governor-General to be the Prime Minister.

Listed in this section is information about the Prime Ministers of Australia. You'll find some links at the bottom of this page to other websites with additional information on this topic.

Since 1901 Australia has had 30 Prime Ministers. Deakin, Fisher and Menzies held the office more than once. Robert Menzies held the longest continuous term of 16 years, 1 month, and 8 days. In contrast, Francis Forde served the shortest term of 7 days followed by Earle Page for 19 days, John McEwan for 22 days and Arthur Fadden for 39 days. The youngest man to take the office was John Watson at the age of 37.

Labor or Labour?
The spelling ‘labor’ and ‘labour’ were both used by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) until 1912. From that point on the word Labor is the preferred choice.

Prime Ministers of Australia
Present - 1972 1972 - 1945 1945 - 1915 1915 - 1901

First Australian Prime Minister Sir Edmond Barton

Sir Edmund Barton became Australia’s 1st
Prime Minister on 1 Jan 1901. He resigned
in 1903 to become one of the 3 judges
who founded Australia’s High Court.

Prime Ministers — present to 1972

27th	Julia Eileen Gillard 29 September 1961 -	period in office term of office political party age first in office	24 June 2010 - present Labor 49
26th	Kevin Michael Rudd 21 September 1957 -	period in office term of office political party age first in office	3 Dec 2007 - 24 June 2010 2 years, 6 months, 21 days Labor 50
25th	John Winston Howard 26 July 1939 -	period in office term of office political party age first in office	11 Mar 1996 - 3 Dec 2007 11 years, 8 months, 23 days Liberal 56
24th	Paul John Keating 18 Jan 1944 -	period in office term of office political party age first in office	20 Dec 1991 - 11 Mar 1996 5 years, 3 months, 22 days Labor 47
23rd	Robert James Lee Hawke AC 9 Dec 1929 -	period in office term of office political party age first in office	11 Mar 1983 - 20 Dec 1991 8 years, 9 months, 10 days Labor 53
22nd	John Malcolm Fraser PC, CH (later AC) 21 May 1930 -	period in office term of office political party age first in office	11 Nov 1975 - 11 Mar 1983 7 years, 4 months Liberal 44
21st	Edward Gough Whitlam QC 11 July 1916 -	period in office Length of Term political party age first in office	5 Dec 1972 - 11 Nov 1975 2 years, 11 months, 7 days Labor 55

* NOTE about numbering
Alfred Deakin is listed as the 2nd Prime Minister although he actually served as Prime Minister 3 different times. Likewise, Andrew Fisher is listed as the 5th Prime Minister even though he also served 3 different times. As a result, Kevin Rudd is listed as the 26th Prime Minister although there were actually 30 different terms served since the office was created.

In contrast, under the American system, if Deakin had been the President, he would be listed as the 2nd, 5th and 7th President of the United States. (Yes, we know in the USA a person can only be President twice.)

NOTES about the Nationalist Party
In 1931 the National Party joined with other groups and formed the United Australia Party.

More Information

Prime Minister of Australia
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
National Archive Australia's Prime Ministers - an excellent site to learn about our Prime Ministers
Parliament of Australia
Parliamentary websites in other countries
Political parties in Australia and other countries

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