Prime Minister of Australia

The current (25th) Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard (sitting, fifth from left), with his Cabinet, 1999 The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. He or she is appointed by the Governor-General but, by convention, is the leader of the party with the most seats 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

By convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party or coalition which can command a plurality of seats in the lower house of the Federal Parliament, the House of Representatives. In times of constitutional crisis, however, this convention can be broken if necessary; this has occurred twice. At the time of Federation, no parliament had yet been established, so Edmund Barton was temporarily appointed as Prime Minister until elections were held. More controversially, during the 1975 constitutional crisis, Malcolm Fraser was appointed to replace Gough Whitlam. The Governor-General also appoints the remaining members of the Cabinet and, theoretically 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 formal holder of executive power in the Commonwealth is the Governor-General. However, by convention the Governor-General can only act on the Prime Minister's advice. The Prime Minister chairs the Cabinet, a council of ministers where executive decision-making occurs. Like the Prime Minister, the Cabinet is nowhere explicitly provided for in the Australian constitution. The intention nonetheless was for it always to exist, again following the Westminster model. The power of the Prime Minister is subject to a number of limitations. A Prime Minister may be removed as leader of his party and thus lose the support of the lower house. If this occurs, he 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. So, while the Prime Minister's formal powers are minimal, his practical powers as chief spokesperson for the government and leader of the strongest party in parliament in the relatively rigid Australian party system are very considerable.

History

The first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton (sitting second from left), with his Cabinet, 1901 The office of Prime Minister is nowhere mentioned in the Australian constitution, although it does provide for the Governor-General to be advised by ministers. However, 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

Main article: List of Prime Ministers of Australia by important facts The political parties shown are those to which the Prime Ministers belonged at the time they held office. Several Prime Ministers belonged during their life times to parties other than those of which they were members while occupying the office of Prime Minister.

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)

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

Category:Australian politics Australia, Prime Minister of

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