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).

This is a List of Australian Leaders of the Opposition, who in Australian Federal Politics is a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives. The position is usually held by the leader of the party which has the most seats but is not part of the Government. When in Parliament the Leader of the Opposition sits on the left-hand side of the table in the centre, in front of the Opposition and opposite the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party, or coalition of parties, with the most seats in Parliament, and thus is the leader of the Government.^[1] The leader is elected by the Opposition Party according to its rules. A new Opposition Leader may be elected when the incumbent dies, resigns or is challenged for the leadership.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system and is based on the Westminster model. The term Opposition has a specific meaning in the parliamentary sense, in its formal title of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. This is an important component of the Westminster system: the Opposition directs its criticism at the Government and attempts to defeat and replace the Government. The Opposition is therefore the 'Government in waiting' and it is a formal part of the parliamentary system, just as is the Government. It is opposed to the Government, but not to the Crown, hence the term 'Loyal Opposition'.^[2]

The Current Leader of the Opposition is Tony Abbott who defeated Malcolm Turnbull for leadership of the Liberal Party on 1 December 2009.^[3] The Liberal Party has been in opposition since losing the 2007 election to the Labor Party who had formed the opposition since 1996.^[4] To date there have been thirty-two Opposition Leaders, seventeen of whom have served terms as Prime Minister.^[5] The selection of Tony Abbott as the current Opposition Leader in 2009 means that 2009 is the fifth year in a row in which there has been a change in Opposition leadership.

[edit] Leaders of the Opposition

#	Name	Photo	Term Start	Term End	Party
1.	George Reid[6]		19 May 1901	17 August 1904[b]	Free Trade Party
2.	Chris Watson[7]		18 August 1904	5 July 1905[b]	Australian Labor Party
-	George Reid[6]		7 July 1905[a]	16 November 1908	Free Trade Party Anti-Socialist Party
3.	Joseph Cook[8]		17 November 1908	26 May 1909[b]	Anti-Socialist Party
4.	Alfred Deakin[9]		26 May 1909	2 June 1909[b]	Commonwealth Liberal Party
5.	Andrew Fisher[10]		2 June 1909[a]	29 April 1910[b]	Australian Labor Party
-	Alfred Deakin[9]		1 July 1910[a]	20 January 1913	Commonwealth Liberal Party
-	Joseph Cook[8]		20 January 1913	24 June 1913[b]	Commonwealth Liberal Party
-	Andrew Fisher[10]		8 July 1913[a]	17 September 1914[b]	Australian Labor Party
-	Joseph Cook[8]		8 October 1914[a]	17 February 1916	Commonwealth Liberal Party Nationalist Party of Australia
6.	Frank Tudor[11]		1 November 1916	10 January 1922	Australian Labor Party
7.	Matthew Charlton[12]		10 January 1922	29 March 1928	Australian Labor Party
8.	James Scullin[13]		29 March 1928	22 October 1929[b]	Australian Labor Party
9.	John Latham[14]		20 November 1929	7 May 1931	Nationalist Party of Australia
10.	Joseph Lyons[10]		7 May 1931	6 January 1932[b]	United Australia Party
-	James Scullin[13]		7 January 1932[a]	1 October 1935	Australian Labor Party
11.	John Curtin[15]		1 October 1935	7 October 1941[b]	Australian Labor Party
12.	Arthur Fadden[16]		7 October 1941[a]	23 September 1943	Country Party
13.	Robert Menzies[16]		23 September 1943[a]	19 December 1949[b]	United Australia Party Liberal Party of Australia
14.	Ben Chifley[16]		19 December 1949[a]	20 June 1951	Australian Labor Party
15.	Herbert Evatt[10]		20 June 1951	9 February 1960	Australian Labor Party
16.	Arthur Calwell[16]		7 March 1960	8 February 1967	Australian Labor Party
17.	Gough Whitlam[17]		8 February 1967	2 December 1972[b]	Australian Labor Party
18.	Billy Snedden[16]		2 December 1972	21 March 1975	Liberal Party of Australia
19.	Malcolm Fraser[18]		21 March 1975	11 November 1975[b]	Liberal Party of Australia
-	Gough Whitlam[19][c]		11 November 1975[a]	22 December 1977	Australian Labor Party
20.	Bill Hayden[10]		22 December 1977	3 February 1983	Australian Labor Party
21.	Bob Hawke[14]		3 February 1983	11 March 1983[b]	Australian Labor Party
22.	Andrew Peacock[14]		11 March 1983	5 September 1985	Liberal Party of Australia
23.	John Howard[20]		5 September 1985	9 May 1989[b]	Liberal Party of Australia
-	Andrew Peacock[14]		9 May 1989	3 April 1990	Liberal Party of Australia
24.	John Hewson[14]		3 April 1990	23 May 1994	Liberal Party of Australia
25.	Alexander Downer[10]		23 May 1994	30 January 1995	Liberal Party of Australia
-	John Howard[20]		30 January 1995	11 March 1996[b]	Liberal Party of Australia
26.	Kim Beazley[21]		19 March 1996	11 November 2001	Australian Labor Party
27.	Simon Crean[14]		11 November 2001	2 December 2003	Australian Labor Party
28.	Mark Latham[22]		2 December 2003	18 January 2005	Australian Labor Party
-	Kim Beazley[21]		28 January 2005	4 December 2006	Australian Labor Party
29.	Kevin Rudd[23]		4 December 2006	3 December 2007[b]	Australian Labor Party
30.	Brendan Nelson[24]		3 December 2007	16 September 2008	Liberal Party of Australia
31.	Malcolm Turnbull[25]		16 September 2008	1 December 2009	Liberal Party of Australia
32.	Tony Abbott[3]		1 December 2009		Liberal Party of Australia

[edit] See also

• List of Prime Ministers of Australia
• Politics of Australia

[edit] Notes

[edit] References