List of leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division)

The position of leader of the Liberal Party of Australia's New South Wales division is a formal role held by a Liberal member of the Parliament of New South Wales. As the Liberal Party has, since its foundation in 1945, been either the largest or second largest party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, the leader is normally referred to as either the Premier or the Leader of the Opposition, depending on the majority or minority respectively of the party. The role is selected by state members of the parliamentary party, but the position is non-fixed in duration, and is usually only vacated upon resignation, retirement from politics, or a spill motion with the support of the majority of the parliamentary members.

The leader only has a role in a parliamentary context; the party division as a whole is governed by a President and Vice Presidents, who act on the advice of the party division's Director and Deputy Directors. The division also gathers annually at a State Conference to vote on and develop policy to be used by the party's elected representatives.

In the 64 years since its foundation the party has won only six state elections to the Australian Labor Party's 13, and has spent only 18 years in office (1965 to 1976 and 1988 to 1995) to Labor's 46. The majority of the 19 Liberal Leaders have been deposed, either after losing elections or when their colleagues determined they could not win an election.

The current leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Premier is Barry O'Farrell, and the deputy leader is Jillian Skinner. Both have served in those roles since 4 April 2007.

Leaders of the New South Wales Parliamentary Liberal Party

Deputy Leaders

See also

• Leader of the New South Wales National Party

References