Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Australia
Ministry
Federal

Arms of Her Majesty's Australian Government
Incumbent
Julia Gillard
MP
since 24 June 2010
Style The Honourable
Appointed by Quentin Bryce
as Governor-General of Australia
First Sir Edmund Barton
Formation 1 January 1901
Term length At Her Majesty's pleasure
Residence The Lodge, Canberra
Kirribilli House, Sydney
Website www.pm.gov.au

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in Australia. Despite being at the apex of executive government in the country, the office is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia specifically (although the Constitution does refer to "The Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth [of Australia]" in general[1]) and exists through an unwritten constitutional convention.

Barring exceptional circumstances, the prime minister is always the leader of the political party or coalition with majority support in the House of Representatives. The only case where a senator was appointed prime minister was that of John Gorton, who subsequently resigned his Senate position and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives (Senator George Pearce was acting prime minister for seven months in 1916 while Billy Hughes was overseas).[2]

Julia Gillard is the current prime minister. She is the leader of the Australian Labor Party, which holds a majority (with the support of three Independents and one Green) in the House of Representatives since the 2010 federal election. She is the first female Prime Minister of Australia.

Contents

Appointment

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The Prime Minister of Australia is appointed by the Governor-General of Australia under Section 64 of the Australian Constitution. This empowers the governor-general to appoint Ministers of the Crown and requires such ministers to be members of the House of Representatives or the Senate, or become members within three months of the appointment. Before being sworn in as a minister, a person must first be sworn in as a member of the Federal Executive Council if they are not already a member. Membership of the Federal Executive Council entitles the member to the style of The Honourable (usually abbreviated to The Hon) for life, barring exceptional circumstances. The senior members of the executive council constitute the Cabinet of Australia.

The prime minister is, like other ministers, normally sworn in by the governor-general and then presented with the commission (Letters 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. In the event of a prime minister dying in office, or becoming incapacitated, the governor-general can terminate the commission. Ministers hold office "during the pleasure of the governor-general" (s. 64 of the Constitution of Australia), so theoretically, the governor-general can dismiss a minister at any time, by notifying them in writing of the termination of their commission; however, his or her power to do so except on the advice of the prime minister is heavily circumscribed by convention.

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. The formal title of the portfolio has always been simply "Prime Minister", except for the period of the Fourth Deakin Ministry (June 1909 to April 1910), when it was known as "Prime Minister (without portfolio)".[3]

If a government cannot get its appropriation (budget) legislation passed by the House of Representatives, or the house passes a vote of "no confidence" in the government, the prime minister is bound by convention to resign immediately. The governor-general's choice of replacement prime minister will be dictated by the circumstances.

Following a resignation in other circumstances, or the death of a prime minister, the governor-general will generally appoint as prime minister the person voted by the governing party as their new leader. There have been four notable exceptions to this:

There were only five other cases where someone other than the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives was prime minister:

Powers

Most of the prime minister's powers derive from his or her position as the head of the cabinet. In practice, the Federal Executive Council will act to ratify all decisions made by the cabinet and, in practice, decisions of the cabinet will always require the support of the prime minister. The powers of the governor-general – to grant Royal Assent to legislation, to dissolve and prorogue parliament, to call elections and to make appointments – are exercised 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 the government they lead loses a vote of no-confidence in the House of Representatives, they must resign the office or be dismissed by the governor-general.

The prime minister's party will normally have a majority in the House of Representatives and party discipline is exceptionally strong in Australian politics, so the passage of government-proposed legislation through the House of Representatives is mostly a formality. Attaining the support of the senate can be more difficult as government usually lacks an absolute majority because the senate's representation is based on overall proportion of votes and often includes minor parties.

Salary and benefits

Prime Ministerial pay history
Date established Salary
2 June 1999 $289,270
6 September 2006 $309,270
1 July 2007 $330,300
1 August 2010 $354,671[4]
1 December 2011 $440,000

Salary

The prime minister is the highest-paid member of parliament.

Ministerial salary is expressed as an additional percentage on top of the basic parliamentary salary. The Remuneration Tribunal's Report Number 1 of 2006[5] confirms the prime minister's additional salary as 160% of her or his parliamentary salary, i.e. the prime minister earns in total 260% of the salary of an ordinary parliamentarian.

The prime minister's salary is about five times that of the average full-time adult salary of $67,116, as of February 2010.[6]

Allowances

The Royal Australian Air Force's No. 34 Squadron transports the prime minister within Australia and overseas by specially converted Boeing Business Jets and smaller Challenger aircraft. The aircraft contain secure communications equipment as well as office, conference room and sleeping compartments. The call-sign for the aircraft is "Envoy".

The prime minister's official residence is The Lodge in Canberra, but not all prime ministers have chosen to make use of it. Jim Scullin preferred to live at the Hotel Canberra (now the Hyatt Hotel); Ben Chifley lived in the Kurrajong Hotel; and John Howard made Kirribilli House in Sydney his primary residence, using The Lodge when in Canberra on official business. On her appointment on 24 June 2010, the current prime minister Julia Gillard said she would not be living in The Lodge until such time as she is returned to office by popular vote at the next general election. (She became prime minister mid-term after replacing the incumbent, Kevin Rudd, who resigned in the face of an unwinnable party-room ballot.) The official residences are fully staffed and catered for both the prime minister and his or her family. A considerable amount of official entertaining is conducted at these residences.

Kevin Rudd had a staff at The Lodge consisting of a senior chef and an assistant chef, a child carer, one senior house attendant, and two junior house attendants. At Kirribilli House in Sydney, there is one full-time chef and one full-time house attendant.[7]

Prime ministers are usually granted certain privileges after leaving office, such as office accommodation, staff assistance, and a Life Gold Pass, which entitles the holder to travel within Australia for "non-commercial" purposes at government expense.

Only one prime minister who had left the parliament ever returned. Stanley Bruce was defeated in his own seat in 1929 while prime minister, but was re-elected to parliament in 1931.

Former prime ministers continue to be important national figures, and in some cases go on to successful post-prime ministerial careers. Some notable examples have included: Edmund Barton, who was a justice of the High Court; George Reid, Andrew Fisher, Joseph Cook and Stanley Bruce, who were High Commissioners to the United Kingdom; Arthur Fadden, who was treasurer under another prime minister, Robert Menzies and Kevin Rudd who became Julia Gillard's Foreign Minister after the 2010 Federal Election.

List of prime ministers

Below is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia by name, date assumed office, date left office, political party, total time in office and state represented in parliament. The state(s) represented in parliament is not necessarily the one with which the person had the strongest association; the most extreme example being Bob Hawke who was born in South Australia, spent his formative years in Western Australia, worked in and represented Victoria and retired to New South Wales.

The parties shown are those to which the prime ministers belonged at the time they held office. Several prime ministers belonged to parties other than those given before and after their prime ministerships.

For a list showing further details, see List of Prime Ministers of Australia.

      Protectionist       Labor       Free Trade       Commonwealth Liberal       National Labor/Nationalist/United Australia       Country       Liberal

# Name Post-nominals
as PM		 Later post-
nominals		 Took office Left office Party Term In Office State Represented
in Parliament
1 Sir Edmund Barton GCMG KC 01901-01-01 1 January 1901 01903-09-24 24 September 1903 Protectionist &100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000267000000267 days New South Wales
2 Alfred Deakin 01903-09-24 24 September 1903 01904-04-27 27 April 1904 Protectionist &100000000000000000000000 years, &10000000000000217000000217 days Victoria
3 Chris Watson 01904-04-27 27 April 1904 01904-08-18 18 August 1904 Labor &100000000000000000000000 years, &10000000000000114000000114 days New South Wales
4 George Reid KC GCB GCMG 01904-08-18 18 August 1904 01905-07-05 5 July 1905 Free Trade &100000000000000000000000 years, &10000000000000322000000322 days New South Wales
(2) Alfred Deakin 01905-07-05 5 July 1905 01908-11-13 13 November 1908 Protectionist &100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000132000000132 days Victoria
5 Andrew Fisher 01908-11-13 13 November 1908 01909-06-02 2 June 1909 Labor &100000000000000000000000 years, &10000000000000202000000202 days Queensland
(2) Alfred Deakin 01909-06-02 2 June 1909 01910-04-29 29 April 1910 Commonwealth Liberal &100000000000000000000000 years, &10000000000000332000000332 days Victoria
(5) Andrew Fisher 01910-04-29 29 April 1910 01913-06-24 24 June 1913 Labor &100000000000000030000003 years, &1000000000000005700000057 days Queensland
6 Joseph Cook GCMG 01913-06-24 24 June 1913 01914-09-17 17 September 1914 Commonwealth Liberal &100000000000000010000001 year, &1000000000000008600000086 days New South Wales
(5) Andrew Fisher 01914-09-17 17 September 1914 01915-10-27 27 October 1915 Labor &100000000000000010000001 year, &1000000000000004100000041 days Queensland
7 Billy Hughes KC CH 01915-10-27 27 October 1915 01923-02-09 9 February 1923 Labor/Nationalist &100000000000000070000007 years, &10000000000000106000000106 days New South Wales, Victoria
8 Stanley Bruce CH MC 01923-02-09 9 February 1923 01929-10-22 22 October 1929 Nationalist &100000000000000060000006 years, &10000000000000256000000256 days Victoria
9 James Scullin 01929-10-22 22 October 1929 01932-01-06 6 January 1932 Labor &100000000000000020000002 years, &1000000000000007700000077 days Victoria
10 Joseph Lyons CH 01932-01-06 6 January 1932 01939-04-07 7 April 1939 United Australia &100000000000000070000007 years, &1000000000000009200000092 days Tasmania
11 Sir Earle Page GCMG CH 01939-04-07 7 April 1939 01939-04-26 26 April 1939 Country &100000000000000000000000 years, &1000000000000002000000020 days New South Wales
12 Robert Menzies KC 01939-04-26 26 April 1939 01941-08-28 28 August 1941 United Australia &100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000122000000122 days Victoria
13 Arthur Fadden GCMG 01941-08-28 28 August 1941 01941-10-07 7 October 1941 Country &100000000000000000000000 years, &1000000000000004000000040 days Queensland
14 John Curtin 01941-10-07 7 October 1941 01945-07-05 5 July 1945 Labor &100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000272000000272 days Western Australia
15 Frank Forde 01945-07-06 6 July 1945 01945-07-13 13 July 1945 Labor &100000000000000000000000 years, &100000000000000080000008 days Queensland
16 Ben Chifley 01945-07-13 13 July 1945 01949-12-19 19 December 1949 Labor &100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000160000000160 days New South Wales
(12) Sir Robert Menzies KT CH QC AK 01949-12-19 19 December 1949 01966-01-26 26 January 1966 Liberal &1000000000000001600000016 years, &1000000000000003900000039 days Victoria
17 Harold Holt CH 01966-01-26 26 January 1966 01967-12-19 19 December 1967[8] Liberal &100000000000000010000001 year, &10000000000000328000000328 days Victoria
18 John McEwen GCMG CH 01967-12-19 19 December 1967 01968-01-10 10 January 1968 Country &100000000000000000000000 years, &1000000000000002300000023 days Victoria
19 John Gorton GCMG AC CH 01968-01-10 10 January 1968 01971-03-10 10 March 1971 Liberal &100000000000000030000003 years, &1000000000000006000000060 days Victoria
20 William McMahon CH GCMG 01971-03-10 10 March 1971 01972-12-05 5 December 1972 Liberal &100000000000000010000001 year, &10000000000000271000000271 days New South Wales
21 Gough Whitlam QC AC 01972-12-05 5 December 1972 01975-11-11 11 November 1975 Labor &100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000342000000342 days New South Wales
22 Malcolm Fraser CH AC GCL 01975-11-11 11 November 1975 01983-03-11 11 March 1983 Liberal &100000000000000070000007 years, &10000000000000121000000121 days Victoria
23 Bob Hawke AC GCL 01983-03-11 11 March 1983 01991-12-20 20 December 1991 Labor &100000000000000080000008 years, &10000000000000285000000285 days Victoria
24 Paul Keating 01991-12-20 20 December 1991 01996-03-11 11 March 1996 Labor &100000000000000040000004 years, &1000000000000008300000083 days New South Wales
25 John Howard OM AC SSI 01996-03-11 11 March 1996 02007-12-03 3 December 2007 Liberal &1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000268000000268 days New South Wales
26 Kevin Rudd 02007-12-03 3 December 2007 02010-06-24 24 June 2010 Labor &100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000204000000204 days Queensland
27 Julia Gillard 02010-06-24 24 June 2010 Incumbent Labor &100000000000000010000001 year, &10000000000000237000000237 days Victoria

Graphical timeline


Living former prime ministers

There are currently six living former prime ministers of Australia:

Name Term of office Date of birth
Gough Whitlam 1972–1975 11 July 1916 (1916-07-11) (age 95)
Malcolm Fraser 1975–1983 21 May 1930 (1930-05-21) (age 81)
Bob Hawke 1983–1991 9 December 1929 (1929-12-09) (age 82)
Paul Keating 1991–1996 18 January 1944 (1944-01-18) (age 68)
John Howard 1996–2007 26 July 1939 (1939-07-26) (age 72)
Kevin Rudd 2007–2010 21 September 1957 (1957-09-21) (age 54)

The greatest number of living former prime ministers at any one time was eight. This has occurred twice:

Seven former prime ministers were alive between 18 November 1941 and 13 July 1945, and between 30 July 1947 and 13 June 1951.

Gough Whitlam has achieved a greater age than any other prime minister. The most recently deceased prime minister was John Gorton (1968–1971), who died on 19 May 2002.

Backgrounds

Birthplace

Ten of Australia's prime ministers were born in Victoria, seven in New South Wales, three in Queensland and one each in South Australia and Tasmania. Six were born overseas: five in the United Kingdom (Hughes and Cook in England, Fisher and Reid in Scotland, Gillard in Wales) and Watson in Chile.

Education

Melbourne Grammar School produced the most number of future prime ministers (Deakin, Bruce and Fraser). Other secondary schools where more than one future prime minister studied include Geelong Grammar School (Gorton, Fraser), Sydney Grammar School (Barton, McMahon) and Wesley College, Melbourne (Menzies, Holt).

Five future prime ministers graduated from University of Sydney (Barton, Page, McMahon, Whitlam, Howard). Four studied at the University of Melbourne (Deakin, Menzies, Holt, Gillard) and three at Oxford University (Gorton, Fraser, Hawke). Rudd studied at the Australian National University. Eight prime ministers did not complete any form of higher education.

Occupation

Eleven prime ministers practised law before entering into politics (in addition Hawke acquired a law degree, but never practised law). Seven prime ministers (all Australian Labor Party) had served as trade union officials. Other occupations that prime ministers had performed include journalism (Watson, Scullin, Curtin), teaching (Lyons and Forde), diplomacy (Forde and Rudd), mining (Fisher, Cook), medicine (Page), engine driving (Chifley) and accountancy (Fadden).

Three prime ministers served in the First World War (Bruce, Page and McEwen; of whom only Bruce was involved in actual combat). Four served in the Second World War (Holt, Gorton, McMahon, and Whitlam; of whom Gorton and Whitlam served as air crew in the Royal Australian Air Force).

Prior to participating in federal politics, prime ministers had been elected to the state Parliaments of New South Wales (Barton, Watson, Reid, Cook, Hughes), Queensland (Fisher, Fadden, Forde), Victoria (Deakin, Menzies) and Tasmania (Lyons). In addition Page had been the Mayor of Grafton.

Personal circumstances

All prime ministers except for Gillard have married at least once. McEwen married twice, but was the only Prime Minister to be a widower throughout his premiership. Bruce, Scullin, Chifley, McEwen and Gillard were childless, while Lyons had twelve children (one died in infancy).

Religious Beliefs

Six prime ministers have been Anglican (Barton, Bruce, Holt, McMahon, Howard and Rudd), one was a Baptist (Hughes), five were Catholic (Scullin, Lyons, Forde, Chifley and Keating), two were Methodists (Cook, Page), six were Presbyterian (Fisher, Reid, Menzies, Fadden, McEwen and Fraser), one was a Spiritualist (Deakin), one was a Unitarian (Watson), and five professed no religion (Curtin, Gorton, Whitlam, Hawke and Gillard).

Convictions

John Curtin is the only prime minister to serve time in gaol (three days for failing to comply with an order for a compulsory medical examination for conscription, during World War I).[9]

Births and deaths

Seventeen prime ministers were born prior to the Federation of Australia, 1 January 1901. The earliest-born prime minister was George Reid, born 25 February 1845.

Three prime ministers died in office: Joseph Lyons (1939), John Curtin (1945) and Harold Holt (1967). Holt's was a most unusual case – he disappeared while swimming, was declared presumed dead two days later, and his body was never recovered. It was not until almost 38 years later, in 2005, that he was officially declared by the Victorian Coroner to have drowned at the time of his disappearance.

The first person born after Federation to serve as prime minister was Harold Holt, born 5 August 1908. (Sir William McMahon, who was a later prime minister, was born 23 February 1908, and is the earliest-born of the prime ministers born after Federation.)

The first person born after the First World War to serve as prime minister was Malcolm Fraser, born 21 May 1930. (Bob Hawke, who succeeded Fraser, was born 9 December 1929, and is the earliest-born of the prime ministers born after WWI.)

The first person born after the Second World War to serve as prime minister, is Kevin Rudd, born 21 September 1957. Incumbent prime minister Julia Gillard also falls into this category, born 29 September 1961.

The only prime ministers born during either of the world wars are Gough Whitlam, born 11 July 1916, during the First World War, and Paul Keating, born 18 January 1944, during the Second World War.

Seven prime ministers were born in the month of September, two more than the next most popular month, August. The seven were: John Gorton (9 September), Joseph Lyons (15th), James Scullin (18th), Kevin Rudd (21st), Ben Chifley (22nd), Billy Hughes (25th) and Julia Gillard (29th). None were born in June, October or November.

Two prime ministers share the same birthday: Sir Edmund Barton and Paul Keating, born on 18 January in 1849 and 1944 respectively.[10] Two other prime ministers share the same death day: James Scullin and Frank Forde, died on 28 January in 1953 and 1983 respectively.

Three Prime Ministers died outside of Australia: Reid, Fisher and Bruce died in the United Kingdom. Reid and Fisher are buried there.

Ages

The three youngest people when they first became prime minister were:

The three oldest people when they first became prime minister were:

The three youngest people to last leave the office of prime minister were:

The three oldest people to last leave the office of prime minister were:

Time in office

The longest-serving Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies, who served in office twice: from 26 April 1939 to 28 August 1941, and again from 29 December 1949 to 26 January 1966. In total Robert Menzies spent 18 years, 5 months and 12 days in office. He served under the United Australia Party and the Liberal Party respectively.

The shortest-serving Prime Minister was Frank Forde, who spent a total of 8 days under the Labor Party from 6–13 July 1945

Post-office longevity

Note: The following analysis leaves aside the two most recent ex-incumbents, John Howard and Kevin Rudd, who are both living.

Ben Chifley died only one year six months after leaving the prime ministership. Alfred Deakin lasted nine years five months.

All the others lasted at least 10 years. Nine of them (Bruce, Cook, Fadden, Forde, Fraser, Gorton, Hughes, Watson, and Whitlam) lived more than 25 years after leaving the office, and all but two of these survived longer than 30 years (Hughes lasted 29 years and 8 months; Fraser has lasted more than 28 years and is still living).

The longest-surviving was Stanley Bruce, who died 37 years and 10 months after leaving the office. If Gough Whitlam lives until 25 September 2013, he will exceed Bruce's record. (He would then be 97 years old.)

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Parliament of Australia: Senate: Constitution". Parliament of Australia. http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/general/constitution/chapter2.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
  2. ^ "Pearce, Sir George Foster (1870 - 1952)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 2006. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110182b.htm. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
  3. ^ Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia - Historical information on the Australian Parliament - Ministries and Cabinets - 7. Deakin Ministry
  4. ^ Hudson, Phillip (25 August 2010). "Politicians awarded secret pay rise". Herald Sun. http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/prime-minister-pollies-grab-rich-pay-rises/story-e6frfmd9-1225909630520. 
  5. ^ of Report on Ministers of State – Salaries Additional to the Basic Parliamentary Salary
  6. ^ Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, Feb 2010, Australian Bureau of Statistics
  7. ^ Metherell, Mark (19 February 2008). "Rudds' staff extends to a child carer at the Lodge". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudds-staff-extends-to-a-child-carer-at-the-lodge/2008/02/18/1203190740533.html. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
  8. ^ Harold Holt has now been formally declared to have drowned on 17 December (his body was never recovered), but his commission as prime minister was not officially withdrawn until 19 December as it was not until then that he was declared "presumed dead".
  9. ^ "Curtin, John (1885 - 1945)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 2006. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130616b.htm. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
  10. ^ "Do Prime Ministers share the same birthday cake?". The Age (Melbourne). 2009-09-14. http://education.theage.com.au/cmspage.php?intid=147&intversion=27. Retrieved 2010-08-07. 

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