Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council (New South Wales)

The Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, known before 1 July 1966 as Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council, is an office held in New South Wales by the most senior minister in the New South Wales Legislative Council, elected to lead the governing party (or parties) in the council. Though the leader in the Council does not have the power of the office of Premier, there are some parallels between the latter's status in the Legislative Assembly and the former's in the Council. This means that the leader has responsibility for all policy areas, acts as the government's principal spokesperson in the upper house and has priority in gaining recognition from the President of the Council to speak in debate.

Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council
Incumbent Penny Sharpe since 28 March 2023
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales
Inaugural holder	William Mayne (as the Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council)
Formation	6 June 1856
Deputy	John Graham

Traditionally, but not always, the office has been held with the sinecure office of Vice-President of the Executive Council. The current leader is Penny Sharpe since 28 March 2023. The leader is assisted by a Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, John Graham.

List of leaders

Leaders

Title	Leader	Party		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
Representative of the Government	William Mayne		None	6 June 1856	25 August 1856	80 days
	Alfred Lutwyche			12 September 1856	2 October 1856	20 days	[1]
	Edward Deas Thomson [a]			3 October 1856	7 September 1857	339 days
	Alfred Lutwyche			19 November 1857	21 February 1859	1 year, 94 days	[1]
	Lyttleton Bayley			23 February 1859	28 April 1859	64 days	[1]
	John Dickson			30 August 1859	28 September 1859	29 days	[2]
	John Hargrave			12 October 1859	26 October 1859	14 days	[3]
	Geoffrey Eagar			27 October 1859	8 March 1860	133 days
	John Hargrave			9 March 1860	15 October 1863	3 years, 220 days
	John Plunkett [b]			16 October 1863	2 February 1865	1 year, 109 days
	John Hargrave			3 February 1865	21 January 1866	352 days
	Joseph Docker			22 January 1866	26 October 1868	2 years, 278 days
	Robert Owen			27 October 1868	1 August 1870	1 year, 278 days
	Julian Salomons			11 August 1870	15 December 1870	126 days
	Joseph Docker			16 December 1870	13 May 1872	1 year, 149 days
	Saul Samuel [c]			14 May 1872	13 September 1873	1 year, 122 days
	Joseph Innes			13 September 1873	8 February 1875	1 year, 148 days
	Joseph Docker			9 February 1875	21 March 1877	2 years, 40 days
	Saul Samuel			22 March 1877	16 August 1877	147 days
	Joseph Docker [c]			17 August 1877	17 December 1877	122 days
	John Marks [c]			18 December 1877	20 December 1878	1 year, 2 days
	Sir John Robertson [c]			21 December 1878	10 November 1881	2 years, 324 days
	Frederick Darley [c]			14 November 1881	4 January 1883	1 year, 51 days
	William Dalley			5 January 1883	6 October 1885	2 years, 274 days
	James Farnell			7 October 1885	9 October 1885	2 days
	George Thornton			13 November 1885	21 December 1885	38 days
	George Simpson			22 December 1885	25 February 1886	65 days
	Charles Mackellar [c]			26 February 1886	23 December 1886	300 days
	John Burns		Free Trade	21 January 1887	27 January 1887	6 days
	Julian Salomons [c]			7 March 1887	16 January 1889	1 year, 315 days
	Edmund Barton		Protectionist	17 January 1889	7 March 1889	49 days
	William Suttor, Jr. [c]		Free Trade	8 March 1889	22 October 1891	2 years, 228 days
	Sir Julian Salomons [c]		Protectionist	23 October 1891	26 January 1893	1 year, 95 days
	Normand MacLaurin [c]			5 April 1893	2 August 1894	1 year, 119 days
	William Suttor, Jr. [c]		Free Trade	3 August 1894	15 March 1895	224 days
	Andrew Garran [c]			19 March 1895	18 November 1898	3 years, 244 days
	John Hughes [c]			22 November 1898	13 September 1899	295 days
	Kenneth Mackay [c]		Protectionist	14 September 1899	24 April 1900	222 days
	Francis Suttor [c]			12 June 1900	9 April 1901	2 years, 345 days
			Progressive	28 March 1901	23 May 1903
	Kenneth Mackay [c]			6 June 1903	29 August 1904	1 year, 84 days
	John Hughes [c]		Liberal Reform	29 August 1904	20 October 1910	6 years, 52 days
	Fred Flowers [c]		Labor	21 October 1910	27 April 1915	4 years, 188 days
	John Fitzgerald [c]			27 April 1915	15 November 1916	3 years, 46 days
			Nationalist	15 November 1916	12 June 1918
	John Garland			12 June 1918	12 April 1920	1 year, 305 days
	Edward Kavanagh [c]		Labor	12 April 1920	20 December 1921	1 year, 252 days
	Sir Joseph Carruthers [c]		Nationalist	20 December 1921	20 December 1921	7 hours
	Edward Kavanagh [c]		Labor	20 December 1921	13 April 1922	114 days
	Sir Joseph Carruthers [c]		Nationalist	13 April 1922	17 June 1925	3 years, 65 days
	Albert Willis [c]		Labor	17 June 1925	18 October 1927	2 years, 123 days
	Francis Boyce [c]		Nationalist	18 October 1927	3 November 1930	3 years, 16 days
	Albert Willis [c]		Labor	4 November 1930	2 April 1931	149 days
	James Concannon [c]			3 April 1931	15 October 1931	1 year, 40 days
			Labor (NSW)	15 October 1931	13 May 1932
	James Ryan [c]		United Australia	16 May 1932	17 June 1932	32 days
	Henry Manning [c]			18 June 1932	16 May 1941	8 years, 332 days
	Reg Downing [c]		Labor	16 May 1941	13 May 1965	23 years, 362 days
	Arthur Bridges [c]		Liberal	13 May 1965	30 June 1966	3 years, 9 days
Leader of the Government				1 July 1966	22 May 1968
	Sir John Fuller [c]		Country	10 July 1968	14 May 1976	7 years, 309 days
	Paul Landa [c]		Labor	14 May 1976	5 April 1984	7 years, 327 days
	Barrie Unsworth [c]			5 April 1984	4 July 1986	2 years, 90 days
	Jack Hallam [c]			4 July 1986	25 March 1988	1 year, 265 days
	Ted Pickering [c]		Liberal	25 March 1988	22 October 1992	4 years, 214 days
	John Hannaford [c]			22 October 1992	4 April 1995	2 years, 161 days
	Michael Egan [c]		Labor	4 April 1995	21 January 2005	9 years, 292 days
	John Della Bosca [c]			3 August 2005	13 June 2008	3 years, 144 days
	Michael Costa (acting)			17 June 2008	8 September 2008	83 days
	John Della Bosca [c]			8 September 2008	1 September 2009	358 days
	Tony Kelly (acting)			1 September 2009	22 September 2009	21 days
	John Hatzistergos [c]			22 September 2009	28 March 2011	1 year, 187 days	[4]
	Michael Gallacher [c]		Liberal	3 April 2011	2 May 2014	3 years, 29 days	[5]
	Duncan Gay [c]		National	6 May 2014	30 January 2017	2 years, 269 days	[6]
	Don Harwin [c]		Liberal	30 January 2017	15 April 2020	3 years, 76 days	[7]
	Damien Tudehope [c]			15 April 2020	3 July 2020	79 days	[8]
	Don Harwin [c]			3 July 2020	21 December 2021	1 year, 171 days	[7]
	Damien Tudehope [c]			21 December 2021	17 February 2023	1 year, 58 days	[8]
	Penny Sharpe [c]		Labor	28 March 2023	incumbent	2 years, 48 days

1. Vice-President of the Executive Council from 23 May 1857.
2. Vice-President of the Executive Council from 23 November 1863.
3. Concurrently Vice-President of the Executive Council.

Deputy Leaders

Deputy Leader [9]	Party		Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
John Fuller		Country	1 July 1966	10 July 1968	2 years, 9 days	[10]
Frederick Hewitt		Liberal	3 September 1968	14 May 1976	7 years, 254 days
Edna Roper		Labor	14 May 1976	17 October 1978	2 years, 156 days
Jack Hallam			18 October 1978	4 July 1986	7 years, 260 days
Deirdre Grusovin			4 July 1986	25 March 1988	1 year, 265 days
Bob Rowland Smith		National	25 March 1988	11 June 1991	3 years, 78 days
Robert Webster			12 June 1991	4 April 1995	3 years, 296 days
Ron Dyer		Labor	4 April 1995	28 February 2003	7 years, 330 days
John Della Bosca			28 February 2003	3 August 2005	2 years, 156 days
Michael Costa			1 February 2005	5 September 2008	3 years, 33 days
Tony Kelly			7 September 2008	28 March 2011	2 years, 202 days
Duncan Gay		National	3 May 2011	6 May 2014	3 years, 3 days	[6]
John Ajaka		Liberal	6 May 2014	30 January 2017	2 years, 269 days
Niall Blair		National	30 January 2017	2 April 2019	2 years, 62 days
Sarah Mitchell			2 April 2019	28 March 2023	3 years, 360 days	[11]
John Graham		Labor	28 March 2023	incumbent	2 years, 48 days