Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Australia)

The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate is a party office held by the Opposition's most senior member of the Shadow Cabinet in the Australian Senate, elected to lead the opposition party (or parties) in the body.^[1] Though the leader in the Senate does not have the power of the office of Leader of the Opposition (i.e. the leader in the House of Representatives and overall party leader), there are some parallels between the latter's status in the lower house and the former's in the Senate.^[1] In addition to his or her own shadow ministerial portfolio, the leader has overarching responsibility for all policy areas and acts as the opposition's principal spokesperson in the upper house. The leader is entitled to sit at the table of the Senate,^[1] and has priority in gaining recognition from the President of the Senate to speak in debate. Another similarity is that the leader typically announces changes to opposition officeholders in the Senate, including shadow ministers, party leadership and whips.^[2] The leader also has some responsibility for appointing opposition senators to committees, a role filled by the Manager of Opposition Business and whips in the lower house. The current leader is Michaelia Cash, assisted by a Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, currently Anne Ruston.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Australian Senate
Incumbent Michaelia Cash since 25 January 2025
Style	The Honourable Senator
Member of	Shadow Cabinet Opposition
Appointer	Opposition Party Caucus
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Australia

List of leaders of the opposition in the Senate

Senate opposition leader		Term began	Term ended	Party	Leader of the Opposition
	Josiah Symon	6 June 1901[n 1]	18 August 1904	Free Trade	George Reid
	Gregor McGregor	18 August 1904[n 2]	5 July 1905	Labor	Chris Watson
	Josiah Symon	5 July 1905[n 1]	21 November 1907	Free Trade	George Reid
				Anti-Socialist
	Edward Millen	21 November 1907[n 3]	2 June 1909	Anti-Socialist
					Joseph Cook
				Commonwealth Liberal	Alfred Deakin
	Gregor McGregor	2 June 1909[n 2]	29 April 1910	Labor	Andrew Fisher
	Edward Millen	29 April 1910[n 3]	24 June 1913	Commonwealth Liberal	Alfred Deakin
					Joseph Cook
	Gregor McGregor	24 June 1913[n 2]	30 July 1914	Labor	Andrew Fisher
	Edward Millen	30 July 1914[n 3]	14 February 1917[n 4]	Commonwealth Liberal	Joseph Cook
	Albert Gardiner[n 5]	17 February 1917[n 4]	30 June 1926	Labor	Frank Tudor
					Matthew Charlton
	Ted Needham	9 July 1926[25]	25 June 1929	Labor
					James Scullin
	John Daly	25 June 1929[26]	22 October 1929	Labor
	George Pearce	22 October 1929[n 6]	6 January 1932	Nationalist	John Latham
				United Australia	Joseph Lyons
	John Barnes	6 January 1932[n 7]	30 June 1935	Labor	James Scullin
	Joe Collings	1 July 1935[31]	7 October 1941	Labor
					John Curtin
	George McLeay	7 October 1941[n 8]	31 May 1947	UAP	Arthur Fadden
					Robert Menzies[n 9]
				Liberal
	Walter Cooper	1 June 1947[34]	19 November 1949	Country
	Bill Ashley	19 December 1949[n 10]	11 June 1951	Labor	Chifley
	Nick McKenna	11 June 1951[37]	17 August 1966	Labor
					H. V. Evatt
					Arthur Calwell
	Don Willesee	17 August 1966[38]	8 February 1967	Labor
					Gough Whitlam
	Lionel Murphy	8 February 1967[39]	5 December 1972	Labor
	Reg Withers	20 December 1972[40]	11 November 1975	Liberal	Billy Snedden
					Malcolm Fraser
	Ken Wriedt	11 November 1975[n 11]	28 September 1980[n 12]	Labor	Gough Whitlam
					Bill Hayden
	John Button	7 November 1980[43]	11 March 1983	Labor
					Bob Hawke
	Fred Chaney	11 March 1983[44]	27 February 1990[n 12]	Liberal	Andrew Peacock
					John Howard
					Andrew Peacock
	Robert Hill	3 April 1990[45]	11 March 1996	Liberal	John Hewson
					Alexander Downer
					John Howard
	John Faulkner	19 March 1996[46]	22 October 2004	Labor	Kim Beazley
					Simon Crean
					Mark Latham
	Chris Evans	22 October 2004[47]	3 December 2007	Labor
					Kim Beazley
					Kevin Rudd
	Nick Minchin	3 December 2007[48]	3 May 2010	Liberal	Brendan Nelson
					Malcolm Turnbull
					Tony Abbott
	Eric Abetz	3 May 2010[49][50]	18 September 2013	Liberal
	Penny Wong	18 September 2013	23 May 2022	Labor	Chris Bowen
					Bill Shorten
					Anthony Albanese
	Simon Birmingham	23 May 2022[51]	25 January 2025	Liberal	Peter Dutton
	Michaelia Cash	25 January 2025	Incumbent	Liberal

See also

• Leader of the Government in the Senate (Australia)
• Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate

Notes

1. Symon was elected the party's leader in the Senate in 1901, when the party was in Opposition.^[3] He remained leader when the party was in Government from 1904 to 1905^[4] and when the party again found itself on the Opposition benches.^[5]
2. McGregor was the Labor Party's leader in the Senate (and Deputy Leader of the federal Labor Party) from Federation until the double dissolution that triggered the 1914 election. As such, he held the title Leader of the Senate when in Government,^[6][7][8] and that of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate whenever Labor formed the Official Opposition^[9][10] during that period.
3. Millen succeeded Symon as Leader of the Opposition on 21 November 1907^[11] and became Senate leader of the new Commonwealth Liberal Party, taking up the office of Leader of the Senate upon when the party entered Government on 2 June 1909.^[12] He continued as leader of the party in the Senate as it alternated between Government^[13][14][15] and Opposition.^[16][17]
4. After Billy Hughes, the Prime Minister, split with the Labor Party in November 1916, his new National Labor Party Government survived with the help of the Commonwealth Liberal Party. The latter remained, technically, in Opposition for the time being. Therefore, until National Labor and the Liberals formed a coalition government on 14 February 1017,^[18] Millen remained Leader of the Opposition.^[19] Gardiner was Leader of the Opposition from 14 February and was referred to as such in the Senate that day.^[20]
5. Gardiner's tenure includes a period from 1 July 1920 to 26 May 1922 in which he was Labor's sole senator, but he was still considered Leader of the Opposition.^{[21][22][23][24]}
6. Pearce was leader of the Nationalist Party in the Senate while it was in Government, and he continued in the role after the party entered Opposition.^[27] He was elected Senate leader of the new United Australia Party when it was created as a merger of the Nationalists, other anti-Labor parties, and some Labor MPs.^[28]
7. Barnes was Labor's Senate leader before it left Government,^[29] and he continued as leader afterwards.^[30]
8. McLeay was the UAP leader in the Senate in Government,^[32] and continued as leader after the UAP–Country coalition fell.^[33]
9. The UAP/Liberals and Country Party did not form a coalition opposition from 1943 to 1949 in the House of Representatives. However, from 1 July 1947 until the parties won government in 1949, the Senate parties formed a combined opposition because the Country senator and two Liberal senators were the only non-Labor members of the upper house. Cooper served as leader, Neil O'Sullivan as deputy, and Annabelle Rankin as whip.
10. Ashley was Leader of the Government in the Senate until the Menzies Government took power.^[35] He continued as Labor's leader in the Senate.^[36]
11. Wriedt was Leader of the Government prior to the Dismissal,^[41] and continued as Labor's leader thereafter.^[42]
12. Resigned from the Senate while leader to seek a seat in the House of Representatives.