The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. premier leads the executive branch of the Government of Western Australia and is accountable to the Parliament of Western Australia. The premier is appointed by the governor of Western Australia. By convention, the governor appoints as premier whoever has the support of the majority of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. In practice, this means that the premier is the leader of the political party or group of parties with a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. Since Western Australia achieved self-governance in 1890, there have been 31 premiers. Mark McGowan is the current premier, having been appointed to the position on 17 March 2017.
Stephen Francis Smith is a former Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2013. He served as a minister in the Rudd and Gillard Governments, including as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2007–2010), Minister for Trade (2010), and Minister for Defence (2010–2013).
Colin James Barnett is a former Australian politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other portfolios in Western Australia's Court–Cowan Ministry.
Eric Stephen Ripper is a retired Australian politician. From 2008 to 2012 he was Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Labor Party in Western Australia.
Michelle Hopkins Roberts is an Australian politician currently serving as Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. She has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly since 1994. She served as a minister in the governments of Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter between 2001 and 2008. In November 2015, Roberts became the longest-serving female parliamentarian in Western Australia's history, breaking the record set by Liz Constable. She was a high school teacher, civil servant and local government councillor before entering politics.
Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan is an Australian politician. Since 1988, she has served in politics at a federal, state, and local level, including as a minister in the Western Australian state governments of Geoff Gallop, Alan Carpenter, and Mark McGowan. She is best known for her role as the minister for planning and infrastructure during the construction of the Mandurah line. Born in Melbourne, she moved to Perth to study at the University of Western Australia, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and later with a law degree. She worked for the Department of Employment before practising as a lawyer between 1986 and 1992. During this time, she served on the Perth City Council as well. In 1976, she joined the Australian Labor Party, and at the 1993 Western Australian state election, she was elected to the Legislative Council's East Metropolitan Region. She became a shadow minister in October 1994, and she was transferred to the Legislative Assembly at the 1996 state election, winning the seat of Armadale.
Mark McGowan is an Australian politician, currently serving as the 30th premier of Western Australia since March 2017, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party since January 2012.
Suzanne Mary Ellery is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia since 2001, representing South Metropolitan Region. She is the current Minister for Education and Training in the McGowan government, having previously served as a minister in the government of Alan Carpenter from 2007 to 2008.
Catherine Esther Doust is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia since 2001, representing South Metropolitan Region. She was President of the Legislative Council from 2017 to 2021, the first woman to hold the position.
Francis Michael Logan is a former politician in Western Australia, who was the Minister for Emergency Services and Corrective Services in the McGowan Labor Government from 2017 to 2021,.
Roger Hugh Cook is an Australian politician who is the current Deputy Premier of Western Australia, under Mark McGowan. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia since 2008, representing the seat of Kwinana. He was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party ten days after first being elected to parliament, and continues to hold the position. Before entering politics, Cook worked as a public relations consultant. He had earlier been involved in student politics, serving as the first president of the National Union of Students.
Mia Jane Davies is an Australian politician who is the current Leader of the Opposition and leader of the National Party in Western Australia. She has been a member of the state Legislative Assembly since 2013, having previously served in the Legislative Council from 2009 to 2013. Davies was elected deputy leader of the Nationals in November 2013, and replaced Brendon Grylls as leader in March 2017 following his defeat at the 2017 state election. As a result of the Liberal Party's electoral wipeout at the 2021 state election, she became leader of the opposition after Premier Mark McGowan gave her party the official opposition party funding, the first member of her party to hold the role since Arthur Watts in 1947.
The 2017 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 11 March 2017 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, including all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council. The eight-and-a-half-year two-term incumbent Liberal–WA National government, led by Premier Colin Barnett, was defeated in a landslide by the Labor opposition, led by Opposition Leader Mark McGowan.
Alanna Therese Clohesy is an Australian politician who is the 19th and current President of the Western Australian Legislative Council. She was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council as a Labor Party member for the East Metropolitan region at the 2013 state election. Immediately following her election to the Council, Clohesy was appointed Deputy Chair of Committees. In 2017, she became Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Premier and Minister for Health and Mental Health, Roger Cook, in the First McGowan Ministry, before being elected to the Presidency in 2021. Prior to entering Parliament, Clohesy had an extensive career in social policy, service delivery and advocacy, culminating in her appointment as Deputy Director of People with Disability Australia.
Amber-Jade Sanderson is an Australian Labor Party politician who is the member for Morley in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Western Australia. Since 21 December 2021, she has been Minister for Health and Minister for Mental health. From 19 March 2021 to 21 December 2021, she was Minister for Environment, Minister for Climate Action and Minister for Commerce. She rose to prominence when she chaired the Joint Select Committee on End of Life Choices. From 22 May 2013 to 5 February 2017, she was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, for the East Metropolitan Region.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Western Australia have seen significant progress since the beginning of the 21st century, with male sex acts legal since 1990 and the state parliament passing comprehensive law reforms in 2002. The state decriminalised male homosexual acts in 1990 and was the first to grant full adoption rights to LGBT couples in 2002.
Reece Raymond Whitby is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since the 2017 state election, representing Baldivis. Shortly after the 2017 election, Whitby was appointed by Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer and Minister for Energy and Finance, and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Environment and Disability Services. Whitby was successfully re-elected to the seat of Baldivis in the 2021 state election, and he was appointed to the Second McGowan Ministry, becoming the Minister of Emergency Services; Racing and Gaming, Small Business and Volunteering.
Zak Richard Francis Kirkup is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Liberal Party, and served as a member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Dawesville from 2017 to 2021.
The 2021 Western Australian state election was conducted on Saturday 13 March 2021 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, where all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election.
Patrick Possum Gorman is an Australian politician, elected as an Australian Labor Party representative to the Division of Perth at the 2018 Perth by-election.
