Father of the Australian House of Representatives

Last updated March 31, 2019

In Australian parliamentary practice, the Father of the House of Representatives is the member of the Australian House of Representatives who has served longer, continuously, than any other currently serving member. It is an informal, honorific title which carries no parliamentary responsibilities. Where two or more members have had equal lengths of continuous service, more than any other currently serving members, they are known as the joint Fathers of the House of Representatives.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

The current Father of the House is Kevin Andrews, who acquired the title on 10 May 2016 after the retirement from Parliament of the then Father, Philip Ruddock.

Kevin James Andrews is an Australian politician and member of the Liberal Party of Australia. He is currently a backbench Member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Menzies, to which he was first elected at the 1991 by-election. Andrews is a conservative and a Catholic.

Philip Maxwell Ruddock is an Australian politician who is currently mayor of Hornsby Shire. He previously was a Liberal member of the House of Representatives from 1973 to 2016. First elected in a 1973 by-election, by the time of his retirement he was the last parliamentary survivor of the Whitlam and Fraser Governments. He was both the Father of the House and the Father of the Parliament from 1998 to his retirement. He is the second longest-serving parliamentarian in the history of the Australian Parliament. Ruddock served continuously in federal cabinet during the Howard Government, as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs from 1996 to 2003, and then Attorney-General from 2003 to 2007. He is also the Vice Chair of the Global Panel Foundation Australasia - with Sir Donald Charles McKinnon as Chair.

The only Father of the House of Representatives with broken service but whose latter period of continuous service was sufficiently long to qualify was Eddie Ward.

Edward John Ward, Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1931 until his death, excepting a short six-and-a-half week break from December 1931 to February 1932.

The first House of Representatives was elected in March 1901. The election was held on Friday 29 March in South Australia and Tasmania, and on Saturday 30 March in the other states. Despite that slight variation in the election date, all the members elected to the first Parliament were considered to have had equal seniority. It follows that there could not be a "longest-serving member" until only one member from the first Parliament was still in the House. That occurred on 8 April 1935 with the death of David Watkins, leaving Billy Hughes as the first Father of the House of Representatives. Hughes was also the first Father of the Parliament from 1938.

South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres (379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and fifth largest by population. It has a total of 1.7 million people, and its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second largest centre, has a population of 28,684.

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 km (150 mi) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state has a population of around 526,700 as of March 2018. Just over forty percent of the population resides in the Greater Hobart precinct, which forms the metropolitan area of the state capital and largest city, Hobart.

Since that date the Fathers and joint Fathers of the House of Representatives have been as follows, with joint Fathers being shown in small type:

From	To	Member	Continuous term started	Status
9 April 1935	28 October 1952	Billy Hughes	30 March 1901	Father
29 October 1952	9 December 1961	Sir Earle Page	13 December 1919	Father
10 December 1961	31 July 1963	Eddie Ward	6 February 1932 ^[1]	Father
1 August 1963	16 February 1966	Joseph Clark John McEwen Sir Robert Menzies	15 September 1934	Joint Fathers
17 February 1966	29 September 1969	Joseph Clark John McEwen	15 September 1934	Joint Fathers
30 September 1969	1 February 1971	John McEwen	15 September 1934	Father
2 February 1971	2 November 1972	Arthur Calwell	21 September 1940	Father
3 November 1972	11 November 1975	Fred Daly	21 August 1943	Father
12 November 1975	10 November 1977	Kim Beazley (senior)	18 August 1945	Father
11 November 1977	19 September 1980	Clyde Cameron Sir William McMahon	10 December 1949	Joint Fathers
20 September 1980	4 January 1982	Sir William McMahon	10 December 1949	Father
5 January 1982	31 March 1983	Malcolm Fraser Sir James Killen Sir Billy Snedden	10 December 1955	Joint Fathers
1 April 1983	21 April 1983	Sir James Killen Sir Billy Snedden	10 December 1955	Joint Fathers
22 April 1983	15 August 1983	Sir James Killen	10 December 1955	Father
16 August 1983	18 January 1984	Doug Anthony	14 September 1957	Father
19 January 1984	19 February 1990	Tom Uren	22 November 1958	Father
20 February 1990	31 August 1998	Ian Sinclair	30 November 1963	Father
1 September 1998	9 May 2016	Philip Ruddock	22 September 1973	Father
10 May 2016	Incumbent	Kevin Andrews	11 May 1991	Father

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References

↑ Eddie Ward also served between 7 March 1931 and 19 December 1931.

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[1] Eddie Ward also served between 7 March 1931 and 19 December 1931.

Father of the Australian House of Representatives

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