This is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia by age, including when they were born, what age they were when they were appointed prime minister, what age were they when they left the office and the age at which they died, or their current age as of 1 August 2019 if they are still alive. The table can be sorted by each different category.
The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of State, the leader of the Federal Cabinet. The Prime Minister also has the responsibility of administering the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and is the chair of the National Security Committee and the Council of Australian Governments. The office of Prime Minister is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia but exists through Westminster political convention. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia and at the Governor-General's pleasure subject to the Constitution of Australia and constitutional conventions.
The date of appointment as prime minister is the date on which they were sworn in by the Governor-General for their first term. The day on which they departed office is the final day of their final term. This is either the day a new prime minister was appointed or their date of death if they died whilst in office.
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative of the Australian monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. As the Queen is concurrently the monarch of 15 other Commonwealth realms, and resides in the United Kingdom, she, on the advice of her prime minister, appoints a governor-general to carry out constitutional duties within the Commonwealth of Australia. The governor-general has formal presidency over the Federal Executive Council and is commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force. The functions of the governor-general include appointing ministers, judges, and ambassadors; giving royal assent to legislation passed by parliament; issuing writs for election; and bestowing Australian honours.
Overview
The median age of a Prime Minister on the first day of their first term is 52 years, and 353 days which falls between Joseph Cook and Billy Hughes. The youngest person to assume the office was Chris Watson (age 37 years, 18 days). The oldest person to assume office was John McEwen (age 67 years, 265 days).
The median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample. For a data set, it may be thought of as the "middle" value. For example, in the data set {1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9}, the median is 6, the fourth largest, and also the fourth smallest, number in the sample. For a continuous probability distribution, the median is the value such that a number is equally likely to fall above or below it.
Sir Joseph Cook, was an Australian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1913 to 1914. He was the leader of the Commonwealth Liberal Party from 1913 to 1917, after earlier serving as the leader of the Anti-Socialist Party from 1908 to 1909.
William Morris Hughes, was an Australian politician who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but his influence on national politics spanned several decades. Hughes was a member of federal parliament from Federation in 1901 until his death, the only person to have served for more than 50 years. He represented six political parties during his career, leading five, outlasting four, and being expelled from three.
The oldest living former Prime Minister is John Howard, born 26 July 1939 (age 80years, 6days). The youngest living former Prime Minister is Julia Gillard, born 29 September 1961, (age 57years, 306days). The youngest living Prime Minister is the incumbent Scott Morrison, born 13 May 1968, (age 51years, 80days).
John Winston Howard, is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister, behind only Sir Robert Menzies, who was in office for over 18 years. He is also the oldest living former Australian Prime Minister, as of 16 May 2019. Howard was leader of the Liberal Party from 1985 to 1989 and from 1995 to 2007.
Julia Eileen GillardAC is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 2010 to 2013. She was previously the 13th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 until 2010 and held the cabinet positions of Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion from 2007 to 2010. She was the first and to date only woman to hold the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister and leader of a major party in Australia.
Scott John Morrison is an Australian politician who has been Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Liberal Party since August 2018. He previously served in the Cabinet from 2013 to 2018, including as Treasurer of Australia. Morrison was first elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cook in 2007. Ideologically, he identifies himself as a pragmatic conservative.
The longest-lived Prime Minister was Gough Whitlam who died on 21 October 2014 at the age of 98. Frank Forde was the second longest-lived Prime Minister, at the age of 92 years, 194 days. Whitlam surpassed Forde's lifespan on 21 January 2009. The shortest-lived Prime Minister was Harold Holt, at the age of 59 years, 134 days (See footnote below explaining his disappearance).
Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He won the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.
Francis Michael Forde was an Australian politician who served as Prime Minister of Australia from 6 to 13 July 1945. He held office after the death of John Curtin, and is the shortest-serving prime minister in Australia's history.
Harold Edward Holt,, was an Australian politician who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1966 until his presumed drowning death in 1967. He was the leader of the Liberal Party during that time.
The Prime Minister with the longest retirement is Gough Whitlam. He left office on 11 November 1975, and died 38 years, and 344 days later on 21 October 2014. The prime minister with the shortest retirement is Ben Chifley, who died on 13 June 1951, 1 year and 176 days after leaving office on 19 December 1949.
Joseph Benedict Chifley was an Australian politician who served as the 16th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1945 to 1949. He was leader of the Labor Party from 1945 until his death.
Not all prime ministers live to become the oldest of their time. Of the 23 deceased prime ministers, 12 eventually became the oldest of their time, while 11 did not (including all 3 prime ministers who died in office, and 8 others). Joseph Cook became the oldest living prime minister when Edmund Barton died in 1920 and remained so until his death in 1947, for a record 27 years and 204 days. James Scullin became the oldest living prime minister after the death of Billy Hughes, but he survived Hughes by only 92 days.
On one occasion the oldest living prime minister lost this distinction not by his death, but due to the appointment of a prime minister who was older. Edmund Barton lost this distinction when George Reid was appointed, but when Reid died in 1918, Barton regained it again until his own death in 1920 for a total period of 4 years and 347 days.
Gough Whitlam was the oldest to acquire this distinction at the age of 85 years, and 312 days. Malcolm Fraser, who was 84 years, and 303 days old when he died, on 20 March 2015 was the oldest and most recent prime minister to die without ever acquiring this distinction.
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