A total of sixteen women have served, or are serving, as the head of an Australian government. Of these, one has served as the prime minister of Australia, eight as the premier of a state and seven as the chief minister of a territory. Twenty women have also served, or are serving, as the deputy head of government in Australian states and territories; one has served as the deputy prime minister of the country, thirteen as the deputy premier of a state, and six as the deputy chief minister of a territory.
The first female head of government in Australia, was Rosemary Follett in 1989, who was the 1st Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory. Carmen Lawrence became the first female premier of a state in 1990, by serving as the 25th Premier of Western Australia. In 2010, Julia Gillard became the first, and to date, only female Prime Minister of Australia.
Today, every Australian state and territory has had at least one female head of government, except for South Australia; the Northern Territory has had the most, with four; the Australian Capital Territory has had three; Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria have each had a second female head of government serving in their respective jurisdiction. The most female heads to serve concurrently was four, during the 315 days between 16 May 2011 and 26 March 2012. Annastacia Palaszczuk, who served as the 39th Premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023, had the longest tenure of any female head of government in Australia. The shortest tenure belongs to Eva Lawler, who served as the 13th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from December 2023 to August 2024.
There are currently two serving female heads of government in Australia: Jacinta Allan (49th Premier of Victoria) who was appointed on 27 September 2023, and Lia Finocchiaro (14th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory) who was appointed on 28 August 2024. In addition, four women currently serve as deputy heads of government in Australia; Yvette Berry (Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory) since 31 October 2016; Susan Close (Deputy Premier of South Australia) since 21 March 2022; Prue Car (Deputy Premier of New South Wales) since 28 March 2023; and Rita Saffioti (Deputy Premier of Western Australia) since 8 June 2023.
Portrait | Title | Name (birth–death) | State or territory | Term start | Term end | Elections | Duration | Party | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chief Minister | Rosemary Follett (b. 1948) | Australian Capital Territory | 11 May 1989 | 5 December 1989 | 1989 1992 1995 | 4 years, 122 days | Labor | [a] | ||
6 June 1991 | 2 March 1995 | |||||||||
![]() | Premier | Carmen Lawrence (b. 1948) | Western Australia | 12 February 1990 | 16 February 1993 | 1993 | 3 years, 4 days | Labor | [b] | |
![]() | Premier | Joan Kirner (1938–2015) | Victoria | 10 August 1990 | 6 October 1992 | 1992 | 2 years, 57 days | Labor | [c] | |
![]() | Chief Minister | Kate Carnell (b. 1955) | Australian Capital Territory | 2 March 1995 | 18 October 2000 | 1995 1998 | 5 years, 230 days | Liberal | [d] | |
![]() | Chief Minister | Clare Martin (b. 1952) | Northern Territory | 18 August 2001 | 26 November 2007 | 2001 2005 | 6 years, 100 days | Labor | [e] | |
![]() | Premier | Anna Bligh (b. 1960) | Queensland | 13 September 2007 | 26 March 2012 | 2009 2012 | 4 years, 195 days | Labor | [f] | |
![]() | Premier | Kristina Keneally (b. 1968) | New South Wales | 4 December 2009 | 28 March 2011 | 2011 | 1 year, 114 days | Labor | [g] | |
![]() | Prime Minister | Julia Gillard (b. 1961) | Australia (Federal) | 24 June 2010 | 27 June 2013 | 2010 | 3 years, 3 days | Labor | [h] | |
![]() | Premier | Lara Giddings (b. 1972) | Tasmania | 24 January 2011 | 31 March 2014 | 2014 | 3 years, 66 days | Labor | [i] | |
![]() | Chief Minister | Katy Gallagher (b. 1970) | Australian Capital Territory | 16 May 2011 | 11 December 2014 | 2012 | 3 years, 209 days | Labor | [j] | |
![]() | Premier | Annastacia Palaszczuk (b. 1969) | Queensland | 14 February 2015 | 15 December 2023 | 2015 2017 2020 | 8 years, 304 days | Labor | [k] | |
![]() | Premier | Gladys Berejiklian (b. 1970) | New South Wales | 23 January 2017 | 5 October 2021 | 2019 | 4 years, 255 days | Liberal | [l] | |
![]() | Chief Minister | Natasha Fyles (b. 1978) | Northern Territory | 13 May 2022 | 21 December 2023 | — | 1 year, 222 days | Labor | [m] | |
![]() | Premier | Jacinta Allan (b. 1973) | Victoria | 27 September 2023 | Incumbent | — | 1 year, 125 days | Labor | [n] | |
![]() | Chief Minister | Eva Lawler | Northern Territory | 21 December 2023 | 28 August 2024 | 2024 | 251 days | Labor | [o] | |
![]() | Chief Minister | Lia Finocchiaro (b. 1984) | Northern Territory | 28 August 2024 | Incumbent | 2024 | 155 days | Country Liberal | [p] | |
Name | State/ territory | Party | Head of government | Term start | Term end | Duration | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joan Kirner | Victoria | Labor | John Cain II | 7 February 1989 | 10 August 1990 | 1 year, 184 days | |
Joan Sheldon | Queensland | Liberal | Rob Borbidge | 19 February 1996 | 26 June 1998 | 2 years, 127 days | |
Sue Napier | Tasmania | Liberal | Tony Rundle | 18 March 1996 | 14 September 1998 | 2 years, 180 days | |
Anna Bligh | Queensland | Labor | Peter Beattie | 28 July 2005 | 13 September 2007 | 2 years, 47 days | |
Katy Gallagher | Australian Capital Territory | Labor | Jon Stanhope | 20 April 2006 | 16 May 2011 | 5 years, 26 days | |
Marion Scrymgour | Northern Territory | Labor | Paul Henderson | 26 November 2007 | 8 February 2009 | 1 year, 74 days | |
Julia Gillard | Australia | Labor | Kevin Rudd | 3 December 2007 | 24 June 2010 | 2 years, 203 days | |
Lara Giddings | Tasmania | Labor | David Bartlett | 26 May 2008 | 24 January 2011 | 2 years, 243 days | |
Carmel Tebbutt | New South Wales | Labor | Nathan Rees Kristina Keneally | 5 September 2008 | 28 March 2011 | 2 years, 204 days | |
Delia Lawrie | Northern Territory | Labor | Paul Henderson | 9 February 2009 | 29 August 2012 | 3 years, 202 days | |
Robyn Lambley | Northern Territory | Country Liberal | Terry Mills | 29 August 2012 | 6 April 2013 | 251 days | |
Jackie Trad | Queensland | Labor | Annastacia Palaszczuk | 14 February 2015 | 10 May 2020 | 5 years, 86 days | |
Liza Harvey | Western Australia | Liberal | Colin Barnett | 16 February 2016 | 17 March 2017 | 1 year, 29 days [24] | |
Nicole Manison | Northern Territory | Labor | Michael Gunner Natasha Fyles | 12 September 2016 | 21 December 2023 | 7 years, 100 days | |
Yvette Berry | Australian Capital Territory | Labor | Andrew Barr | 31 October 2016 | Incumbent | 8 years, 91 days [25] | |
Vickie Chapman | South Australia | Liberal | Steven Marshall | 19 March 2018 | 22 November 2021 | 3 years, 248 days [26] | |
Susan Close | South Australia | Labor | Peter Malinauskas | 21 March 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 315 days [27] | |
Jacinta Allan | Victoria | Labor | Daniel Andrews | 27 June 2022 | 27 September 2023 | 1 year, 92 days [28] | |
Prue Car | New South Wales | Labor | Chris Minns | 28 March 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 308 days | |
Rita Saffioti | Western Australia | Labor | Roger Cook | 8 June 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 236 days |
Portrait | Name (birth–death) | State or territory | Term start | Term end | Elections | Duration | Party | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rosemary Follett (b. 1948) | Australian Capital Territory | 5 December 1989 | 6 June 1991 | 1 year, 183 days | Labor | ||||
![]() | Joan Kirner (1938–2015) | Victoria | 6 October 1992 | 22 March 1993 | 167 days | Labor | |||
![]() | Carmen Lawrence (b. 1948) | Western Australia | 16 February 1993 | 7 February 1994 | 356 days | Labor | [q] | ||
![]() | Kate Carnell (b. 1955) | Australian Capital Territory | 21 April 1993 | 9 March 1995 | 1995 | 1 year, 322 days | Liberal | ||
Rosemary Follett (b. 1948) | Australian Capital Territory | 9 March 1995 | 5 March 1996 | 362 days | Labor | ||||
Maggie Hickey (b. 1946) | Northern Territory | 16 April 1996 | 2 February 1999 | 1997 | 2 years, 292 days | Labor | |||
![]() | Kerry Chikarovski (b. 1956) | New South Wales | 8 December 1998 | 28 March 2002 | 1999 | 3 years, 110 days | Liberal | [r] | |
![]() | Clare Martin (b. 1952) | Northern Territory | 2 February 1999 | 27 August 2001 | 2001 | 2 years, 206 days | Labor | ||
Sue Napier (1948–2010) | Tasmania | 2 July 1999 | 20 August 2001 | 2 years, 49 days | Liberal | [s] | |||
Jodeen Carney (b. 1965) | Northern Territory | 18 June 2005 | 29 January 2008 | 2 years, 225 days | Country Liberal | [t] | |||
![]() | Isobel Redmond (b. 1953) | South Australia | 8 July 2009 | 31 January 2013 | 2010 | 3 years, 207 days | Liberal | ||
![]() | Annastacia Palaszczuk (b. 1969) | Queensland | 28 March 2012 | 14 February 2015 | 2015 | 2 years, 323 days | Labor | ||
![]() | Delia Lawrie (b. 1966) | Northern Territory | 29 August 2012 | 20 April 2015 | 2 years, 234 days | Labor | [u] | ||
![]() | Rebecca White (b. 1983) | Tasmania | 17 March 2017 | 15 May 2021 | 2018 2021 | 4 years, 59 days | Labor | [v] | |
7 July 2021 | 10 April 2024 | 2024 | 2 years, 278 days | ||||||
![]() | Deb Frecklington (b. 1971) | Queensland | 12 December 2017 | 12 November 2020 | 2020 | 2 years, 336 days | Liberal National | [w] | |
Liza Harvey (b. 1966) | Western Australia | 13 June 2019 | 24 November 2020 | 1 year, 194 days | Liberal | ||||
Jodi McKay (b. 1969) | New South Wales | 29 June 2019 | 28 May 2021 | 1 year, 333 days | Labor | ||||
![]() | Lia Finocchiaro (b. 1984) | Northern Territory | 1 February 2020 | 28 August 2024 | 2024 | 4 years, 364 days | Country Liberal | ||
![]() | Elizabeth Lee (b. 1979) | Australian Capital Territory | 27 October 2020 | Incumbent | 4 years, 95 days | Liberal | |||
![]() | Mia Davies (b. 1978) | Western Australia | 14 April 2021 | 30 January 2023 | 1 year, 291 days | National |
Red represents members of the Australian Labor Party, blue represents members of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Red represents members of the Australian Labor Party, blue represents members of the Liberal Party of Australia and orange represents the Country Liberal Party.
The premiers and chief ministers of the Australian states and territories are the heads of the executive governments in the six states and two self-governing territories of Australia. They perform the same function at the state and territory level as the Prime Minister of Australia performs at the national level. The King of Australia and the state governors are the formal repositories of executive power; however, in practice they act only on the advice of state premiers and ministers except in extreme circumstances, such as a constitutional crisis.
One of the six founding states of Australia, Queensland has been a federated state subject to the Australian Constitution since 1 January 1901. It is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The constitution of Queensland sets out the operation of the state's government. The state's constitution contains several entrenched provisions which cannot be changed in the absence of a referendum. There is also a statutory bill of rights, the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019. Queensland's system of government is influenced by the Westminster system and Australia's federal system of government.
Government in Australia is elected by universal suffrage and Australian women participate in all levels of the government of the nation. In 1902, the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia became the first nation on earth to enact equal suffrage, enabling women to both vote and stand for election alongside men Women have been represented in Australian state parliaments since 1921, and in the Federal Parliament since 1943. The first female leader of an Australian State or Territory was elected in 1989, and the first female Prime Minister took office in 2010. In 2019 for the first time, a majority of members of the Australian Senate were women. At the time of its foundation in 1901, and again from 1952 to 2022, Australia has had a female monarch as ceremonial Head of State, while the first female Governor of an Australian State was appointed in 1991, and the first female Governor-General of Australia took office in 2008.
Annastacia Palaszczuk is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 until her resignation, and has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (MLA) for the division of Inala since 2006. Palaszczuk is the fifth-most-tenured premier in Queensland state history and the first woman to win the premiership from opposition, she also presided over the first majority female cabinet in Australian state and federal history.
Jo-Ann Roslyn Miller is an Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland between February 2000 and February 2020, representing the electorate of Bundamba.
Mark Lionel Furner is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of Australian Senate from 2008 to 2014, representing the state of Queensland. Since the 2015 Queensland state election, he has represented Ferny Grove in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Stirling James Hinchliffe is an Australian politician.
Heinrich Palaszczuk is a former Labor member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, and minister of the Beattie Government of Queensland. He was elected as the member for Archerfield in 1984, and held that seat until his election as the member for Inala in 1992. Palaszczuk retired from politics in 2006, and was succeeded in his seat of Inala by his daughter Annastacia Palaszczuk, who was the Premier of Queensland from 2015 until her resignation in December 2023.
Dianne Elizabeth Farmer is an Australian politician. She was previously the Minister for Education and Minister for Youth Justice of Queensland. She was first elected for the seat of Bulimba to the Queensland State Parliament for the Labor Party at the 2009 Queensland election but lost her seat at the 2012 election to Aaron Dillaway of the Liberal National Party. Farmer defeated Dillaway at the 2015 election to regain Bulimba for Labor and was re-elected in 2017 and 2020.
There have been 97 women in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland since its establishment in 1860. Women have had the right to vote in the Assembly since 1905 and the right to stand as candidates since 1915.
The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland.
The 2017 Queensland state election was held on 25 November 2017 to elect all 93 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the unicameral Parliament of Queensland.
Steven John Miles is an Australian politician who was the 40th premier of Queensland, in office for 10 months from 2023 to 2024. He is the state leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and previously served as deputy premier from 2020 to 2023.
Nikki Anne Boyd is an Australian politician. She has been the Australian Labor Party member for Pine Rivers in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015.
Mark Craig Bailey is an Australian politician who has been the Labor member for Miller in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015. Bailey most recently served as the Minister for Transport and Main Roads of Queensland until 17 December 2023. He has also worked in gambling, liquor and racing policy for the Queensland state government.
The First Palaszczuk Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland led by Annastacia Palaszczuk. Palaszczuk led the Labor Party to victory in the 2015 state election, forming a minority government with the support of independent MP Peter Wellington. Her interim ministry was sworn in on 14 February 2015 by Governor Paul de Jersey. The full Palaszczuk Ministry was sworn in two days later. Several changes were made to the ministry on 8 December 2015, with 3 cabinet positions and one assistant ministry added.
The 2020 Queensland state election was held on 31 October to elect all 93 members to the 57th Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The Labor Party was returned to government for a third-term, led by incumbent premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. With 47 seats needed to form a majority government, Labor won 52 seats, including all but five in Brisbane, while the Liberal National Party won 34 seats and formed opposition. On the crossbench, Katter's Australian Party retained its 3 seats, the Queensland Greens picked up South Brisbane for a total of 2, Pauline Hanson's One Nation retained Mirani and independent Sandy Bolton retained her seat of Noosa.
The Second Palaszczuk Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland led by Annastacia Palaszczuk. Palaszczuk led the Labor Party to a majority victory in the 2017 state election.
A by-election for the electoral district of Inala in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland was held on 16 March 2024 following the resignation of former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk from parliament, which was announced on 10 December 2023 and took effect on 31 December 2023. The by-election was held on the same day as the Ipswich West by-election and the statewide local government elections.
The 2023 Queensland Labor Party leadership election was held on 15 December 2023 to elect a new leader of the Queensland Labor Party and ex officio, Premier of Queensland, following the resignation of Annastacia Palaszczuk as both premier and MP for Inala. Steven Miles was appointed leader unopposed, while Cameron Dick was appointed deputy leader unopposed.