In Australian federal politics, the Leader of the Opposition is an elected member of parliament (MP) in the Australian House of Representatives who leads the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition, by convention, is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not in government.
Jacinta Mary Ann Collins is a former Australian politician who served as a Senator for Victoria from 1995 to 2005 and again from 2008 to 2019. She represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was the party's deputy leader in the Senate from June to October 2013. Collins was a parliamentary secretary in the Gillard government and Minister for Mental Health and Ageing in the second Rudd government. She retired from politics prior to the 2019 federal election and accepted an appointment as national executive director of the National Catholic Education Commission on 18 February 2019.
Kathryn Jean Martin Sullivan AM is an Australian former politician. A member of the Liberal Party, she was a Senator for Queensland from 1974 to 1984 and a member of the House of Representatives from 1984 to 2001, holding the seat of Moncrieff. She broke Dorothy Tangney's record for the longest period of service in federal parliament by a woman, which was later surpassed by Bronwyn Bishop. She was the first woman to have served in both houses of parliament.
Joseph William Ludwig is an Australian barrister and retired politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate for the state of Queensland from July 1999 to May 2016, representing the Australian Labor Party. Ludwig served in a range of portfolios in the first Rudd and the second Gillard ministries until his resignation from Cabinet as the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister Assisting the Attorney-General on Queensland Floods Recovery, in 2013.
In the Parliament of Australia, the Leader of the House is the government minister responsible for the management of government business in the House of Representatives, including the order in which the Government's agenda is to be dealt with, tactical matters in reaction to impediments to such management, negotiation with the Opposition's counterpart about the order in which bills are to be debated, and the time allotted for debates. The position is currently held by Tony Burke since June 2022.
Fiona Joy Nash is a former Australian politician. She served as a Senator for New South Wales from 2005 to 2017, representing the National Party. She was the party's deputy leader from 2016 to 2017 and was a cabinet minister in the Turnbull government.
Mitchell Peter Fifield is an Australian politician and diplomat who last served as the Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations. He previously served as a Senator for Victoria from 2004 to 2019, representing the Liberal Party. He was a government minister in the Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments, serving as Assistant Minister for Social Services (2013–2015), Manager of Government Business in the Senate (2013–2015), Minister for Communications (2015–2019), and Minister for the Arts (2015–2019).
Brett John Mason is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was a Liberal/Liberal National of Queensland member of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1999 to 15 April 2015, representing the state of Queensland. Mason was the Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands from September 2015 to August 2018.
Nigel Gregory Scullion is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for the Northern Territory from 2001 to 2019. He was a member of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) and sat with the National Party in federal parliament. He held ministerial office under four prime ministers.
Simon John Birmingham is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since 2007. A member of the Liberal Party, he served in the Morrison government as Minister for Finance from 2020 to 2022 and as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment from 2018 to 2020. He previously served as Minister for Education and Training in the Turnbull government from 2015 to 2018, and as a parliamentary secretary and assistant minister in the Abbott government.
Jacinta Marie Allan is an Australian politician serving as the 49th and current premier of Victoria since 2023. She has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2023 and has been a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Bendigo East since 1999. She previously served as the 29th deputy premier of Victoria from 2022 to 2023. Allan is the longest-serving female minister in Victorian state history and currently the most senior sitting member of the Assembly.
Edward Charles Vardon was an Australian businessman and politician. He served briefly as a Senator for South Australia (1921–1922) and was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly before and after his service in federal parliament.
The Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate is the member of the Australian Official Opposition Shadow Ministry responsible for negotiating with the Manager of Government Business in the Senate regarding proceedings in the Australian Senate. Among other things, the topics of negotiation are the order in which Government bills and other items of business are taken, the time allotted for debate, and the timing of Opposition business.
The Leader of the Government in the Senate is the government's most senior cabinet minister in the Australian Senate and the main government spokesperson in the Senate. His or her Opposition counterpart is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
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 in the body. Though the leader in the Senate does not have the power of the office of Leader of the Opposition, there are some parallels between the latter's status in the lower house and the former's in the Senate. 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, 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. 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 Simon Birmingham. He is assisted by a Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, currently Michaelia Cash.
In the Parliament of Australia, the political parties appoint party whips to ensure party discipline, help manage legislative business and carry out a variety of other functions on behalf of the party leadership. Additional functions of the government party whips is to ensure that a sufficient number of government members and senators are present in the chamber to ensure passage of government legislation and measures and to prevent censure motions succeeding, and to ensure presence of a parliamentary quorum. Their roles in the chamber include tally votes during divisions, and arranging pairs which affects the ability of members and senators to leave parliament during sittings, as well as the entitlement to be absent during divisions.
The Leader of the Liberal Party, also known as Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, is the highest office within the Liberal Party of Australia and the Liberal–National Coalition. The position is currently, and has been since 30 May 2022, held by Peter Dutton, who represents the Division of Dickson in Queensland. Peter Dutton is the fifteenth leader of the Liberal Party. Dutton is also the first leader of the party to represent a Queensland electorate.
