Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory


The Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory is the head of government of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of the party with the largest representation of seats in the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly usually takes on the role. Unlike other states and territories, the Chief Minister of the ACT is not nominally appointed by an administrator or viceroy, but elected directly by the Assembly. Since there are no local governments in the territory, the Chief Minister's role is not only roughly equivalent to that of the Premiers of the states of Australia, but also that of the mayor of a local council.
The current Chief Minister is Andrew Barr of the Labor Party, who was elected by the Assembly on 11 December 2014 following the resignation of Katy Gallagher.

List of Chief Ministers

#NamePartyTerm StartTerm EndTimespan
1Rosemary FollettLabor11 May 19895 December 19891
2Trevor KaineLiberal5 December 19896 June 19912
Rosemary FollettLabor6 June 19912 March 1995
3Kate CarnellLiberal2 March 199518 October 20003
4Gary HumphriesLiberal18 October 20005 November 2001
5Jon StanhopeLabor5 November 200112 May 20114
6Katy GallagherLabor16 May 201111 December 20145
7Andrew BarrLabor11 December 2014Incumbent

1 Lost a no confidence vote in the Assembly originating from allegations made on a television program that the Follett led Labor Government had
sought to secure by persuasion the vote of David Prowse, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, for the Business Franchise Bill.
2 Lost a no confidence vote in the Assembly following unpopular decisions to close schools, close the Royal Canberra Hospital and amend planning laws that led to the collapse of the Kaine led Liberal Alliance Government with Residents Rally.
3 Resigned when faced with a no confidence vote due to the high costs of the Bruce Stadium renovations; and was replaced by Gary Humphries without the motion being put to the Assembly.
4 Resigned on 12 May 2011 for personal reasons; was replaced by his deputy Katy Gallagher on 16 May 2011 by vote of the Assembly.
5 Resigned on 11 December 2014 to contest the ACT Senate position vacated by Kate Lundy; was replaced by her deputy Andrew Barr.

Living former Chief Ministers

As of August 2017, all former Chief Ministers are living with the exception of Trevor Kaine who died on 3 June 2008.

Graphical timeline


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from: 11/05/1989 till: 05/12/1989 color:ALP text:"Follett" fontsize:10
from: 05/12/1989 till: 06/06/1991 color:LIB text:"Kaine" fontsize:10
from: 06/06/1991 till: 02/03/1995 color:ALP text:"Follett II" fontsize:10
from: 02/03/1995 till: 18/10/2000 color:LIB text:"Carnell" fontsize:10
from: 18/10/2000 till: 05/11/2001 color:LIB text:"Humphries" fontsize:10
from: 05/11/2001 till: 12/05/2011 color:ALP text:"Stanhope" fontsize:10
from: 12/05/2011 till: 11/12/2014 color:ALP text:"Gallagher" fontsize:10
from: 11/12/2014 till: end color:ALP text:"Barr" fontsize:10