Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia


The Leader of the Liberal Party is the highest office within the Liberal Party of Australia and the Liberal–National Coalition. The position is currently held by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and has been since 24 August 2018, whom represents the Division of Cook in New South Wales. Scott Morrison is the fourteenth leader of the Liberal Party.
The current Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party is Member for Kooyong and Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Frydenberg was elected under the same circumstances as Scott Morrison after the 2018 leadership spills.

History

The Liberal Party leadership was first held by former United Australia Party leader and eventual co–founder Robert Menzies, along with eighteen political organisations and groups.
Scott Morrison is the current leader and was elected to be Leader and Prime Minister, first in a leadership spill, and second, in an upset federal election victory on the 18th of May 2019.
Following the oustings of two Liberal Prime Ministers in 3 years, Scott Morrison introduced a new threshold to trigger a Liberal Party leadership change in government, requiring two-thirds of the partyroom vote to trigger a spill motion. The change was introduced at an hour long party room meeting on the evening of 3 December 2018. Morrison said the changes, which were drafted with feedback from former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, would only apply to leaders who lead the party to victory at a federal election.

Role

Since the days of Menzies, the Liberal Party has either been in government with a coalition or in opposition to the Labor. Thus, the leader of the Liberal Party can often be the Prime Minister of Australia or Leader of the Opposition. Furthermore, the leader picks the Cabinet and is also the leader of the Coalition. The Liberal Party has never had a leader of the party from the Senate.

Leaders of the Liberal Party

A list of leaders since 1945.

Living former party leaders

There are seven living former party leaders, all of whom were elected, and four who were Prime Minister. From oldest to youngest:
LeaderTerm of officeDate of birth
Andrew Peacock1983–1985; 1989–1990
John Howard1985–1989; 1995–2007
John Hewson1990–1994
Alexander Downer1994–1995
Malcolm Turnbull2008–2009; 2015–2018
Tony Abbott2009–2015
Brendan Nelson2007–2008