Minister for Education (Western Australia)


The Minister for Education and Training is the member of the Government of Western Australia responsible for maintenance and improvement of Western Australia's system of education, and is answerable to the Parliament for all actions taken by the Department of Education under their authority. The holder of the office is usually an elected member of parliament from the ruling party or coalition, presently Sue Ellery of the Labor Party.
Until the Daglish Ministry in 1904, when the role was separately established, the responsibility for Education generally lay with the Colonial Secretary.

Ministers for Education and Training of Western Australia

MinisterPartyAssumed officeLeft officeTermTitleNotes
George Shenton29 December 189011 October 1892Colonial Secretarynote 1
Stephen Henry Parker11 October 18924 December 1894Colonial Secretary
Sir John Forrest4 December 189419 December 1894Colonial Secretary
Edward Wittenoom19 December 189412 May 1897Colonial Secretary
Henry Lefroy12 May 189728 April 1898Colonial Secretary
George Randell28 April 189827 May 1901Colonial Secretary
Frederick IllingworthOpposition27 May 190121 November 1901Colonial Secretarynote 1
Matthew MossMinisterialist21 November 190123 December 1901Colonial Secretarynote 1
Frederick IllingworthOpposition23 December 19011 July 1902Colonial Secretarynote 1
Walter KingsmillOpposition1 July 190210 August 1904Colonial Secretary
Henry DaglishLabor10 August 19047 June 1905
Thomas BathLabor7 June 190525 August 1905
Walter KingsmillMinisterialist25 August 19057 May 1906
Frank WilsonMinisterialist7 May 190630 June 1909
John NansonMinisterialist30 June 19097 October 1911
Thomas WalkerLabor7 October 191127 July 1916
Hal ColebatchLiberal /
Nationalist		27 July 191617 June 1923
John EwingNationalist18 June 192315 April 1924
John DrewLabor16 April 192424 April 1930
Norbert KeenanNationalist24 April 193019 September 1931
Thomas DavyNationalist19 September 193118 February 1933
Hubert ParkerNationalist24 February 193324 April 1933
John WillcockLabor24 April 193326 March 1935
Harry MillingtonLabor26 March 193513 May 1936
Frank WiseLabor13 May 193618 April 1939
William KitsonLabor18 April 19399 December 1943
John TonkinLabor9 December 19431 April 1947
Arthur WattsCountry1 April 194723 February 1953
John TonkinLabor23 February 195313 May 1954
Bill HegneyLabor13 May 19542 April 1959
Arthur WattsCountry2 April 19591 February 1962
Edgar LewisCountry1 February 19623 March 1971
John TonkinLabor3 March 197112 October 1971
Tom EvansLabor12 October 197130 May 1973
Jerry DolanLabor30 May 19738 April 1974
Graham MacKinnonLiberal8 April 197410 March 1977
Peter JonesNational 10 March 19775 March 1980
Bill GraydenLiberal5 March 198025 January 1982
Andrew MensarosLiberal25 January 198225 February 1983
Bob PearceLabor25 February 198325 February 1988
Dr Carmen LawrenceLabor25 February 198812 February 1990
Dr Geoff GallopLabor12 February 19905 February 1991
Kay HallahanLabor5 February 199116 February 1993
Norman MooreLiberal16 February 199321 December 1995
Colin BarnettLiberal21 December 199516 February 2001
Alan CarpenterLabor16 February 200110 March 2005Minister for Education and Trainingnote 2
Ljiljanna RavlichLabor10 March 200513 December 2006Minister for Education and Training
Mark McGowanLabor13 December 200623 September 2008Minister for Education and Training
Liz ConstableIndependent23 September 200829 June 2012-
Peter CollierLiberal29 June 201217 March 2017
Sue ElleryLabor17 March 2017presentMinister for Education and Training