List Of Whips In The Australian Senate
Whips have managed business and maintained party discipline for Australia's federal political parties in the Senate since Federation.
The term has origins in the British parliamentary system.
Though the Remuneration Tribunal and parliamentary website refer to the senior Labor and Liberal whips as "chief" whips and their junior whips as "deputy whips", the parties tend to refer to the senior whips as "whips" when announcing their officeholders to the Senate. A number of Senate whips have gone on to serve as ministers, and several as Leader of the Government or Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
Australian Labor Party
In addition to those below, Kay Denman served as a deputy whip from 18 September to 31 December 1995, a period when one of Labor's two whips was on leave of absence while conducting parliamentary business overseas.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| James Stewart | 21 May 1901 | Chris Watson |
| David O'Keefe | 29 April 1904 | |
| Hugh de Largie | 20 February 1907 | |
| Andrew Fisher | ||
| Rudolph Ready | 18 September 1914 | |
| Billy Hughes | ||
| Frank Tudor | ||
| Ted Needham | 8 May 1917 | |
| Vacant | 1 July 1920 | |
| Matthew Charlton | ||
| Ted Needham | 6 July 1923 | |
| Charles McHugh | 9 July 1926 | |
| Charles Graham | 28 September 1927 | |
| James Scullin | ||
| James Dunn | 14 August 1929 | |
| Bert Hoare | 18 March 1931 | |
| John V. MacDonald | 1 July 1935 | |
| John Curtin | ||
| Bill Ashley | 20 September 1938 | |
| Robert Clothier | 6 October 1941 | |
| Ben Chifley | ||
| Jack Critchley | 13 June 1950 | |
| H. V. Evatt | ||
| Sid O'Flaherty | 4 September 1957 | |
| Arthur Calwell |
| Whip | Date | Deputy Whip | Date | Deputy Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin O'Byrne | 20 February 1962 | Bob Poke | 20 February 1962 | Arthur Calwell | ||
| Gough Whitlam | ||||||
| George Poyser | 18 December 1972 | |||||
| George Poyser | 10 June 1974 | Don Devitt | 10 June 1974 | |||
| George Georges | 27 January 1976 | Gordon McIntosh | 27 January 1976 | |||
| Bill Hayden | ||||||
| Ted Robertson | 24 November 1980 | Kerry Sibraa | 24 November 1980 | |||
| Gordon McIntosh | 10 March 1983 | Bob Hawke | ||||
| Gerry Jones | 22 August 1985 | |||||
| Gerry Jones | 14 September 1987 | Graham Maguire | 14 September 1987 | Jim McKiernan | 14 September 1987 | |
| Dominic Foreman | 4 November 1988 | |||||
| John Faulkner | 12 February 1991 | |||||
| Paul Keating | ||||||
| Bryant Burns | 4 May 1993 | |||||
| Chris Evans | 20 March 1996 | Stephen Conroy | 30 April 1996 | Kim Beazley | ||
| Kay Denman | 24 September 1997 | |||||
| Kerry O'Brien | 19 October 1998 | John Quirke | 19 October 1998 | |||
| Joe Ludwig | 17 August 2000 | |||||
| Susan Mackay | 22 November 2001 | Trish Crossin | 22 November 2001 | Geoff Buckland | 22 November 2001 | Simon Crean |
| Mark Latham | ||||||
| George Campbell | 22 October 2004 | Ruth Webber | 22 October 2004 | |||
| Kim Beazley | ||||||
| Linda Kirk | 1 July 2005 | |||||
| Kevin Rudd | ||||||
| Kerry O'Brien | 3 December 2007 | Dana Wortley | 3 December 2007 | |||
| Anne McEwen | 1 July 2008 | Don Farrell | 1 July 2008 | |||
| Julia Gillard | ||||||
| Anne McEwen | 27 September 2010 | Carol Brown | 27 September 2010 | Helen Polley | 27 September 2010 | |
| Kevin Rudd | ||||||
| Catryna Bilyk | 18 October 2013 | Anne Urquhart | 18 October 2013 | Bill Shorten | ||
| Anne Urquhart | 30 August 2016 | Jenny McAllister | 30 August 2016 | |||
| Sam Dastyari | 3 February 2017 | |||||
| Chris Ketter | 5 December 2017 | |||||
| Anne Urquhart | 31 May 2022 | |||||
| Raff Ciccone | 31 May 2022 | |||||
| Louise Pratt | 31 May 2022 | Anthony Albanese | ||||
- Notes
Coalition
Liberal Party of Australia
| Whip | Date | Deputy Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unclear | 21 February 1945 | Robert Menzies | ||
| Annabelle Rankin | 1 July 1947 | |||
| Reg Wright | 21 February 1950 | |||
| Annabelle Rankin | 11 June 1951 | |||
| Malcolm Scott | 8 March 1966 | Harold Holt | ||
| Bob Cotton | 12 March 1968 | John Gorton | ||
| Reg Withers | 25 November 1969 | William McMahon | ||
| Harold Young | 16 August 1971 | |||
| Billy Snedden | ||||
| Fred Chaney | 20 November 1974 | |||
| Fred Chaney | 8 April 1975 | Kathy Martin | 8 April 1975 | Malcolm Fraser |
| Peter Baume | 11 October 1977 | |||
| Peter Baume | 28 February 1978 | John Knight | 1 March 1978 | |
| John Knight | 25 November 1980 | Allan Rocher | 25 November 1980 | |
| Bernie Kilgariff | 24 February 1981 | |||
| Bernie Kilgariff | 24 March 1981 | Andrew Thomas | 24 March 1981 | |
| Margaret Reid | 18 November 1982 | |||
| Andrew Peacock | ||||
| John Howard | ||||
| Margaret Reid | 14 September 1987 | Sue Knowles | 14 September 1987 | |
| Andrew Peacock | ||||
| John Hewson | ||||
| John Panizza | 4 May 1993 | |||
| Alexander Downer | ||||
| John Howard | ||||
| John Panizza | 9 May 1995 | Paul Calvert | 9 May 1995 | |
| Paul Calvert | 11 February 1997 | Bill Heffernan | 11 February 1997 | |
| Helen Coonan | 10 November 1998 | |||
| Jeannie Ferris | 23 November 2001 | |||
| Jeannie Ferris | 22 August 2002 | Alan Eggleston | 22 August 2002 | |
| Stephen Parry | 11 September 2006 | |||
| Stephen Parry | 12 April 2007 | Julian McGauran | 8 May 2007 | |
| Judith Adams | 3 December 2007 | Brendan Nelson | ||
| Malcolm Turnbull | ||||
| Whip | Date | Deputy Whip | Date | Deputy Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Parry | 12 April 2007 | Judith Adams | 3 December 2007 | David Bushby | 4 February 2009 | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Tony Abbott | ||||||
| Helen Kroger | 4 July 2011 | |||||
| Chris Back | 8 May 2012 | |||||
| David Bushby | 1 July 2014 | Anne Ruston | 1 July 2014 | David Fawcett | 1 July 2014 | |
| Dean Smith | 13 October 2015 | Malcolm Turnbull | ||||
| Jane Hume | 7 September 2018 | Scott Morrison | ||||
| Dean Smith | 22 January 2019 | Jonathon Duniam | 12 February 2019 | |||
| Wendy Askew | 26 July 2022 | Paul Scarr | 26 July 2022 | Matt O'Sullivan | 26 July 2022 | Peter Dutton |
- Notes
National Country Party/National Party of Australia
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Ron Maunsell | 27 February 1973 | Doug Anthony |
| Glen Sheil | 21 February 1980 | |
| Stan Collard | 17 February 1981 | |
| Ian Sinclair | ||
| Glen Sheil | 21 February 1985 | |
| Grant Tambling | 14 September 1987 | |
| Charles Blunt | ||
| Tim Fischer | ||
| David Brownhill | 1 July 1990 | |
| Florence Bjelke-Petersen | 23 March 1993 | |
| Bill O'Chee | 1 July 1993 | |
| Julian McGauran | 1 July 1999 | John Anderson |
| Mark Vaile | ||
| Nigel Scullion | 7 February 2006 | |
| Fiona Nash | 6 February 2007 | |
| Warren Truss | ||
| John Williams | 22 September 2008 | |
| Bridget McKenzie | 13 September 2013 | |
| Barry O'Sullivan | 1 July 201 | |
| Matt Canavan | 10 September 2015 | |
| Barry O'Sullivan | 24 February 2016 | Barnaby Joyce |
| John Williams | 1 September 2016 | |
| Michael McCormack | ||
| Perin Davey | 2 July 2019 | |
| David Littleproud | Ross Cadell | 26 July 2022 |
Australian Greens
Western Australian Greens
In May 1996, following the 1996 election, the two members of the Western Australian Greens in the Senate announced they were to be whip and deputy whip of their party. The deputy whip, Christabel Chamarette, had lost her seat at the election, and left the Senate just over a month after the announcement. The party lost its other seat (and its whip) at the 1998 election, with her leaving office in June 1999. The party only merged with the Australian Greens in 2003, after it lost its senators.
| Whip | Date | Deputy Whip | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dee Margetts | 20 May 1996 | Christabel Chamarette | 20 May 1996 |
| None | 1 July 1996 | ||
| None | 1 July 1999 |
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens appointed their first whip in the Senate when the party increased from two to four members in 2005. She became entitled to a salary when the party increased to five members in 2008.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Rachel Siewert | 9 August 2005 | Bob Brown |
| Christine Milne | ||
| Richard Di Natale | ||
| Adam Bandt | ||
| Adam Bandt | ||
| Nick McKim | 15 September 2021 |
Pauline Hanson's One Nation
One Nation first entered the Senate in 1999, but had only one seat and consequently did not elect a whip. The party's senator was defeated in 2004 and left the Senate in 2005. In 2016, four One Nation senators were elected, and the party elected a whip for the first time.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Burston | 1 September 2016 | Pauline Hanson |
| Peter Georgiou | 24 May 2018 |
Nick Xenophon Team
Senator Nick Xenophon entered the Senate as an independent in 2008. In 2016 he ran as part of the Nick Xenophon Team, which saw Xenophon and two of his running mates (and a lower house MP) elected, so the Nick Xenophon Team elected a whip.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Skye Kakoschke-Moore | 1 September 2016 | Nick Xenophon |
Democratic Labour Party
The Democratic Labour Party (until 2013 the Democratic Labor Party) elected its first whip in 1968, when its membership increased from two to four. The party continued to do so until 1974, when the party lost all its seats at the double dissolution election. The party re-entered the Senate following the 2010 election, but did not have a whip as it only had one senator, who left the party in 2014.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Condon Byrne | 13 August 1968 | Vince Gair |
| Jack Little | 10 October 1973 | Frank McManus |
| None | 10 May 1974 |
Palmer United Party
The Palmer United Party won three Senate seats at the 2013 election, the new senators taking their seats on 1 July 2014. Two of the three had left within a year, but the remaining senator retained the position of whip until his defeat in 2016.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Zhenya Wang | 1 July 2014 | Glenn Lazarus |
| None | 9 May 2016 |
Defunct
Free Trade/Anti-Socialist Party (1901–09)
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| John Clemons | 1901 | George Reid |
| Henry Dobson | 21 November 1907 | |
| Thomas Chataway | 26 November 1908 | Joseph Cook |
Protectionist Party (1901–09)
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| None | 1901 | Edmund Barton |
| John Keating | by 30 April 1902 | |
| None | by 5 July 1905 | Alfred Deakin |
Commonwealth Liberal Party (1909–17)
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas Chataway | 21 June 1909 | Alfred Deakin |
| Joseph Cook | ||
| Unclear | 1 July 1913 |
National Labor (1916–17)
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Hugh de Largie | 14 November 1916 | Billy Hughes |
Nationalist Party of Australia (1917–31)
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Hugh de Largie | 13 June 1917 | Billy Hughes |
| Edmund Drake-Brockman | 10 February 1923 | Stanley Bruce |
| Harry Foll | 1 July 1926 | |
| John Latham |
United Australia Party (1931–45)
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Foll | 7 May 1931 | Joseph Lyons |
| George McLeay | 29 November 1937 | |
| Dick Dein | 7 November 1938 | |
| Robert Menzies | ||
| Allan MacDonald | 8 October 1941 | Billy Hughes |
| Robert Menzies | ||
| James McLachlan | July 1944? |
Australian Democrats (1977–2015)
The Australian Democrats first elected a whip in 1981, reflecting an increase from two to five of the party's Senate membership. The party lost all its seats at the 2007 election, and its senators duly left their seats the following June.
| Whip | Date | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Macklin | by 19 November 1981 | Don Chipp |
| Janine Haines | ||
| Paul McLean | by 31 October 1989 | |
| Janet Powell | ||
| Vicki Bourne | 3 September 1991 | John Coulter |
| Cheryl Kernot | ||
| Meg Lees | ||
| Natasha Stott Despoja | ||
| Lyn Allison | 1 July 2002 | Andrew Bartlett |
| Andrew Bartlett | 13 December 2004 | Lyn Allison |
| None | 1 July 2008 |
- Notes
References
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