Records of Prime Ministers of Australia

Sir Robert Menzies was the longest serving Prime Minister of Australia, serving for 18 years and 163 days total. His first tenure (1939–1941) lasted 2 years and 125 days and his second tenure (1949–1966) 16 years and 38 days. Menzies’ second term of over 16 years was the longest single term. This term is also longer than the accumulated period of terms of any other Prime Minister. The shortest serving Prime Minister was Frank Forde, who served in the position in an interim capacity for one week in July 1945 after the death of John Curtin. The Prime Minister with the longest time between the beginning of their first and end of their last terms was also Menzies, with over 25 years between those dates.[1]

If a “term” is defined as a contiguous period served as Prime Minister, both Andrew Fisher and Alfred Deakin served the greatest number of terms, with three each. Robert Menzies and Kevin Rudd both served two separate terms as Prime Minister. If a “term” is defined as a period of office separated by an election, Robert Menzies served the most terms, winning eight terms.

Joseph Lyons is the only Prime Minister to have served under three monarchs during one term (Lyons died in 1939):

• George V, 1932–1936
• Edward VIII, 1936
• George VI, 1936–1939

Several Prime Ministers have served under two monarchs. These include Edmund Barton (Victoria and Edward VIII), Andrew Fisher (Edward VIII and George V) and Robert Menzies (George VI and Elizabeth II) Queen Elizabeth II has by far had the greatest number of Prime Ministers serve her during her reign, being 15. In descending numerical order, numbers of Prime Ministers in office during all monarch’s reigns are:

• Elizabeth II – fifteen, from Menzies to Morrison
• George VI – seven, from Lyons to Chifley
• George V – six, from Fisher to Lyons
• Edward VIII – five, from Barton to Fisher
• Edward VIII – one (Lyons)
• Victoria – one (Barton)

The youngest Prime Minister upon their appointment by the Governor-General was Chris Watson, who was 37 years old when his term began in April 1904.[2] The oldest Prime Minister upon their appointment was John McEwen, who was 67 years old when he took office in a temporary capacity in December 1967.

The youngest Prime Minister to leave office was also Watson, who left office only four months after he was appointed. The oldest Prime Minister to leave office and oldest to win an election was Menzies, who was 71 years old when he stepped down in January 1966 and 68 years old when he won the 1963 election.

The largest age gap between an incoming Prime Minister and outgoing one was 22 years between Watson and George Reid during 1904.

The longest-lived Prime Minister was Gough Whitlam, who lived for 98 years and 102 days (1916–2014)

The shortest-lived Prime Minister (excluding incumbent Scott Morrison) was Harold Holt, born 1908, who is presumed to have died in office at age 59 in 1967.

The longest period of retirement (retirement being the period between the end of their last term and their death) for a Prime Minister was Whitlam’s, which was 38 years, 344 days long (1975-2014).

The shortest period of retirement was Ben Chifley, who died in 1951 after 1 year and 176 days in office.

Of the Prime Ministers who have served more than one term, the largest interval was that of Menzies, which lasted 10 years from 1939 to 1949.

There have been three periods between elections in which three Prime Ministers were in office.

• Between the 1903 election and 1906 election, Deakin, Watson and Reid all took the office before Deakin regained it for the 1906 election after several parliamentary confidence shuffles between parties.[4]
• Between the 1940 election and 1943 election, Menzies, Fadden and Curtin held the office after the House of Representatives lost confidence in the United Australia Party coalition.
• Between the 1943 election and 1946 election, Curtin held the office until his death, when Forde temporarily took the office and Chifley was elected as the leader of the Labor Party.
• Between the 1966 election and 1969 election, Holt held the office before McEwen took it over after his death and Gorton ultimately succeeded him.

The largest number of elections contested by a Prime Minister is eight. Menzies contested the 1940, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1961 and 1963 elections. The greatest number of elections won by a Prime Minister is eight, a record also held by Menzies, who won all of the elections he contested.

The oldest Prime Minister to lose a federal election was John Howard, who lost his own seat and the election of 2007 at 68 years old. The youngest Prime Minister to lose a federal election was Paul Keating, who was 52 years old when he lost the 1996 election.

The oldest Prime Minister to lead their party to victory at a federal election was Robert Menzies, who won the 1963 election aged 69. The youngest Prime Minister to win an election was Julia Gillard, who was 48 years old when she won the 2010 election.

Nearly all (24) Prime Ministers of Australia have held the office at some point during their tenure without the mandate from an election. This is a common occurrence due to the parliamentary and party systems in Australia, when the position is often made vacant by a spill or leader who is resigning or retiring. In the early days of the office, the unstable non-majority party system also caused many changes in power. Prime Ministers who have taken office due to inter-party confidence prior to the development of the stable two-party system:

• Chris Watson
• George Reid
• Alfred Deakin (second and third tenures)
• Andrew Fisher (first tenure)

Prime Ministers who took office after their predecessor resigned:

• Alfred Deakin (first tenure)
• Stanley Bruce
• Robert Menzies (first tenure)
• Arthur Fadden
• Ben Chifley
• John Gorton

Prime Ministers who took office after their predecessor retired:

• Billy Hughes
• Harold Holt

Prime Ministers who took office after their predecessor died:

• Earle Page
• Frank Forde
• John McEwen

Prime Ministers who took office after defeating the government in a vote of no confidence:

• John Curtin

Prime Ministers who took office after defeating their predecessor in a party spill:

• William McMahon
• Paul Keating
• Julia Gillard
• Kevin Rudd
• Malcolm Turnbull
• Scott Morrison

Prime Ministers who took office after the incumbent government was dismissed by the Governor-General:

• Malcolm Fraser

Only John Gorton has come from the Senate. He served as a senator for Victoria for 17 years before he contested and won his predecessor’s seat in the House of Representatives.[5]

The shortest interval between entering Parliament and being appointed Prime Minister was achieved by Bob Hawke, who entered Parliament in October 1980 and was appointed Prime Minister only 29 months later in March 1983. The longest period of service prior to becoming Prime Minister was that of John McEwen, who had served 33 years in the House of Representatives before he became Prime Minister in December 1967. For a non-interim Prime Minister, the longest period of prior service was 31 years by Harold Holt, who was elected in a by-election in August 1935 and became Prime Minister in January 1966. The longest service as an MP of a Prime Minister was Billy Hughes, who served from March 1901 until his death in October 1952, a total of 51 years. This is to date the longest period of service in the Australian Parliament and Hughes was father of the House from 1938 until 1952. The Prime Minister with the longest service in a single seat is 33 years by John Howard, who served the seat of Bennelong from May 1974 until December 2007.

Only one Prime Minister has held both that office and been Father of the House: John McEwen, from December 1967 until January 1968. Five Prime Ministers have served a long enough period in the House of Representatives to become Father of the House:[6][7][8][9][10] Italics indicate that a former or incumbent Prime Minister was a joint Father of the House.

See List of prime ministers of Australia by age

As of June 2020, there are six living former Australian prime ministers.[11]

Paul Keating In office: 1991–1996 Age: 76

John Howard In office: 1996–2007 Age: 80

Kevin Rudd In office: 2007–2010; 2013 Age: 62

Julia Gillard In office: 2010–2013 Age: 58

Tony Abbott, In office: 2013–2015 Age: 62

Malcolm Turnbull, In office: 2015–2018 Age: 65

Three Prime Ministers have died in office:

• Joseph Lyons, who died on 7 April 1939, aged 59
• John Curtin, who died on 5 July 1945, aged 60
• Harold Holt, who disappeared on 17 December 1967 and was declared dead on 19 December, aged 59

Ben Chifley’s successor, Robert Menzies, was in office when Chifley died in 1951.

• The fastest Prime Minister to win a by-election was John Gorton, who won a by-election which he contested after only one month in office.
• The fastest Prime Minister to lose a by-election was Alfred Deakin, who lost Melbourne in 1904 after only six months in office.