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Leader of the Opposition (Western Australia)

Australian politician

Summary

Australian politician

Field	Value
post	Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia
insignia	Western Australian Coat of Arms.svg
image	Basil Zempilas on the day of his election as Opposition Leader (cropped).jpg
incumbent	Basil Zempilas
incumbentsince	25 March 2025
termlength	While leader of the largest political party in the Legislative Assembly that is not in government
inaugural	Henry Daglish
formation	25 August 1905
deputy	Peter Rundle

In the Australian state of Western Australia, the leader of the opposition is the leader of the largest minority political party or coalition of parties in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia. By convention, the leader is generally a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Prior to 1911, the Western Australian political system had neither organised political parties (apart from the Labor Party) nor an organised opposition. The notion of leader of the opposition was well understood, however, and on occasions was applied to members. Maitland Brown, for example, was often referred to as "Leader of the Opposition" during his period as an outspoken critic of Governor Robinson's Government.

In the 2025 state election, the Liberal Party held seven seats against the National Party's six and became the official Opposition of the state. Accordingly, the leader of the Liberal Party, Basil Zempilas also gained the official title of Leader of the Opposition after he was elected as party leader on 25 March 2025.

List of leaders of the opposition

№	Leader	Party	Constituency	Took office	Left office	Premier
1	Henry Daglish			Labor Party	Subiaco	25 August 1905	27 September 1905
2	William Johnson	Labor}}		Labor Party	Guildford	4 October 1905	27 October 1905
		Newton Moore
(7 May 1906 – 16 September 1910)
3	Thomas Bath			Labor Party	Brown Hill	22 November 1905	3 August 1910
4	John Scaddan (I)	Labor}}		Labor Party	Ivanhoe	3 August 1910	7 October 1911
		Frank Wilson (I)
(16 September 1910 – 7 October 1911)
5	Frank Wilson			Liberal Party	Sussex	1 November 1911	27 July 1916
–	John Scaddan (II)			Labor Party	Brown Hill-Ivanhoe	27 July 1916	16 April 1917
6	Philip Collier (I)	Labor}}		Labor Party	Boulder	16 April 1917	16 April 1924
		Henry Lefroy
(28 June 1917 – 17 April 1919)
		Hal Colebatch
(17 April 1919 – 17 May 1919)
		James Mitchell (I)
(17 May 1919 – 16 April 1924)
7	James Mitchell			Nationalist Party	Northam	16 April 1924	24 April 1930
–	Philip Collier (II)			Labor Party	Boulder	24 April 1930	24 April 1933
8	Charles Latham	Country}}		Country Party	York	24 April 1933	8 October 1942
		John Willcock
(20 August 1936 – 31 July 1945)
9	Arthur Watts	Country}}		Country Party	Katanning	8 October 1942	1 April 1947
		Frank Wise
(31 July 1945 – 1 April 1947)
10	Frank Wise			Labor Party	Gascoyne	1 April 1947	26 June 1951
11	Bert Hawke (I)			Labor Party	Northam	26 June 1951	23 February 1953
12	Ross McLarty			Liberal Party	Murray-Wellington	23 February 1953	1 March 1957
13	David Brand (I)			Liberal Party	Greenough	1 March 1957	2 April 1959
–	Bert Hawke (II)			Labor Party	Northam	2 April 1959	31 December 1966
14	John Tonkin (I)			Labor Party	Melville	31 December 1966	3 March 1971
–	David Brand (II)			Liberal Party	Greenough	3 March 1971	5 June 1972
15	Charles Court			Liberal Party	Nedlands	5 June 1972	8 April 1974
–	John Tonkin (II)			Labor Party	Melville	8 April 1974	15 April 1976
16	Colin Jamieson			Labor Party	Welshpool	15 April 1976	21 February 1978
17	Ron Davies			Labor Party	Victoria Park	21 February 1978	18 September 1981
18	Brian Burke	Labor}}		Labor Party	Balcatta	18 September 1981	19 February 1983
		Ray O'Connor
(25 January 1982 – 25 February 1983)
19	Ray O'Connor			Liberal Party	Mount Lawley	19 February 1983	15 February 1984
20	Bill Hassell			Liberal Party	Cottesloe	15 February 1984	25 November 1986
21	Barry MacKinnon	Liberal}}		Liberal Party	Murdoch (1977–89)	25 November 1986	12 May 1992
Jandakot (1989–93)			Peter Dowding
(25 February 1988 – 12 February 1990)
		Carmen Lawrence
(12 February 1990 – 16 February 1993)
22	Richard Court (I)			Liberal Party	Nedlands	12 May 1992	16 February 1993
23	Carmen Lawrence			Labor Party	Glendalough	16 February 1993	7 February 1994
24	Ian Taylor			Labor Party	Kalgoorlie	7 February 1994	12 October 1994
25	Jim McGinty			Labor Party	Fremantle	12 October 1994	15 October 1996
26	Geoff Gallop			Labor Party	Victoria Park	15 October 1996	10 February 2001
–	Richard Court (II)			Liberal Party	Nedlands	10 February 2001	26 February 2001
27	Colin Barnett (I)			Liberal Party	Cottesloe	26 February 2001	9 March 2005
28	Matt Birney	Liberal}}		Liberal Party	Kalgoorlie	9 March 2005	24 March 2006
		Alan Carpenter
(25 January 2006 – 23 September 2008)
29	Paul Omodei			Liberal Party	Warren-Blackwood	24 March 2006	17 January 2008
30	Troy Buswell			Liberal Party	Vasse	17 January 2008	4 August 2008
–	Colin Barnett (II)			Liberal Party	Cottesloe	4 August 2008	23 September 2008
31	Eric Ripper			Labor Party	Belmont	23 September 2008	23 January 2012
32	Mark McGowan			Labor Party	Rockingham	23 January 2012	17 March 2017
–	Colin Barnett (III)			Liberal Party	Cottesloe	17 March 2017	21 March 2017
33	Mike Nahan			Liberal Party	Riverton	21 March 2017	13 June 2019
34	Liza Harvey			Liberal Party	Scarborough	13 June 2019	22 November 2020
35	Zak Kirkup			Liberal Party	Dawesville	24 November 2020	13 March 2021
36	Mia Davies			National Party	Central Wheatbelt	14 April 2021	30 January 2023
37	Shane Love	National}}		National Party	Moore	30 January 2023	25 March 2025
		Roger Cook
(8 June 2023 – present)
38	Basil Zempilas			Liberal Party	Churchlands	25 March 2025	Incumbent

References

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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