This article lists the longest-serving members of the
Parliament of Australia.
Longest total service
This section lists members of parliament who have served for a cumulative total of at least 30 years.
All these periods of service were spent in one House exclusively.
A number of people have served in both the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and the
House of Representatives, but none of them to date has had an aggregate length of service to the Parliament reaching 30 years.
No woman yet appears on this list.
Bronwyn Bishop
Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop (née Setright; born 19 October 1942) is an Australian former politician. She was a member of federal parliament for almost 30 years, the longest period of service by a woman. A member of the Liberal Party, she was a mi ...
served in the Australian parliament longer than any other woman, in October 2014 outstripping the record of 27 years and 119 days previously held by
Kathy Sullivan. At the end of her term at the 2 July 2016 double dissolution, Bishop had served for 28 years and 274 days.
†= Died in office
Chronological list
This section lists the members of parliament (and of each chamber) with the longest continuous service at any given time. The longest-serving MPs in each chamber are sometimes referred to as the "Father of the House" and "Father of the Senate", and very rarely the overall longest-serving MP is called the "Father of the Parliament".
''House of Representatives Practice'' describes the title "Father of the House" as a "completely informal designation" with "no functions attached to it".
''Odgers' Australian Senate Practice'' notes that the title "Father of the Senate" is "now seldom referred to or used". It further notes that "as no woman senator has ever been in this situation, it is not clear what the title would be in that circumstance".
Since then, the title has been assumed by
Marise Payne
Marise Ann Payne (born 29 July 1964) is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 and as Minister for Women from 2019 to 2022. She has been a Senator for New South Wales sin ...
, the longest serving female senator in Australia's history.
Longest-serving members by state and territory
See also
*
List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service
*
*
*
Members of the New Zealand Parliament who have served for at least 30 years
*
Records of members of the Oireachtas
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
(Ireland)
*
Records of members of parliament of the United Kingdom
This article about records of members of parliament of the United Kingdom and of England includes a variety of lists of MPs by age, period and other circumstances of service, familiar sets, ethnic or religious minorities, physical attributes, and ...
References
{{Parliament of Australia
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
Longest
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
Longest