Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Australia)
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The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate is a party office held by the Opposition's most senior member of the Shadow Cabinet in the
Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...
, elected to lead the opposition party (or parties) in the body. Though the leader in the Senate does not have the power of the office of
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
(i.e. the leader in the House of Representatives and overall party leader), there are some parallels between the latter's status in the lower house and the former's in the Senate. In addition to his or her own shadow ministerial portfolio, the leader has overarching responsibility for all policy areas and acts as the opposition's principal spokesperson in the upper house. The leader is entitled to sit at the table of the Senate, and has priority in gaining recognition from the
President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...
to speak in debate. Another similarity is that the leader typically announces changes to opposition officeholders in the Senate, including shadow ministers, party leadership and whips. The leader also has some responsibility for appointing opposition senators to committees, a role filled by the Manager of Opposition Business and whips in the lower house. The current leader is
Simon Birmingham Simon John Birmingham (born 14 June 1974) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since 2007. A member of the Liberal Party, he served in the Morrison Government as Minister for Finance from 2020 to 2022 and as M ...
. He is assisted by a Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, currently
Michaelia Cash Michaelia Clare Cash (born 19 July 1970) is an Australian politician who served as the 38th Attorney-General of Australia from 2021 to 2022 in the Morrison Government. She has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2008 and is a member of t ...
.


List of leaders of the opposition in the Senate


See also

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Leader of the Government in the Senate (Australia) The Leader of the Government in the Senate (historically also known as the Leader of the Senate) is the government's most senior cabinet minister in the Australian Senate and the main government spokesperson in the Senate. His or her Opposition ...
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Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate The Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate is the member of the Opposition (Australia), Australian Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of Australia, Shadow Ministry responsible for negotiating with the Manager of Government Business in the Se ...


Notes


References

{{Parliament of Australia Lists of Australian politicians Lists of political office-holders in Australia Members of the Australian Senate Opposition 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 ...