Premier of Western Australia

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Premier of Western Australia
Ministry
Provincial/State
Incumbent: Alan Carpenter
Style:	The Honourable
Appointed by:	Ken Michael as Governor of Western Australia
First :	John Forrest
Formation:	December 29, 1890

The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. He or she performs the same functions in Western Australia as the Prime Minister of Australia does at the national level. The current premier is Alan Carpenter, who was elected leader of the parliamentary caucus of the Australian Labor Party on the 24 January 2006 and was sworn in as premier on the 25 January 2006. (Eric Ripper currently serves as deputy premier and as treasurer of Western Australia.)

Contents 1 Function 2 History 3 List of Premiers of Western Australia 4 Living former premiers 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Function

The premier must be a member of one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Western Australia; by convention the premier is a member of the lower house, the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. He or she is appointed by the governor on the advice of the lower house, and must resign if he or she loses the support of the majority of that house. Consequently, the premier is almost always the leader of the political party or coalition of parties with the majority of seats in the lower house.

For more information on the office of premier, see Premiers of the Australian states.

[edit] History

The office of premier of Western Australia was first formed in 1890, after Western Australia was officially granted responsible government by Britain in 1889. The Constitution of Western Australia does not explicitly provide for a premier, and the office was not formally listed as one of the executive offices until the appointment of Ross McLarty in 1947. Nonetheless, John Forrest immediately adopted the title on taking office as first premier of Western Australia in 1890, and it has been used ever since.

John Forrest was the only premier of Western Australia as a self-governing colony. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, Western Australia became an Australian state and the responsibilities of the office of premier were diminished.

Party politics began in Western Australia with the rise of the Labor party in 1901. By 1904, the party system was entrenched in Western Australian politics. Since then the premiers have been associated with political parties.

Western Australia's constitution contains nothing to preclude the premier being a member of the upper house, the Western Australian Legislative Council. Historically and by convention, however, the premier is a member of the Assembly. The only exception has been Hal Colebatch, a member of the Legislative Council who accepted the premiership in April 1919 on the understanding that an Assembly seat would be found for him, only to resign a month later when no seat could be found.

During the economic boom of the 1980s, the Western Australian government became closely involved with a number of large businesses. A succession of deals were made between the government and businesses, and these ultimately caused great losses for the state. A subsequent royal commission found evidence of widespread corruption. Three former premiers were found to have acted improperly and two of them, Ray O'Connor and Brian Burke, were jailed. This scandal became popularly known as WA Inc.

[edit] List of Premiers of Western Australia

Premier	Party	Assumed Office	Left Office	Term
Sir John Forrest	Forrest Party1	29 December 1890	15 February 1901	&0000000000000010.00000010 years, &0000000000000048.00000048 days
George Throssell	Forrest Party1	15 February 1901	27 May 1901	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000101.000000101 days
George Leake	Opposition1	27 May 1901	21 November 1901	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000178.000000178 days
Alf Morgans	Ministerialist1	21 November 1901	23 December 1901	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000032.00000032 days
George Leake	Opposition1	23 December 1901	1 July 1902	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000190.000000190 days
Sir Walter James	Opposition1	1 July 1902	10 August 1904	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000040.00000040 days
Henry Daglish	Labor	10 August 1904	25 August 1905	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000015.00000015 days
Sir Cornthwaite Rason	Ministerialist	25 August 1905	7 May 1906	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000255.000000255 days
Sir Newton Moore	Ministerialist	7 May 1906	16 September 1910	&0000000000000004.0000004 years, &0000000000000132.000000132 days
Frank Wilson	Commonwealth Liberal	16 September 1910	7 October 1911	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000021.00000021 days
John Scaddan	Labor	7 October 1911	27 July 1916	&0000000000000004.0000004 years, &0000000000000294.000000294 days
Frank Wilson	Commonwealth Liberal	27 July 1916	28 June 1917	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000336.000000336 days
Sir Henry Lefroy	Nationalist	28 June 1917	17 April 1919	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000293.000000293 days
Sir Hal Colebatch	Nationalist	17 April 1919	17 May 1919	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 years, &0000000000000030.00000030 days
Sir James Mitchell	Nationalist	17 May 1919	16 April 1924	&0000000000000004.0000004 years, &0000000000000335.000000335 days
Philip Collier	Labor	16 April 1924	24 April 1930	&0000000000000006.0000006 years, &0000000000000008.0000008 days
Sir James Mitchell	Nationalist	24 April 1930	24 April 1933	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000 days
Philip Collier	Labor	24 April 1933	20 August 1936	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000118.000000118 days
John Willcock	Labor	20 August 1936	31 July 1945	&0000000000000008.0000008 years, &0000000000000345.000000345 days
Frank Wise	Labor	31 July 1945	1 April 1947	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000244.000000244 days
Sir Ross McLarty	Liberal	1 April 1947	23 February 1953	&0000000000000005.0000005 years, &0000000000000328.000000328 days
Albert Hawke	Labor	23 February 1953	2 April 1959	&0000000000000006.0000006 years, &0000000000000038.00000038 days
Sir David Brand	Liberal	2 April 1959	3 March 1971	&0000000000000011.00000011 years, &0000000000000335.000000335 days
John Tonkin	Labor	3 March 1971	8 April 1974	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000036.00000036 days
Sir Charles Court	Liberal	8 April 1974	25 January 1982	&0000000000000007.0000007 years, &0000000000000292.000000292 days
Ray O'Connor	Liberal	25 January 1982	19 February 1983	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000025.00000025 days
Brian Burke	Labor	19 February 1983	25 February 1988	&0000000000000005.0000005 years, &0000000000000016.00000016 days
Peter Dowding	Labor	25 February 1988	12 February 1990	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000352.000000352 days
Dr Carmen Lawrence	Labor	12 February 1990	16 February 1993	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000004.0000004 days
Richard Court	Liberal	16 February 1993	10 February 2001	&0000000000000007.0000007 years, &0000000000000360.000000360 days
Dr Geoffrey Gallop	Labor	16 February 2001	25 January 2006	&0000000000000004.0000004 years, &0000000000000343.000000343 days
Alan Carpenter	Labor	25 January 2006	incumbent	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000138.000000138 days

1. The premiers were not officially associated with organised parties until 1904.

[edit] Living former premiers

As of March 2008, six former premiers are alive, the oldest being Ray O'Connor (1982–83, born 1926). The most recent premier to die was Sir Charles Court (1974–82), December 22, 2007.

Name	Term as premier	Date of birth
Ray O'Connor	1982–1983	6 March 1926
Brian Burke	1983–1988	February 25, 1947
Peter Dowding	1988–1990	October 6, 1943
Dr Carmen Lawrence	1990–1993	March 2, 1948
Richard Court	1993–2001	September 27, 1947
Dr Geoff Gallop	2001–2006	September 27, 1951

[edit] See also

• Leader of the Opposition (Western Australia)
• Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

[edit] References

• Reid, G. S. and M. R. Oliver (1982). The Premiers of Western Australia 1890–1982. University of Western Australia Press. Nedlands, Western Australia. ISBN 0-85564-214-9.
• The Constitution Centre of Western Australia (2002). Governors and Premiers of Western Australia. West Perth, Western Australia. ISBN 0-7307-3821-3.

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