The Leader of the Liberal Party, also known as Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, is the highest office within the Liberal Party of Australia, as well as within the LiberalâÂÂNational Coalition. The incumbent leader is Angus Taylor, who was elected on 13 February 2026.
The Liberal Party leadership was first held by Robert Menzies, a former leader of the United Australia Party and coâÂÂfounder of the Liberal Party along with eighteen political organisations and groups.
Following the ousting of two Liberal prime ministers in three years, the then leader, Scott Morrison, proposed a new threshold to trigger a Liberal Party leadership change if the party was in government, requiring two-thirds of the party room to vote to initiate a spill motion. The change was agreed to at an hour-long party room meeting on the evening of 3 December 2018. Morrison said the changes, which were drafted with feedback from former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, would only apply to those who led the party to victory at a federal election.
Since the days of Menzies, the Liberal Party has either been in government in a coalition or in opposition to Labor. Thus, the leader of the Liberal Party has always served as either the Prime Minister of Australia or the Leader of the Opposition. Furthermore, the leader picks the Cabinet and is also the leader of the Coalition. The Liberal Party has only had one leader of the party from the Senate, John Gorton, for a brief period in January 1968 before he resigned from the Senate to contest the Higgins by-election in February 1968.
This list ranks federal leaders of the Liberal Party by their time in office. Leaders that also served as Prime Minister are in bold. Where leaders served non-consecutive terms, their total time as leader is ranked together.