List of nicknames of prime ministers of Australia

This is a list of nicknames of prime ministers of Australia.

List of nicknames

Edmund Barton

Full name: Edmund Barton

• Toby Tosspot

Alfred Deakin

Full name: Alfred Deakin

• Affable Alfred

Chris Watson

Full name: John Christian Watson

George Reid

Full name: George Houston Reid

• Yes-No Reid, in reference a long speech where he was unwilling to take a clear position on federation.

Andrew Fisher

Full name: Andrew Fisher

Joseph Cook

Full name: Joseph Cook

Billy Hughes

Full name: William Morris Hughes

• The Little Digger
• The Rat, due to his support for conscription and eventual defection from the Labor Party to the Liberal Party.

Stanley Bruce

Full name: Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne

James Scullin

Full name: James Henry Scullin

Joseph Lyons

Full name: Joseph Aloysius Lyons

• Honest Joe

Earle Page

Full name: Earle Christmas Grafton Page

Robert Menzies

Full name: Robert Gordon Menzies

• Ming the Merciless
• Pig iron Bob

Arthur Fadden

Full name: Arthur William Fadden

• Artie

John Curtin

Full name: John Joseph Ambrose Curtin

• Bumble

Frank Forde

Full name: Francis Michael Forde

Ben Chifley

Full name: Joseph Benedict Chifley

Harold Holt

Full name: Harold Edward Holt

John McEwen

Full name: John McEwen

• Black Jack

John Gorton

Full name: John Grey Gorton

• Jolly John

William McMahon

Full name: William McMahon

• Billy the Leak
• Billy Liar
• Billy Big Ears

Gough Whitlam

Full name: Edward Gough Whitlam

• The Young Brolga
• Goughie
• Gough the Toff

Malcolm Fraser

Full name: John Malcolm Fraser

• The Prefect

Bob Hawke

Full name: Robert James Lee Hawke

• Hawkey or Hawkie (pronounced hawk-ee)
• The Silver Bodgie
• Little Caesar

Paul Keating

Full name: Paul John Keating

• The Mortician
• The Lizard of Oz, by the British press after he placed his arm around Queen Elizabeth during her 1992 tour of Australia.
• Paul-Bearer, a play on "pallbearer", in reference to his perceived role in the downturn of the Australian economy.
• The Undertaker, for the same reason as above.

John Howard

Full name: John Winston Howard

• Honest John
• Little Johnny Howard
• Mr 18%, for a 1988 Bulletin cover story of the same name, where inside, a poll had Howard at a preferred prime minister rating of 18% against Bob Hawke.
• The little desiccated coconut, used by Paul Keating to describe Howard during a 2007 radio interview.

Kevin Rudd

Full name: Kevin Michael Rudd

• Kevin07, his campaign slogan for the 2007 federal election.
• K-Rudd or Krudd, a contraction of his name.
• Milky Bar Kid, in his likeness to the Nestlé Milkybar Kid.
• Rudd the Dud
• Dr Death, in reference to his role in the cuts to the Queensland public service under the government of Wayne Goss.

Julia Gillard

Full name: Julia Eileen Gillard

• Ju-liar, part of a campaign of character assassination led by Alan Jones.
• J-Gizza, used predominantly by students and young people during her prime ministership.
• The Witch, a misogynistic sobriquet which appeared on a placard at an anti-carbon tax rally infamously attended by Tony Abbott.

Tony Abbott

Full name: Anthony John Abbott

• Mad monk
• Tear-down Tony
• Onion muncher, in response to a widely-circulated video in which Abbott bit into a raw onion while visiting a produce farm in northern Tasmania.
• The Gammon Man, by Indigenous people in the Northern Territory. The term is used to refer to individuals who are perceived as disingenuous or two-faced. It was applied to Abbott after he suggested that he would suspend financial assistance to remote Indigenous communities, and in response to his support for the closure of Aboriginal townships in Western Australia.

Malcolm Turnbull

Full name: Malcolm Bligh Turnbull

• Mr Harbourside Mansion
• Turncoat
• Trumble or Mr Trumble, owing to a gaffe by Donald Trump's first press secretary, Sean Spicer.
• Brian Trumbull, another misspelling which appeared in a Reuters article during Turnbull's 2017 visit to the United States.
• President of Australia, the title given to Turnbull in a White House press statement following a phone call with Donald Trump.

Scott Morrison

Full name: Scott John Morrison

• ScoMo
• Scummo, as a further iteration of "ScoMo".
• The Liar from the Shire
• Scotty from Marketing became a common nickname due to Morrison's perceived poor response to the 2019 Australian bushfires. It originated in an article on satirical web site The Betoota Advocate during the bushfires. The name is still used frequently, and refers to Morrison's previous roles as managing director of Tourism Australia from 2004 to 2006 and as the inaugural Director of the New Zealand Office of Tourism and Sport from 1998 to 2000.

Anthony Albanese

Full name: Anthony Norman Albanese

• Albo
• Airbus Albo, due to his perceived propensity for overseas junketing.
• Each-way Albo, coined prior to his election to portray him as indecisive or unprincipled. See Yes-No Reid.
• AnAl, a joke nickname by satirical newspaper The Chaser, replicating the method of taking the first part of each of his first and last names from the nickname 'ScoMo', to become a reference to anal sex.
• OverEasy Albanese

See also

• List of nicknames of prime ministers of Italy
• List of nicknames of prime ministers of the United Kingdom
• List of nicknames of presidents of the United States

References