The leader of the opposition of the Australian Capital Territory, is an official role usually occupied by the leader of the second largest party or coalition in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly.
Structure
The title is conferred under Standing Order 5A of the ACT Legislative Assembly, that the leader of the opposition shall be the leader of the largest non-Government party, with the consent of that member. In the event of an equal number of members of the second largest party, the Assembly shall vote and elect a leader of the opposition.
Prior to 1991, the Opposition Leader was elected by a simple majority of the assembly with the government abstaining. However this was changed to be automatically the largest non-government party following the six and a half hour Duby Opposition Leadership.
The Leader of the Opposition receives a bonus salary of $132,158 on top of the $188,798 base salary already received by every member of the Legislative Assembly. Given the Opposition Leader must be an MLA, their total salary amounts to $320,956.
History
The office of Opposition Leader has been primarily held by the leader of the ACT Branch of the Liberal Party. The party has held it consecutively through the last 24 years and 9 officeholders.
It has, however been held by the ACT Branch of the Labor Party on a number of occasions. Firstly during the brief Kaine government, and then again for a longer period of six years through the Carnell and Humphries governments.
The office has been held only once by a non-major party, that being Craig Duby of the Independents Group who stylised himself as "Coordinator of Non-Government Business". On 21 June 1991, Trevor Kaine resigned from the position to allow his party leader successor Gary Humphries to take the position on. As the Liberals did not have a majority of the non-government seats, they were susceptible to a challenge by another group for the position. That challenge came from Duby who was elected and served for six and a half hours before the Labor and Liberal combined majority changed the standing orders.
List of opposition leaders of the Australian Capital Territory
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! No.
! Portrait
! Name
! Election
! Party
! colspan=2 | Term
! Duration
! colspan=2 | Chief Minister
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |1
| 75px
| Trevor Kaine
| 1989
| Liberal
| 11 May 1989 || 5 December 1989
| days
! style="background:;" |
| 75px<br/>Rosemary Follett<br/>1989
|-
! style="background:;" |2
| 75px
| Rosemary Follett
| —
| Labor
| 5 December 1989 || 6 June 1991
|
! style="background:; color:white;" |
| 75px<br/>Trevor Kaine<br/>1989—1991
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |(1)
| 75px
| Trevor Kaine
| —
| Liberal
| 6 June 1991 || 21 June 1991
| days
! rowspan=5 style="background:;" |
| rowspan=5 | 75px<br/>Rosemary Follett<br/>1991—1995
|-
! |3
| 75px
| Craig Duby
| —
| Independents Group
| colspan=2| 21 June 1991
| 6.5 hours
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |4
| 75px
| Gary Humphries
| —
| Liberal
| 21 June 1991 || 22 July 1991
| days
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |(1)
| 75px
| Trevor Kaine
| 1992
| Liberal
| 22 July 1991 || 21 April 1993
|
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |5
| 75px
| Kate Carnell
| 1995
| Liberal
| 21 April 1993 || 9 March 1995
|
|-
! style="background:;" |(2)
| 75px
| Rosemary Follett
| —
| Labor
| 9 March 1995 || 5 March 1996
| days
! rowspan=4 style="background:; color:white;" |
| rowspan=4 | 75px<br/>Kate Carnell<br/>1995—2000
|-
! style="background:;" |6
| 75px
| Andrew Whitecross
| —
| Labor
| 5 March 1996 || 19 August 1997
|
|-
! style="background:;" |7
| 75px
| Wayne Berry
| 1998
| Labor
| 19 August 1997 || 20 February 1998
| days
|-
! rowspan=2 style="background:;" |8
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Jon Stanhope
| —
| rowspan=2 | Labor
| rowspan=2 | 19 March 1998 || rowspan=2 | 19 October 2001
| rowspan=2 |
|-
| 2001
! style="background:; color:white;" |
| 75px<br/>Gary Humphries<br/>2000—2001
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |(4)
| 75px
| Gary Humphries
| —
| Liberal
| 12 November 2001 || 25 November 2002
|
! rowspan=4 style="background:;" |
| rowspan=4 | 75px<br/>Jon Stanhope<br/>2001—2011
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |9
| 75px
| Brendan Smyth
| 2004
| Liberal
| 25 November 2002 || 16 May 2006
|
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |10
| 75px
| Bill Stefaniak
| —
| Liberal
| 16 May 2006 || 13 December 2007
|
|-
! rowspan=2 style="background:; color:white;" |11
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Zed Seselja
| 2008
| rowspan=2 | Liberal
| rowspan=2 | 13 December 2007 || rowspan=2 | 11 January 2013
| rowspan=2 |
|-
| 2012
! rowspan=2 style="background:;" |
| rowspan=2 | 75px<br/>Katy Gallagher<br/>2011—2014
|-
! rowspan=2 style="background:; color:white;" |12
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Jeremy Hanson
| —
| rowspan=2 | Liberal
| rowspan=2 | 11 February 2013 || rowspan=2 | 25 October 2016
| rowspan=2 |
|-
| 2016
! rowspan=5 style="background:;" |
| rowspan=5 | 75px<br/>Andrew Barr<br/>2014—
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |13
| 75px
| Alistair Coe
| 2020
| Liberal
| 25 October 2016 || 27 October 2020
|
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |14
| 75px
| Elizabeth Lee
| 2024
| Liberal
| 27 October 2020 || 31 October 2024
|
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" |15
| 75px
| Leanne Castley
| —
| Liberal
| 31 October 2024 || 10 November 2025
|
|-
! style="background:; color:white;" | 16
| 75px
|Mark Parton
| —
|Liberal
|10 November 2025
|Incumbent
|
|}