Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Ministry
Federal
Incumbent: Julia Gillard
Style:	The Honourable
Appointed by:	Major General Michael Jeffery as Governor-General of Australia
First :	John McEwen
Formation:	{{{date}}}

Australia

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The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia is the second-most senior officer in the Government of Australia. The Deputy Prime Ministership has been a ministerial portfolio since 1968, and the Deputy Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister.

The current Deputy Prime Minister is Labor's Julia Gillard, who took over from the Nationals' leader Mark Vaile on 3 December 2007, following the 2007 general election. She is Australia's first female Deputy Prime Minister

History

The office of Deputy Prime Minister was created in January 1968, as an honour for John McEwen, the long-serving leader of the Country Party (later renamed the National Party). Prior to that time the term was sometimes used unofficially (without capital letters) for the second-highest ranking minister in the government.

In Labor governments, the Deputy Prime Minister is the party's deputy leader. In Coalition governments, the position has been held by the Leader of the National Party or its predecessors.

Duties

The duties of the Deputy Prime Minister are to act on behalf of the Prime Minister in his or her absence overseas or on leave. The Deputy Prime Minister has always been a member of the Cabinet, and has always held at least one substantive portfolio. (It would be technically possible for a minister to hold only the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister, but this would be politically unmanageable.)

If the Prime Minister were to die, become incapacitated or resign, the Governor-General may appoint the Deputy Prime Minister as Prime Minister, pending the governing or majority party electing a new leader; or may ask the Deputy Prime Minister to act as Prime Minister in the interim. Other solutions may be appropriate in the circumstances. In 1967, before the official creation of the portfolio, the Liberal Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming, and was presumed drowned. William McMahon was Holt's unofficial deputy, however he was not appointed Prime Minister. Instead, the leader of the then Country Party, John McEwen, was appointed on a caretaker basis, until the Liberal Party could elect a new leader. McMahon had been widely seen as Holt's natural successor, however McEwen made it publicly known shortly after Holt's disappearance that he would withdraw the Country Party from the governing coalition if McMahon were to become the leader of the Liberal Party.

List of Deputy Prime Ministers of Australia