List of whips in the Australian House of Representatives
The current Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives is Joanne Ryan of the Australian Labor Party, in office since 31 May 2022.
[1] The current Chief Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives is Bert van Manen of the Liberal Party.
Page was also one of four people to serve as whip while representing Cowper, the others being Francis Clarke (Protectionist), John Thomson (Commonwealth Liberal and Nationalist), and Gerry Nehl.
New South Wales Premier and Labor Party Leader Jack Lang's adherents in the Federal Parliament crossed the floor in 1931 to defeat Labor Prime Minister James Scullin, precipitating the 1931 election.
Following the election, Lang's NSW Labor Party expelled members who, being loyal to the federal party, had stood against official NSW Labor candidates.
Frank Tudor, Labor's 1st whip and its 6th leader.
James Fenton, Labor Whip 1921–1928, was a minister in the Scullin government, serving for a time as Acting Prime Minister. He later left Labor and joined the UAP, serving as
Postmaster General
at the creation of the
ABC
.
Les Johnson, Labor Whip 1977–1983, later served as Deputy Speaker and as High Commissioner in New Zealand.
Allan Guy, the Liberals' 1st whip, lost his seat to Gil Duthie, eventually a Labor whip.
Hubert "Oppy" Opperman, whip 1955–60, was a world-famous cyclist, and later a Cabinet minister.
Bern van Manen, Chief Government Whip since 2 July 2019.
Dr Earle Page was the Country Party's first whip and second leader. He served as
Treasurer
and, briefly, Prime Minister.
Mark Vaile, whip 1996–97, was later leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister.
Austin Chapman (Protectionist) was Australia's first government whip, and later served under Alfred Deakin in various capacities.
Elliot Johnson (Liberal) was the first whip later elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
