President of the Victorian Legislative Council

The President of the Victorian Legislative Council, also known as the presiding officer of the council, is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Victoria and equivalent to the President of the Australian Senate. When there is a vacancy in the office of president, a new president is elected by the members of the council from among its number. The president ceases to hold that office if they cease to be a member of the council, and can be removed at any time by a vote of the members. The current president is Shaun Leane.

President of the Legislative Council
Incumbent Shaun Leane (Labor) since 20 December 2022
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Elected by the Victorian Legislative Council
Inaugural holder	Sir James Frederick Palmer
Formation	21 November 1856
Website	http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/president

The role of the president

The president is always a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, and is the ceremonial head of that council. The president performs ceremonial duties, and represents the council to other organisations. In conjunction with the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the president is responsible for the administration of the Victorian Parliament. When the council is sitting, the president enforces procedures and assists the smooth running of council meetings. The president is assisted in their duties by a deputy president.

Choosing the president

The president of the Legislative Council is an elected position. When a new president is required, any member of the Legislative Council may propose, during a council sitting, any other present member for the position of president. If more than one member is proposed and seconded, all members must agree to one particular candidate. After election, the president presents his or herself as the choice of the council to be their president.

List of presidents of the Legislative Council

Note: where no political party is listed, this means that either the party is unknown, or that the President in question was not affiliated with any particular party. Multiple parties are listed in cases where the President represented more than one party over his career as a Member of the Legislative Council.

Ordinal	President	Party (if applicable)	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
1	Sir James Frederick Palmer	no party alignment	21 November 1856 (1856-11-21)	1 August 1870 (1870-08-01)	13 years, 253 days
2	Sir William Mitchell		27 October 1870 (1870-10-27)	24 November 1884 (1884-11-24)	14 years, 28 days
3	Sir James MacBain		27 November 1884 (1884-11-27)	8 November 1892 (1892-11-08)	7 years, 347 days
4	Sir William Zeal		10 November 1892 (1892-11-10)	31 May 1901 (1901-05-31)	8 years, 202 days
5	Sir Henry John Wrixon		18 June 1901 (1901-06-18)	28 June 1910 (1910-06-28)	9 years, 10 days
6	Sir John Mark Davies		6 July 1910 (1910-07-06)	30 June 1919 (1919-06-30)	8 years, 359 days
7	Sir Walter Manifold	Nationalist	8 July 1919 (1919-07-08)	28 August 1923 (1923-08-28)	4 years, 51 days
8	Sir Frank Clarke	Nationalist United Australia Party Liberal	29 August 1923 (1923-08-29)	30 June 1943 (1943-06-30)	19 years, 305 days
9	Sir Clifden Eager	Nationalist Party of Australia Liberal Liberal & Country	29 June 1943 (1943-06-29)	30 June 1958 (1958-06-30)	15 years, 1 day
10	Sir Gordon McArthur	Liberal & Country Liberal	8 July 1958 (1958-07-08)	10 August 1965 (1965-08-10)	7 years, 33 days
11	Sir Ronald Mack	Liberal	14 September 1965 (1965-09-14)	12 February 1968 (1968-02-12)	2 years, 151 days
12	Sir Raymond Garrett		20 February 1968 (1968-02-20)	30 June 1976 (1976-06-30)	8 years, 131 days
13	William Fry		29 June 1976 (1976-06-29)	1 July 1979 (1979-07-01)	3 years, 2 days
14	Fred Grimwade		18 July 1979 (1979-07-18)	15 July 1985 (1985-07-15)	5 years, 362 days
15	Rod Mackenzie	Labor	16 July 1985 (1985-07-16)	24 October 1988 (1988-10-24)	3 years, 100 days
16	Alan Hunt	Liberal	25 October 1988 (1988-10-25)	26 October 1992 (1992-10-26)	4 years, 1 day
17	Bruce Chamberlain		27 October 1992 (1992-10-27)	24 February 2003 (2003-02-24)	10 years, 120 days
18	Monica Gould	Labor	25 February 2003 (2003-02-25)	18 December 2006 (2006-12-18)	3 years, 296 days
19	Bob Smith		19 December 2006 (2006-12-19)	20 December 2010 (2010-12-20)	4 years, 1 day
20	Bruce Atkinson	Liberal	21 December 2010 (2010-12-21)	19 December 2018 (2018-12-19)	7 years, 363 days
21	Shaun Leane	Labor	19 December 2018 (2018-12-19)	18 June 2020 (2020-06-18)	1 year, 182 days
22	Nazih Elasmar		18 June 2020 (2020-06-18)	20 December 2022 (2022-12-20)	4 years, 156 days
(21)	Shaun Leane		20 December 2022 (2022-12-20)	Incumbent	1 year, 337 days