In Australian parliamentary practice, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, also known (especially before the 1940s) as Leader of the Senate, is a party office held by the most senior minister in the Australian Senate, elected by the government party to lead the party (or parties) in the body. Though the leader in the Senate does not have the power of the office of prime minister, there are some parallels between the latter's status in the House of Representatives and the former's in the Senate. In addition to his or her own ministerial portfolio, the leader has overarching responsibility for all policy areas and acts as the government's principal spokesperson in the upper house. The leader, like the prime minister, is entitled to sit at the table of the Senate, and has priority in g