It has only had four members. The first, Sir Ross Hutchinson, served as a senior minister in the Brand government. He was succeeded in 1977 by Bill Hassell, who served as Opposition Leader to Premier Brian Burke in 1984–1986. Hassell retired in 1990, and was succeeded by Colin Barnett at a by-election. Barnett served as Deputy Premier, Minister for Energy and, after 1995, Education during the Court government in 1993–2001, and Opposition Leader in 2001–2005. Barnett, seen as a moderate within Liberal ranks, resigned the leadership after the 2005 election. He had originally planned to retire at the 2008 election, but after the troubled seven-month leadership of Troy Buswell and generally poor opinion polls, Barnett was persuaded to reconsider (the nominated candidate for Cottesloe, Deidre Willmott, stood aside), and regained the leadership on 6 August 2008 on a unanimous party vote, one day before the 2008 election was called. At this election, Barnett became Premier of a minority Liberal-National government.