From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kevin Rudd (front, middle), with Governor-General Michael Jeffery and the rest of his Ministry after being sworn in on 3 December 2007.

The Cabinet of Australia is the council of senior ministers of the Crown, responsible to parliament. The Cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serves at his pleasure. The strictly private Cabinet meetings occur once a week to discuss vital issues and formulate policy. Outside of the cabinet there are a number of junior ministers, responsible for a specific policy area and reporting directly to a senior minister.

The Constitution of Australia does not recognise the Cabinet as a legal entity, and its decisions have no legal force. All members of the ministry are also members of the Executive Council, a body which is – in theory, though rarely in practice – chaired by the Governor-General, and which meets solely to endorse and give legal force to decisions already made by the Cabinet. For this reason, there is always a member of the ministry holding the title Vice-President of the Executive Council.^{[citation needed]}

Until 1956 all members of the ministry were members of the Cabinet. The growth of the ministry in the 1940s and 1950s made this increasingly impractical, and in 1956 Robert Menzies advised the creation of a two-tier ministry, with only senior ministers holding Cabinet rank. This practice has been continued by all governments except the Whitlam Government.

When the non-Labor parties have been in power, the Prime Minister has advised the viceroy on all Cabinet and ministerial appointments at his own discretion, although in practice he consults with senior colleagues in making appointments. When the Liberal Party and its predecessors (the Nationalist Party and the United Australia Party) have been in coalition with the National Party or its predecessor the Country Party, the leader of the junior Coalition party has had the right to nominate his party's members of the Coalition ministry, and to be consulted by the Prime Minister on the allocation of their portfolios.^{[citation needed]}

When the Labor Party first held office under Chris Watson, Watson assumed the right to choose members of the Cabinet. In 1907, however, the party decided that future Labor Cabinets would be elected by members of the Parliamentary Labor Party, the Caucus, and this practice has been followed ever since. The Prime Minister retains the right to allocate portfolios. In practice, Labor Prime Ministers have exercised a predominant influence over who has been elected to Labor Cabinets, although leaders of party factions also exercise considerable influence.

Since the introduction of the two-tier ministry, meetings of Cabinet are attended by senior ministers only, although other ministers may attend if an area of their portfolio is on the agenda. Cabinet meetings are chaired by the Prime Minister, and a senior public servant is present to write the minutes and record decisions.^[1]

The Prime Minister and Cabinet, through the authority of the Defence Act 1903, have the power to commit Australian forces to armed conflict overseas without the support of the Parliament. The deployment of Australian forces to Iraq in 2003 was the first time that such a decision had been made without majority parliamentary approval, and the Australian Democrats unsuccessfully introduced an amendment Bill to place such powers in the hands of the Parliament.^[2]

The Prime Minister is the "first among equals" in the cabinet because he has the right to advise the Governor-General on appointing and dismissing ministers. The Prime Minister also controls the agenda and influences outcomes by being able to defer and promote decision at will. In this respect the Cabinet has been able to consolidate the Prime Minister's authority over other ministers.^[3]

The Australian Cabinet follows the traditions of the British parliamentary cabinet system, in that the Cabinet is responsible to the parliament to make policy decisions, but Cabinet discussions are confidential and are not disclosed to the public apart from the announcement of decisions. This secrecy is necessary to ensure that items of national security are not made public, and so that ministers can speak freely and disagree with each other during discussions.^[1]

Cabinet documents are held separately from other documents, and may be destroyed once no longer in use, or when a change of government occurs.^[4] Since 1986, minutes and records of Cabinet meetings are embargoed from public release or disclosure for 30 years.^[5]

Ministers are bound by a principle of Cabinet solidarity, meaning that once cabinet has made a decision, all ministers must publicly support and defend that decision, regardless of their personal views on the subject.^[6]

The Australian Cabinet, which was sworn in on 3 December 2007, is as follows:^[7]

Main article: Shadow Cabinet of Australia

Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in parliament appoints from its ranks a Shadow Cabinet to monitor government ministers and present itself as an alternate government. The portfolios of shadow ministers usually correspond with those of the government, although the former Labor opposition's portfolio of Homeland Security was not present in the Cabinet. Smaller opposition parties often appoint spokespersons for Cabinet portfolios, but do not comprise the Shadow Cabinet.

• Current Australian Commonwealth ministry

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