AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT

PRIME MINISTER

The office of Prime Minister is not recognised by the Constitution, being a conventional part of the governmental arrangements. It is also a matter of convention that the Prime Minister is always a member of the House of Representatives.

After an election, the Governor-General sends for the leader of the party, or coalition, that has secured a majority in the House of Representatives, and commissions that person to assume the office of Prime Minister and to form a government.

The Prime Minister has the following powers:

• advising the Sovereign on the appointment of the Governor-General
• acting as the sole source of formal advice for the Governor-General
• advising the Governor-General as to when Parliament should be dissolved
• setting the date for House of Representatives elections
• allocating positions in the Cabinet and
• chairing Cabinet meetings.

The Hon Julia Gillard MP (Australian Labor Party) has been Prime Minister since 24 June 2010.

MINISTERS

The Prime Minister nominates members of his or her parliamentary party or coalition to serve as ministers, responsible for administering government departments such as the Treasury, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Defence. The Constitution requires that all ministers be either a member of the House of Representatives or a Senator. If a new minister is not an MP, it is obligatory for that minister to become an MP within three months of his/her appointment. Ministers may be appointed or replaced at any time between elections.

From time to time, certain members of the Commonwealth Parliament have been appointed by governments to assist ministers in their work. Such persons have been known by a variety of designations, including parliamentary under-secretary and assistant minister. The current term is parliamentary secretary.

The ministries since Federation are listed in table 4.1.

CABINET

Senior ministers are members of the Cabinet, meetings of which are chaired by the Prime Minister. Cabinet is not a body that is recognised by the Constitution, being a conventional part of governmental arrangements. Despite this, Cabinet effectively controls not only a government’s legislative program, but also government departments of state. In effect, therefore, Cabinet is the dominant political and administrative element in Australia's national government. Particulars of the third Gillard Ministry, comprising Cabinet ministers and the outer ministry, are shown in table 4.2.

4.1 MINISTRIES SINCE 1901—March 2012
Number	Ministry	Period of office	Party
1	Barton	1 January 1901 to 24 September 1903	Protectionist
2	Deakin	24 September 1903 to 27 April 1904	Protectionist
3	Watson	27 April 1904 to 17 August 1904	Australian Labor Party
4	Reid-McLean	18 August 1904 to 5 July 1905	Free Trade-Protectionist
5	Deakin	5 July 1905 to 13 November 1908	Protectionist
6	Fisher	13 November 1908 to 2 June 1909	Australian Labor Party
7	Deakin	2 June 1909 to 29 April 1910	Protectionist-Free Trade-Tariff Reform
8	Fisher	29 April 1910 to 24 June 1913	Australian Labor Party
9	Cook	24 June 1913 to 17 September 1914	Liberal
10	Fisher	17 September 1914 to 27 October 1915	Australian Labor Party
11	Hughes	27 October 1915 to 14 November 1916	Australian Labor Party
12	Hughes	14 November 1916 to 17 February 1917	Nationalist Labour
13–14	Hughes	17 February 1917 to 9 February 1923	Nationalist
15	Bruce-Page	9 February 1923 to 22 October 1929	Nationalist-Country Party
16	Scullin	22 October 1929 to 6 January 1932	Australian Labor Party
17–18	Lyons	6 January 1932 to 7 April 1939	United Australia Party
19	Page	7 April 1939 to 26 April 1939	Country Party-United Australia Party
20	Menzies	26 April 1939 to 14 March 1940	United Australia Party
21–22	Menzies	14 March 1940 to 29 August 1941	United Australia Party-Country Party
23	Fadden	29 August 1941 to 7 October 1941	Country Party-United Australia Party
24–25	Curtin	7 October 1941 to 6 July 1945	Australian Labor Party
26	Forde	6 July 1945 to 13 July 1945	Australian Labor Party
27–28	Chifley	13 July 1945 to 19 December 1949	Australian Labor Party
29–33	Menzies	19 December 1949 to 26 January 1966	Liberal-Country Party
34–35	Holt	26 January 1966 to 19 December 1967	Liberal-Country Party
36	McEwen	19 December 1967 to 10 January 1968	Liberal-Country Party
37–39	Gorton	10 January 1968 to 10 March 1971	Liberal-Country Party
40	McMahon	10 March 1971 to 5 December 1972	Liberal-Country Party
41–43	Whitlam	5 December 1972 to 11 November 1975	Australian Labor Party
44–48	Fraser	11 November 1975 to 11 March 1983	Liberal-National Country Party
49–52	Hawke	11 March 1983 to 20 December 1991	Australian Labor Party
53–55	Keating	20 December 1991 to 11 March 1996	Australian Labor Party
56–59	Howard	11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007	Liberal-Nationals
60	Rudd	3 December 2007 to 24 June 2010	Australian Labor Party
61–	Gillard	24 June 2010 to	Australian Labor Party
Source: Library of the Commonwealth Parliament.

4.2 GILLARD MINISTRY—March 2012
CABINET MINISTERS
Prime Minister	The Hon. Julia Gillard MP
Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister	The Hon. Wayne Swan MP
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research	Senator the Hon. Chris Evans
Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth	The Hon. Peter Garrett MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs	Senator the Hon. Robert Carr
Minister for Trade and Competitiveness	The Hon. Dr Craig Emerson MP
Minister for Finance and Deregulation	Senator the Hon. Penny Wong
Minister for Health	The Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP
Attorney-General and Minister for Emergency Management	The Hon. Nicola Roxon MP
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity	Senator the Hon. Stephen Conroy
Minister for Defence	The Hon. Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship	The Hon. Chris Bowen MP
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister Assisting on Queensland Floods Recovery	Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig
Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Minister for Disability Reform	The Hon. Jenny Macklin MP
Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Small Business	The Hon. Brendan O’Connor MP
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities	The Hon. Tony Burke MP
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport	The Hon. Anthony Albanese MP
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Minister for Industry and Innovation	The Hon. Greg Combet MP
Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism	The Hon. Martin Ferguson MP
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Minister for Social Inclusion and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform	The Hon. Mark Butler MP
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation	The Hon. Bill Shorten MP
Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government and Minister for the Arts	The Hon. Simon Crean MP
OUTER MINISTRY
Minister for Human Services	Senator The Hon. Kim Carr
Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Justice and Minister for Defence Materiel	The Hon. Jason Clare MP
Assistant Treasurer and Minister Assisting for Deregulation	The Hon. David Bradbury MP
Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Minister for Indigenous Health and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Centenary of ANZAC	The Hon. Warren Snowden MP
Minister for Community Services, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development and Minister for the Status of Women	The Hon. Julie Collins MP
Minister for Sport, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation	Senator the Hon. Kate Lundy
Minister for Employment Participation and Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare	The Hon. Kate Ellis MP
Special Minister of State and Minister for the Public Service and Integrity	The Hon. Gary Gray MP
Source: Library of the Commonwealth Parliament.

THE OPPOSITION

In Westminster-derived governments, such as Australia's, the Opposition has a recognised and formal status, being recognised in the Standing Orders of the Parliament and in legislation. The Opposition is seen as the alternative government and typically forms a 'shadow Cabinet' of MPs who prepare themselves to take on the reins of government. The Opposition also has the role of acting as the main critic of the government and of offering to the community an alternative set of policies.

Mr Tony Abbott MP (Liberal Party of Australia) has been Leader of the Opposition since 1 December 2009.