1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/01/2006

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Contents >> Chapter 2 - Government >> The Australian Government

THE 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 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, which 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

chairing Cabinet meetings.

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 or 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 2.1.

CABINET

Senior ministers are members of the Cabinet, the 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 the 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. The Governor-General does not attend Cabinet meetings.

2.1 MINISTRIES SINCE 1901
Number of ministry	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 -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	Liberal -Nationals

Source: Library of the Commonwealth Parliament.

Particulars of the Fourth Howard Ministry, comprising Cabinet ministers, other ministers and parliamentary secretaries are shown in table 2.2.

2.2 FOURTH HOWARD MINISTRY - October 2004
CABINET MINISTERS

Prime Minister	The Hon. John Howard, MP
Minister for Trade (Deputy Prime Minister)	The Hon. Mark Vaile, MP
Treasurer	The Hon. Peter Costello, MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs	The Hon. Alexander Downer, MP
Minister for Defence	Senator the Hon. Robert Hill
Minister for Finance and Administration	Senator the Hon. Nick Minchin, MP
Minister for Health and Ageing	The Hon. Tony Abbott, MP
Attorney-General	The Hon. Philip Ruddock, MP
Minister for the Environment and Heritage	Senator the Hon. Ian Campbell
Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts	Senator the Hon. Helen Coonan
Minister for Transport and Regional Services	The Hon. Warren Truss, MP
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs	Senator the Hon. Amanda Vanstone
Minister for Education, Science and Training	The Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, MP
Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues	Senator the Hon. Kay Patterson
Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources	The Hon. Ian Macfarlane, MP
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service	The Hon. Kevin Andrews, MP
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	The Hon. Peter McGauran, MP

OTHER MINISTERS

Minister for Vocational and Technical Education and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister	The Hon. Gary Hardgrave, MP
Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads	The Hon. Jim Lloyd, MP
Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer	The Hon. Mal Brough, MP
Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence	The Hon. De-Anne Kelly MP
Minister for Human Services	The Hon. Joe Hockey, MP
Special Minister of State	Senator the Hon. Eric Abetz
Minister for Ageing	The Hon. Julie Bishop, MP
Minister for Justice and Customs	Senator the Hon. Chris Ellison
Minister for the Arts and Sport	Senator the Hon. Rod Kemp
Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation	Senator the Hon. Ian Macdonald
Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs	The Hon. John Cobb, MP
Minister for Small Business and Tourism	The Hon. Fran Bailey, MP
Minister for Workforce Participation	The Hon. Peter Dutton, MP

PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister	The Hon. Gary Nairn, MP
Parliamentary Secretary (Trade)	Senator the Hon Sandy Macdonald
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer	The Hon. Chris Pearce, MP
Parliamentary Secretary (Foreign Affairs) and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs	The Hon. Bruce Billson, MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence	The Hon. Teresa Gambaro, MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration	The Hon. Dr Sharman Stone, MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing	The Hon. Christopher Pyne, MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage	The Hon. Greg Hunt, MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	Senator The Hon. Richard Colbeck
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training	The Hon. Pat Farmer, MP
Parliamentary Secretary (Children and Youth Affairs)	The Hon. Sussan Ley, MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources	The Hon. Warren Entsch, MP

Source: Library of the Commonwealth Parliament.