1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2012
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/05/2012
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Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.
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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:
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.
OUTER MINISTRY
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.