Prime Minister of Australia
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The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. The Prime Minister is head of government for Australia and holds office on commission from the Governor-General.
Barring exceptional circumstances, the Prime Minister is always the leader of the political party with majority support in the House of Representatives.
John Howard is the current Prime Minister and was sworn in on March 11, 1996. He is the 25th Prime Minister since Federation and leads the Liberal Party of Australia.
The Prime Minister's official residence is the The Lodge in Canberra, but not all Prime Ministers choose to make use of it. Jim Scullin preferred to live at the Hotel Canberra (now the Hyatt Hotel); Ben Chifley lived in the Kurrajong Hotel; and John Howard has made Kirribilli House in Sydney his primary residence.
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[edit] Appointment
The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General under section 64 of the Australian Constitution. Section 64 of the Constitution empowers the Governor-General to appoint Ministers of State, and requires such Ministers to be members of the House of Representatives or the Senate. These Ministers are ex officio members of the Federal Executive Council and constitute the Cabinet. The Prime Minister in practice is the leader of the Cabinet. By convention, he or she will always be a Member of the House of Representatives.
The Prime Minister is, like other ministers, normally sworn in by the Governor General and then presented with the Commission (Letter patent) of office. When defeated in an election, or on resigning, the Prime Minister is said to "hand in the commission" and actually does so by returning it to the Governor General. In the event of a Prime Minister dying in office, or becoming incapacitated, the Governor-General can terminate the commission. The Governor-General can also dismiss a Prime Minister by notifying the Prime Minister in writing of the termination of their commission.
Despite the importance of the office of Prime Minister, the Constitution does not mention the office by name. The conventions of the Westminster system were thought to be sufficiently entrenched in Australia by the authors of the Constitution that it was deemed unnecessary to detail them.
In rare circumstances, the Governor-General may appoint someone other than the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives to be Prime Minister. At the time of Federation, no parliament had yet been established, so Sir William Lyne, as Premier of New South Wales, was asked to take office as Australia's first Prime Minister, but he was unable to form a Cabinet and returned his commission in favour of Edmund Barton, who led a caretaker government until elections were held. Following the death or resignation of the Prime Minister, the Governor-General will appoint as Prime Minister the person most likely to have majority support in the House of Representatives - in most circumstances, the Deputy Prime Minister.
Following the presumed drowning of Harold Holt in December 1967, the Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Country Party, Sir John McEwen, was appointed Prime Minister until such time as the Liberal Party was able to elect a new leader. They chose John Gorton, who was appointed Prime Minister while a Senator, but on the understanding that he would resign from the Senate in order to contest the by-election for Harold Holt's former seat in the House of Representatives. After resigning from the Senate, he remained Prime Minister while being a member of neither house, and continued in office after winning the by-election.
More controversially, during the 1975 constitutional crisis, Malcolm Fraser was appointed as Prime Minister to replace Gough Whitlam. Theoretically the Governor-General can dismiss the Prime Minister or any other Minister at any time, but his or her power to do so is heavily circumscribed by convention.
[edit] Powers
Most of the Prime Minister's powers derive from his or her position as the head of the Cabinet, and through their leadership of the party (or coalition of parties) in the majority in the lower house. In practice, the Federal Executive Council will act to ratify all decisions made by the Cabinet, and in practice, decisions of the Cabinet will always require the support of the Prime Minister. The powers of the Governor-General - to assent to legislation, to dissolve and prorogue Parliament, to call elections, and to make appointments - are exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The power of the Prime Minister is subject to a number of limitations. If the Prime Minister is removed as leader of his or her party, or if he or she loses a vote of no-confidence in the House of Representatives, he or she must resign the office or be dismissed by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister must receive the support of both houses of Parliament to pass any legislation (though secondary legislation, called Regulations, can be made by ministerial decree). The Prime Minister's party normally will have a majority in the House of Representatives, and party discipline is exceptionally strong in Australian politics, so the passage of legislation through the House is usually a formality. Attaining the support of the Senate can be more difficult, since there the Government will often be in a minority.
[edit] Prime Ministerial salary and benefits
[edit] Salary
| Date established | Salary | |
|---|---|---|
| June 2, 1999 | $289,270 | |
| September 6, 2006 | $309,270 |
The Prime Minister is the highest-paid member of parliament. A raise was approved by Parliament in 2006 because salaries paid to other officials that had annual cost-of-living increases were approaching the Prime Minister's salary; the Prime Minister's salary therefore needed to be increased to allow for further increases to officials' salaries.[citation needed]
By comparison, average yearly earnings for full-time workers in Australia are about $55,000 [1]. However, the Prime Minister's wage is far lower than that of the CEOs of Australia's major corporations, such as the $3 million base salary of Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo[2]
[edit] Benefits
The Royal Australian Air Force's 34 Squadron transports the Prime Minister within Australia and overseas by specially converted Boeing Business Jets and smaller Challenger aircraft. The aircraft contain secure communications equipment as well as office, conference room and sleeping compartments.
The official residences are fully staffed and catered for both the Prime Minister and his family, and the considerable amount of official entertaining expected. Prime Ministers also receive the opportunity to attend many significant cultural and sporting events from prime viewing positions.
Prime Ministers continue to have benefits after leaving office, such as free office space, the right to hold a Life Gold Pass and budgets for office help and staff assistance. Life Gold Pass entitles eligible former Prime Ministers to travel within Australia for "non-commercial" purposes at government expense.
Former Prime Ministers continue to be important national figures, and in some cases go on to successful post-prime ministerial careers. Some notable examples have included Edmund Barton as Judge of the High Court; George Reid was High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Arthur Fadden becoming Treasurer under another Prime Minister.
As of 2007, there are four living former Prime Ministers: Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. The most recently deceased Prime Minister is John Gorton, who died on 19 May 2002. Gough Whitlam is currently the oldest living Australian Prime Minister.
[edit] History
Since the framers of the Australian constitution from the beginning intended it to largely follow the Westminster system, the office of Prime Minister has existed since the inauguration of the Commonwealth.
[edit] List of Prime Ministers
Below is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia by name, birth date, birth place, date first elected to the Australian parliament, political party, electoral constituency, date assumed office, date left office, date left parliament (where applicable) and date of death (where applicable).
The parties shown are those to which the Prime Ministers belonged at the time they held office, and the electoral divisions shown are those they represented while in office. Several Prime Ministers belonged to parties other than those given and represented other electorates before and after their prime ministerships.
[edit] Graphical timeline
[edit] See also
- Prime Minister
- Ballarat Botanical Gardens contains a collection of bronze busts of all Australian Prime Ministers set within Horse Chestnut Avenue.
- Australian Prime Ministers with military service
- List of Australian Prime Ministers by time served
[edit] External links
- Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archive of Australia
- Biographies of Australia's Prime Ministers / National Museum of Australia
- Official website of the Prime Minister of Australia
- Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
| Prime Ministers of Australia |  |
|---|---|
| Barton | Deakin | Watson | Reid | Fisher | Cook | Hughes | Bruce | Scullin | Lyons | Page | Menzies | Fadden | Curtin | Forde | Chifley | Holt | McEwen | Gorton | McMahon | Whitlam | Fraser | Hawke | Keating | Howard | |
