Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Executive government
• the overall co-ordination of government
• designing, shepherding and implementing the budget
• negotiating with the states and managing the Council of Australian
Governments (COAG)
• waging war
• responding to disasters.
Recall that under responsible government, ministers are individually responsible
to parliament for the actions of their departments. Ministers may be subject
to questioning in parliament, but this obligation does not extend to parliamentary
secretaries. Ministers can also be held to account through parliamentary committee
activities, statutory authorities such as the Australian National Audit Office,
Freedom of Information requests and, in the most extreme cases, royal commissions.
Should a minister lose the confidence of the House due to maladministration
within her department, she may resign. Far worse is losing the confidence of her
party room or her prime minister. In the best case scenario, a minister may be
quietly eased out at the next Cabinet reshuffle; in the worst, she may face the
ignominy of being sacked. Individual ministerial responsibility is a principle
underpinned by norms and practised as convention, and is therefore open to
interpretation. Further issues of accountability are discussed below.
Ministerial selection
Chief executives (in Australia, prime ministers) have a large say in ministerial
selection, but they do operate under constraints. In Australia, the principal
constraints on prime ministers relate to party and strategic considerations. In
other executive–legislative regimes, constitutional considerations, such as the way
prime ministers must negotiate appointments with presidents in semi-presidential
systems, may also be important. Before the election of Kevin Rudd in 2007, Labor
prime ministers were unable to directly select their ministry. Instead, Labor leaders
had the power to allocate portfolios among candidates either elected by the caucus
or approved by a smaller advisory committee. However, even where prime
ministers enjoy full powers to hire ministers, they often consider representational
constraints, such as state (well accommodated) and gender (poorly accommodated)
balance. In Australia, party considerations include factional alignment and an
appropriate balance between parties in a governing coalition. Strong party
discipline, the role of factions, the small selection pool and the emphasis on
relatively even state representation mean that Australian prime ministers are more
heavily constrained than they appear at first glance. 16
16 Dowding and Lewis 2015.
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