Prime Ministerial Power and Ministerial Accountability: Albanese’s Ministerial Reshuffle – July 2024
The Structure of the Australian Federal Ministry (Unit 3)
The Australian Federal Ministry is structured hierarchically to ensure effective government, with three main tiers: the Cabinet, the Outer Ministry, and the Assistant Ministry. The Cabinet is the prime committee of the executive, while “Ministry” is the collective noun for all current ministers regardless of their rank in the ministerial hierarchy.
The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is at the pinnacle of the executive hierarchy and wields the highest executive authority due to Westminster and cabinet conventions. Prime Ministers are responsible for choosing parliamentarians to fill the Ministry, allocating portfolios, chairing Cabinet, leading the government, and setting its policy directions. In practice, they also hold ministers to account – as the recent reshuffle illustrates. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is central to coordinating the Labor Cabinet and Ministry and ensuring that his government’s agenda is implemented. These roles illustrate Prime Ministers’ unrivalled power in Australia’s political and legal system.
Cabinet
The Cabinet contains the Prime minister and the highest-ranking ministers – “Cabinet-rank ministers”. Cabinet ministers are assigned portfolios of national importance, which include critical areas such as Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Immigration, Defence, and Treasury. For example, PM Albanese has shown great confidence in Tony Burke by promoting him to lead the Home Affairs super-department and the essential and challenging immigration portfolio. He also elevated Malarndirri McCarthy to the Indigenous Australians portfolio. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has left proven minister Jim Chalmers as Treasurer, responsible for the national budget.
Cabinet ministers oversee substantial public service departments that together form part of the executive branch called the “administrative executive”. They develop policies, and make decisions that shape the nation’s future and ensure its security – the two great responsibilities of a national government. The Cabinet meets secretly and collectively makes policy decisions. Its members are the most senior and influential politicians in the governing political party. The Prime Minister decides which portfolios are Cabinet-rank, which is another source of Prime Ministerial power. The Primes Minister’s choices are a good guide to the priorities of their governments. For example, after the July reshuffle, Pat Conroy remains Minister for Defence Industry and the Pacific – but his portfolios were elevated from the Outer Ministry to Cabinet, indicating PM Albanese’s concerns for Australia’s security in an increasingly dangerous world (i.e., wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and China’s expansion in the Pacific and threats to Taiwan). The Ukraine War has revealed the parlous state of Western nations’ defence industry production – including Australia’s – and shown the need for reinvesting in defence manufacturing. Likewise, the Indigenous Australians portfolio remains in Cabinet after the resignation of Linda Burney and her replacement by Malarndirri McCarthy, indicating the PM’s continuing concern for this area after the defeat of the Voice referendum in 2023.
Outer Ministry
The Outer Ministry forms the second tier of the executive hierarchy and consists of ministers who manage areas of lesser significance. Ministers in the Outer Ministry are not part of the Cabinet. They have various responsibilities and contribute to the national government but with a narrower focus than their Cabinet counterparts. For instance, Andrew Giles, who struggled as a Cabinet-rank minister, now serves in the Outer Ministry as the Minister for Skills and Training, managing workforce education and development policies. Similarly, Anne Aly oversees Early Childhood Education and Youth, playing a supporting role in shaping the nation’s education system.
The Outer Ministry supports the Cabinet by taking responsibility for specialised areas of administration and allowing the government to tackle a wide range of issues simultaneously without burdening the Cabinet with every field of executive action. It allows for additional ministers without making the Cabinet too large and unwieldy.
While the lower-ranked ministers of the Outer Ministry do not participate in the high-level policy discussions in Cabinet, their work is essential for implementing government policies in specific sectors. They may be “co-opted” to Cabinet meetings when the Cabinet discusses their portfolio, but they leave when the Cabinet moves on to other agenda items.
Assistant ministers may be promoted to the Outer Ministry by the Prime Minister. Jenny McCallister is an example of how Prime Ministers reward good performers and create patterns of loyalty and obligation in their subordinates that may further cement their power through patronage.
Assistant Ministry
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull created the Assistant Ministry to recognise the importance of the support work previously done by “parliamentary secretaries”. Its creation illustrates a Prime Minister’s exceptional power to determine both who is in the Ministry and its form and structure.
The Assistant Ministry constitutes the third tier of the federal ministerial hierarchy. Assistant ministers, formerly known as parliamentary secretaries, support the work of ministers in the Cabinet and the Outer Ministry by aiding in administrating their portfolios. They handle delegated responsibilities and often focus on specialised or peripheral issues within their domains. For example, Matt Thistlethwaite is the newly appointed Assistant Minister for Immigration, helping the new Minister for Immigration, Tony Burke, in his complex and challenging Immigration portfolio.
Assistant ministers provide support, ensuring that their senior colleagues can focus on strategic objectives while they handle the portfolio’s lower level operational tasks.
The Assistant Ministry provides opportunities for government backbenchers to gain entry to the Ministry, learn the ropes of ministerial responsibility, and prove themselves for higher office.
Prime Minister’s Power (Unit 3)
The Prime Minister of Australia can draw on Westminster convention for a source of a significant strength central to the power of patronage – i.e., the authority to appoint, demote, and dismiss ministers. Their power derives from the Prime Minister advising the Govenor-General to formally appoint the Federal Executive Council and, thus, the Ministry.
Section 64 of the Constitution vests the Governor-General with the legal power to appoint ministers. Section 62 allows them to remove ministers by excluding them from the Federal Executive Council. Westminster convention dictates that Governors-General follow the advice of the Prime Minister in exercising section 64 and 62 powers.
The power of patronage enables a Prime Minister to influence their government’s composition and talents. Almost as important, it builds personal loyalty among their ministers who depend on the Prime Minister’s favour for their roles and powers. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demonstrated this strength through a strategic Cabinet reshuffle in July 2024. He moved Clare O’Neil from Home Affairs and Cybersecurity to Housing and Homelessness. O’Neil remains in Cabinet but has been demoted by Mr Albanese by the loss of powerful portfolios. The move shows the Prime Minister’s ability to deal with political liabilities, realign ministerial talent, and reset the public narrative about their government.
A Cabinet reshuffle can remove the sting from the Opposition’s attacks and redirect the media’s attention from the government’s problems. It does so by removing problematic ministers and bringing new faces into the Ministry. Reshuffles are newsworthy events and can reset media attention by flooding the news cycle with new stories.
Mr Albanese promoted Tony Burke from Employment and Workplace Relations Minister to Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration – two more prestigious portfolios. The promotion rewards Mr. Burke’s strong parliamentary and media performances. It likely makes him a loyal Albanese ally as the Prime Minister reinforces his position against potential Cabinet rivals. The elevation of Senator Jenny McAllister from Assistant Minister to the Outer Ministry portfolios for Cities and Emergency Management illustrates the Prime Minister’s role in recognising and rewarding potential. Like Mr Burke, Ms McAllister has benefited from Mr Albanese’s patronage and will likely be loyal to him.
These examples from the July 2024 reshuffle demonstrate how the power to appoint, demote, and dismiss ministers gives the Prime Minister power to reset the narrative, reward the most capable individuals through appointment to roles where they can improve government performance, and build a loyal base of support within the Ministry.
Ministerial Accountability – Andrew Giles (Unit 4)
In the real-world practice of ministerial responsibility, ministers are accountable more to the Prime Minister than to the Parliament, despite the theoretical Westminster convention of individual ministerial responsibility that suggests otherwise.
The reality of ministerial accountability is illustrated by the demotion of Andrew Giles in the July 2024 Cabinet reshuffle. As Immigration Minister, Mr Giles faced significant pressures from the High Court’s NZYQ decision and the contentious Direction 99 issue. His problems were exacerbated by relentless Opposition scrutiny during Question Time and his poor performance defending himself in the heat of scrutiny on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Westminster conventions dictate that ministers should be accountable to Parliament – specifically, the lower house – and, by extension, the public through the Westminster Chain of Accountability. However, the government’s dominance and control over the House of Representatives’ processes and procedures shifts the locus of accountability to the Prime Minister. This is because the Westminster conventions of ministerial responsibility only work if the Parliament is relatively independent of the government – which is rarely the case in the modern Australian political system where majority governments are the norm and parties exercise control over their MP’s votes. In Giles’s case, the inability to manage his portfolio – and the subsequent parliamentary pressure – gave the Opposition too much ammunition and the media too much negative news. Mr Giles’ predicament caused the government ongoing political pain and finally led Prime Minister Albanese to use his power to implement the July reshuffle and demote him to the Outer Ministry. Mr Giles’ demotion shows that in practice a minister’s capacity in a portfolio and performance in Parliament are evaluated by the Prime Minister, who has the real power to demote or dismiss them as they see fit. Thus, while parliamentary accountability remains the formal convention – and, to be fair, it still works to set expectations about ministers’ performance and conduct – in practice, ministers’ accountability today lies squarely with the Prime Minister.
List of Cabinet Changes
Tony Burke
- Change: Took on new roles as Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Cyber Security.
- Promoted: Burke is the primary beneficiary of the reshuffle. He gains the influential Home Affairs and Immigration portfolios. Both portfolios are central to the public’s perception of the government’s performance and require a highly competent minister.
Julie Collins
- Change: New roles as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Minister for Small Business.
- Moved within Cabinet. Collins shifted her portfolio responsibilities without a promotion or demotion.
Murray Watt
- Change: New role as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations.
- Promoted: Watt was promoted from agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and emergency services management to a higher profile role.
Clare O’Neil
- Change: New roles as Minister for Housing and Homelessness.
- Demoted with Cabinet: O’Neil stays in Cabinet but was moved from the senior portfolios of Home Affairs and Cybersecurity to the less senior Housing and Homelessness.
Malarndirri McCarthy
- Change: New role as Minister for Indigenous Australians.
- Promoted: McCarthy moved up from assistant minister to a full ministerial role.
Pat Conroy
- Change: New roles as Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery; Minister for International Development and the Pacific.
- Promoted to Cabinet: Conroy kept his portfolio, which was elevated to Cabinet.
Outer Ministry
Andrew Giles
- Change: New role as Minister for Skills and Training.
- Demoted to Outer Ministry: Giles was perceived to have a reduced portfolio scope, moving from immigration to skills and training.
Jenny McAllister
- Change: New roles as Minister for Cities and Minister for Emergency Management.
- Promoted to Outer Ministry: McAllister was elevated from assistant minister to a full ministerial role.
Assistant Ministers
Matt Thistlethwaite
- Change: New role as Assistant Minister for Immigration.
- Moved within the Assistant Ministry. Thistlethwaite retained his assistant ministerial status with different responsibilities.
Patrick Gorman
- Change: New roles as Assistant to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service, and Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General.
- Moved within the Assistant Ministry. Gorman retained his assistant ministerial status with different responsibilities.
Ged Kearney
- Change: New roles as Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health.
- Moved within the Assistant Ministry. Kearney shifted to new assistant ministerial roles.
Tim Ayres
- Change: New roles as Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia and Assistant Minister for Trade.
- Moved within the Assistant Ministry. Ayres retained his assistant ministerial status with different responsibilities.
Anthony Chisholm
- Change: New roles as Assistant Minister for Education, Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
- Moved within the Assistant Ministry. Chisholm retained his assistant ministerial status with different responsibilities.
Kate Thwaites
- Change: New roles as Assistant Minister for Social Security, Assistant Minister for Ageing, and Assistant Minister for Women.
- Promoted from the backbench.
Josh Wilson
- Change: New role as Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy.
- Promoted from the backbench.
Julian Hill
- Change: New role as Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.
- Promoted from the backbench.
