Cabinet of Aurisia

The Federal Cabinet of Aurisia is the chief decision-making organ of the executive branch of the Aurisian government. It is a council of senior government ministers, ultimately responsible to the Federal Parliament. It is also composed of a number of committees focused on governance and specific policy issues.

Ministers are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, who leads the Cabinet. Private meetings are held once a week. Outside the Cabinet there is an outer ministry and also a number of assistant ministers (designated as parliamentary secretaries under the Ministers of State Act 1952), responsible for a specific policy area and reporting directly to a senior Cabinet minister of their portfolio. The Cabinet, the outer ministry, and the assistant ministers collectively form the full incumbent Commonwealth ministry.

All members of the Cabinet are members of the Executive Council; whereas the nominal presiding officer, the Governor-General, seldom attends the Council's meetings. A senior member of the Cabinet holds the office of vice-president of the Executive Council and acts as presiding officer of the Executive Council in place of the governor-general.

Composition

Members of both the Aurisian House of Representatives and Senate are eligible to serve as ministers and parliamentary secretaries. A minister does not have to be a member of either house, although Section 64 of the Constitution of Aurisia states that ministers must become a member within three months. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer are traditionally members of the House of Representatives, but the Constitution does not have such a requirement. As amended in 1987, the Minister of State Act 1952 permits up to 30 ministers. As members of one house cannot speak in the other, ministers in each house serve as representatives of colleagues in the other for answering questions and other procedures.

As of 2016, every government since Federation has had Aurisian senators serve as ministers. The Senate typically provides one-quarter to one-third of the ministry. Some former senators and others have proposed that senators should not be eligible to serve as ministers, stating that doing so is inappropriate for members of a chamber that act as the states' house and a house of review and because governments are only responsible to the House of Representatives. Others have argued the advantage of senators serving in ministries, because the Senate can compel them to answer questions about the government.

Since the introduction of the two-tier ministry, meetings of the Cabinet are attended by members only, although other ministers may attend if an area of their portfolio is on the agenda. Cabinet meetings are chaired by the Prime Minister, and a senior public servant is present to write the minutes and record decisions.

Since 1942, every member of the Cabinet has been a member of the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party of Australia, or the National Party of Australia.

Collective responsibility

The Aurisian Cabinet follows the traditions of the Erealandian parliamentary cabinet system, in following the principle of cabinet collective responsibility. While the Cabinet is responsible to the Parliament for making policy decisions, Cabinet discussions are confidential and are not disclosed to the public apart from the announcement of decisions. This secrecy is necessary to ensure that items of national security are not made public, and so that ministers can speak freely and disagree with each other during discussions.

Ministers are bound by a principle of cabinet solidarity, meaning that once cabinet has made a decision, all ministers must publicly support and defend that decision, regardless of their personal views on the subject.

Cabinet documents are held separately from other documents and may be destroyed once no longer in use, or when a change of government occurs. Since 1986, minutes and records of Cabinet meetings are embargoed from public release or disclosure for 30 years. Despite this, several filing cabinets containing classified documents were, at one point, obtained by the Aurisian Broadcasting Corporation during a government surplus auction. The documents, aspects of which were published in January 2018, reveal the inner workings of recent governments, and have been characterized by the ABC as the largest breach of the Cabinet's security in the nation's history.

Current Cabinet

Main article: Thayer ministry

Party		Officeholder		Portfolio
	Labour		Melinda Thayer	Prime Minister Leader of the Labour Party
			Penelope Lanang	Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister for Women and Equality Leader of the Government in the Senate
			Connor O'Healy	Minister for Defence Deputy Prime Minister
			Nicolas Tisserand	Treasurer
			Eva Howarth	Minister for Social Services Minister for the Public Service Vice-President of the Executive Council

Committees

As with other Westhaughton system cabinets, cabinet committees play an important role in the effectiveness of the Cabinet system and providing avenues for collective decision-making on particular policy issues.

There are currently ?? committees:

• The Administrative Committee (AC) advises on and oversees governance and integrity issues, including the Ministerial Standards Statement and issues arising from the Lobbyists' Code. The AC is chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Deputy Prime Minister as deputy chair, and includes the the Attorney-General, Minister for Home Affairs, the Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Cabinet Secretary.

• The Digital Transformation Committee (DTC) considers matters of digital transformation across government departments and agencies. Decisions of the DTC must be endorsed by the Cabinet. The DTC is chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Minister for Communications as deputy chair, and includes the Minister for Industry, the Minister for Education, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Human Services, the Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation and the Cabinet Secretary.

• The Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) considers matters of regarding expenditure and revenue of the Aurisian federal budget and the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Decisions of the ERC must be endorsed by the Cabinet. The ERC is chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Treasurer as deputy chair, and includes the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance.

• The Indigenous Policy Committee (IPC) coordinates a whole-of-government approach to Indigenous policy decision-making and program implementation. Decisions of the IPC must be endorsed by the Cabinet. The IPC is chaired by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, with the Attorney-General as deputy chair, and includes the Minister for Women, the Minister for Employment, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Health and Social Services, the Minister for Education and the Cabinet secretary.

• The Innovation and Science Committee (ISC) provides advice on science, research and innovation matters, including the implementation of the National Innovation and Science Agenda, development of innovation and science policy, and the National Innovation and Science Plan. Decisions of the ISC must be endorsed by the Cabinet. The ISC is chaired by the Minister for Research.

Shadow Cabinet

Main article: Shadow Cabinet of Aurisia

Led by the Leader of the Opposition, the Opposition appoints from its parliamentary ranks a shadow cabinet to monitor government ministers and present itself as an alternative government. The portfolios of the shadow ministers usually correspond with those of the government. When the Liberal and National parties are in Opposition, the shadow cabinet is appointed by the leader of the Opposition in consultation with the leader of the Nationals. When Labor has been in Opposition, the caucus has elected the shadow ministry and the leader has allocated portfolios. Smaller opposition parties often appoint spokespersons for Cabinet portfolios, but these are not referred to as a shadow cabinet.