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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, however Mr Howard has made Kirribilli House in Sydney his primary residence since taking up the office of Prime Minister. Kirribilli House was intended to be used only when the Prime Minister was in Sydney on official business.
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. 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 was asked to take office as Australia's first Prime Minister, although his colleagues forced him to resign 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. More controversially, during the 1975 constitutional crisis, Malcolm Fraser was appointed as Caretaker 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. Powers
Salary 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 (e.g. the Treasurer) 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. Travel While traveling, the Prime Minister is able to conduct all the functions of the office aboard a plane when he or she are in and out of the country. The Prime Minister also utilizes a motorcade, in which the Prime Minister himself rides in a Prime Ministerial limousine. Other benefits The official residences are fully staffed and catered for both for the Prime Minster 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. Post-Prime Ministership 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. Notable some examples have included Edmund Barton as Judge of the High Court; George Reid was High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Fadden becoming Treasurer under another Prime Minister. As of 2006, 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. History
List of Prime Ministers Graphical timeline See also | ||||||||||||
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