Cabinet of Australia in the context of Australian federal government

The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the prime minister, cabinet ministers and other ministers that currently have the support of a majority of the members of the House of Representatives (the lower house) and also includes the departments and other executive bodies that ministers oversee. The current executive government consists of Anthony Albanese and other ministers of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), in office since the 2022 federal election.

The prime minister is the head of the federal government and is a role which exists by constitutional convention, rather than by law. They are appointed to the role by the governor-general (the federal representative of the monarch of Australia). The governor-general normally appoints the parliamentary leader who commands the confidence of a majority of the members of the House of Representatives. Also by convention, the prime minister is a member of the lower house.

Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the legislative body of Australia's federal level of government. The building also houses the core of the executive (the Australian Government), containing the Cabinet room and offices of the Prime Minister and other federal ministers.

Located in Canberra, Parliament House is situated on the southern apex of the National Triangle atop Capital Hill, at the intersection of Commonwealth, Adelaide, Canberra and Kings Avenues enclosed by the State Circle.

The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the federal executive government. Under the principles of responsible government, the prime minister is both responsible to and a member of the Commonwealth Parliament. The current prime minister is Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party, who assumed the office on 23 May 2022.

The role and duties of the prime minister are not described by the Australian constitution but rather defined by constitutional convention deriving from the Westminster system and responsible government. The prime minister is formally appointed by the governor-general, who is ordinarily constrained by convention to choose the parliamentarian able to command the confidence of the House of Representatives (the lower house). Since Federation, this has almost always been the leader of the majority party or coalition. In practice, this means the prime minister most often changes after an election results in a different party gaining control of the lower house or as a result of the majority party changing its leader internally between elections.

The Federal Executive Council is a body established by section 62 of the Australian Constitution to advise the governor-general of Australia, on the matters of the federal government. The council comprises, at least notionally, all current and former Commonwealth ministers and assistant ministers, but in practice only includes the Governor-General and current government ministers. As the Governor-General is bound by convention to follow the advice of the Executive Council on almost all occasions, the Executive Council has de facto executive power. In practice, this power is used to legally enact the decisions already made by Federal Cabinet, due to the practices of the Westminster system making the cabinet a de facto authority in its own right.

There are some laws that specifically require decisions or actions to be made by the "Governor-General in Council", which means that they must be effected by the Governor-General on the advice of the Federal Executive Council, as opposed to by a minister acting alone. The matters that are typically required to be dealt with by the Governor-General in Council include:

Sussan Penelope Ley (pron. /ˈsuːzən ˈliː/, "Susan Lee"; née Susan Penelope Braybrooks; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as the Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2025, being the first woman to hold either role. Prior to assuming the party leadership, she was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and deputy leader of the Liberal Party. Ley served as a cabinet minister in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. She also served as a parliamentary secretary in the final term of the Howard government.

Ley was born in Nigeria to English parents and grew up in the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) and England before moving to Australia as a teenager. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a commercial pilot, farmer and public servant based in Albury, New South Wales. She was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2001 federal election representing the regional New South Wales division of Farrer.

Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Liberal Party from 2022 to 2025. He was the member of parliament (MP) for the Queensland seat of Dickson between the 2001 and 2025 elections. He previously held ministerial office in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments, including as a cabinet minister from 2013 to 2022.

Dutton grew up in Brisbane. He worked as a police officer in the Queensland Police for nearly a decade upon leaving school, and later ran a construction business with his father. He joined the Liberal Party as a teenager and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2001 election, aged 30. Following the 2004 election, he was appointed as Minister for Employment Participation. In January 2006, Dutton was promoted to Assistant Treasurer under Peter Costello. After the defeat of the Liberal-National Coalition at the 2007 election, he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Health, a role he held for the next six years.