National Cabinet (Australia): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 01:47, 15 March 2024

National Cabinet

Chair	Anthony Albanese (Prime Minister)
Current members	Chris Minns (NSW) Jacinta Allan (Vic) Steven Miles (Qld) Roger Cook (WA) Peter Malinauskas (SA) Jeremy Rockliff (Tas) Andrew Barr (ACT) Eva Lawler (NT)
Founded	2020; 4 years ago (2020)
Affiliated	Australian federal government and the state and territory premiers and chief ministers
Website
federation.gov.au/national-cabinet
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Originally established on 13 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, National Cabinet replaced the now-defunct Council of Australian Governments (COAG) as the primary intergovernmental forum on 29 May 2020, citing excessive bureaucracy and infrequent meetings.^[1] National Cabinet is composed of the main forum (prime minister, premiers, and chief ministers), and specialised committees focusing on: rural and regional Australia, skills, infrastructure, health, transport, population and migration, and energy.^[2]

History and description[edit]

The formation of the National Cabinet was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 13 March 2020,^[3] following a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).^[4] It was created via the "National Partnership on COVID-19 Response" agreement^[5] to "coordinate and deliver a consistent national response to COVID-19" during the global COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]^[7]^[8]

The New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, joined a National Cabinet meeting in May 2020 to discuss the economic benefits of trans-Tasman travel between the two nations.^[9]

It has been described as akin to Australia's War Cabinet during the Second World War.^[10] At the heights of the pandemic (prior to the widespread rollout of COVID-19 vaccines), meetings of National Cabinet were held using secure video conferencing.^[8] National Cabinet has been criticised for its secrecy.^[11]

Role and responsibilities[edit]

The prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison, has said that the National Cabinet has "the status of a cabinet meeting" at a federal level, meaning it has the same confidentiality and Freedom of Information protections as the federal cabinet, under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.^[8] However, this was later rejected in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which found that the body was not a Cabinet committee and was subject to ordinary freedom of information laws.^[15]

Public policy specialist Jennifer Menzies describes the National Cabinet as "COAG by another name", which has taken on a leadership role during a time of national crisis. She writes "Though called a cabinet, the national cabinet is technically an intergovernmental forum. The conventions and rules of cabinet, such as cabinet solidarity and the secrecy provisions, do not apply to the national cabinet. Its power is that which the leaders of all Australian jurisdictions bring to negotiate on behalf of their people, and to implement the decisions reached." This model has been called executive federalism.^[14]

Current membership[edit]

Name	Office held	In office since
Anthony Albanese	Prime Minister of Australia (Chair)	23 May 2022	Labor
Chris Minns	PremierofNew South Wales	28 March 2023	Labor
Jacinta Allan	PremierofVictoria	27 September 2023	Labor
Steven Miles	PremierofQueensland	15 December 2023	Labor
Roger Cook	PremierofWestern Australia	8 June 2023	Labor
Peter Malinauskas	PremierofSouth Australia	21 March 2022	Labor
Jeremy Rockliff	PremierofTasmania	8 April 2022	Liberal
Andrew Barr	Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory	11 December 2014	Labor
Eva Lawler	Chief Minister of the Northern Territory	21 December 2023	Labor

Former membership[edit]

Name	Office held	Member from	Member until
James Merlino	Acting Premier of Victoria	9 March 2021	28 June 2021	Labor
Gladys Berejiklian	PremierofNew South Wales	13 March 2020	5 October 2021	Liberal
Steven Marshall	Premier of South Australia	13 March 2020	21 March 2022	Liberal
Peter Gutwein	Premier of Tasmania	13 March 2020	8 April 2022	Liberal
Michael Gunner	Chief Minister of the Northern Territory	13 March 2020	13 May 2022	Labor
Scott Morrison	Prime Minister of Australia	13 March 2020	23 May 2022	Liberal
Dominic Perrottet	PremierofNew South Wales	5 October 2021	28 March 2023	Liberal
Mark McGowan	PremierofWestern Australia	13 March 2020	8 June 2023	Labor
Daniel Andrews	PremierofVictoria	13 March 2020	27 September 2023	Labor
Annastacia Palaszczuk	PremierofQueensland	13 March 2020	15 December 2023	Labor
Natasha Fyles	Chief Minister of the Northern Territory	13 May 2022	21 December 2023	Labor

Meetings and press releases[edit]

Succession of COAG[edit]

There had been suggestions for the National Cabinet to continue on a permanent basis after the pandemic is over, effectively replacing COAG. On 14 April 2020, Prime Minister Morrison was reported saying, "The processes we've established for the National Cabinet may prove to be a better way for our federal system to work in the future, but this will be a matter for another time", and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan said no other state leaders had objected when he had brought up the idea of continuing the National Cabinet. He also told The Australian newspaper, "The National Cabinet process has removed the political boundaries that can hamper COAG".^[31]^[32]

Former Labor premier of South Australia Jay Weatherill called it a "fantastic innovation [that] should continue", adding that it had "achieved more in the last few months than many COAGs have achieved over many years".^[33]

On 29 May 2020, the Prime Minister announced that the National Cabinet would replace COAG (with COAG being abolished) and meetings after the pandemic would be held monthly, instead of the biannual meetings of COAG.^[1] According to Simon Benson of The Australian newspaper, an analogy used to describe the significance of this was "as if the United Nations had been turned into a government".^[34]

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