The Cabinet is a group of high-ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It should not be confused with the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive committee. Cabinet is a group of senior ministers who hold very important portfolios. But Council of Ministers is a group of Cabinet Ministers as well as some other ministers. Cabinet is present inside the Council.

Overview[link]

In some countries, particularly those that use the Westminster system, the Cabinet collectively decides the government's policy and tactical direction, especially in regard to legislation passed by the parliament. In countries with a presidential system, such as the United States, the Cabinet does not function as a collective legislative influence; rather, their primary role is as an official advisory council to the head of government. In this way, the President gets opinions and advice in upcoming decisions. The second role of cabinet officials is to administer executive branch government agencies or departments (in the United States, these are the federal executive departments)

In most countries, including those that use the Westminster system, Cabinet ministers are appointed from among sitting members of the legislature and remain members of the legislature while serving in the cabinet. In other countries, especially countries with a presidential system, the opposite is true - Cabinet members must not be sitting legislators, and legislators who are offered appointments must resign if they wish to accept.

In most governments, members of the Cabinet are given the title of minister, and each holds a different portfolio of government duties ("Minister for the Environment," etc.). In a few governments, as in the case of the United States, the Philippines, Mexico and the United Kingdom, the title of secretary is also used for some Cabinet members ("Secretary of Education," or "Secretary of State" in the UK). Attorneys general also sit in the cabinet. The day-to-day role of most cabinet members is to serve as the head of one segment of the national bureaucracy to whom all other employees in that department report.

The size of cabinets varies, although most contain around ten to twenty ministers. Researchers have found an inverse correlation between a country's level of development and cabinet size: on average, the more developed a country is, the smaller is its cabinet.^[1]

Origins of cabinets[link]

Historically, cabinets began as smaller sub-groups of the English Privy Council. The term comes from the name for a relatively small and private room used as a study or retreat. Phrases such as "cabinet counsel," meaning advice given in private to the monarch, occur from the late 16th century, and, given the non-standardized spelling of the day, it is often hard to distinguish whether "council" or "counsel" is meant.^[2]

The Oxford English Dictionary credits Francis Bacon in his Essays (1605) with the first use of "Cabinet council", where it is described as a foreign habit, of which he disapproves: "For which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France, in some kings’ times, hath introduced cabinet counsels; a remedy worse than the disease".^[3]

Charles I began a formal "Cabinet Council" from his accession in 1625, as his Privy Council, or "private council", was evidently not private enough^{[citation needed]}, and the first recorded use of "cabinet" by itself for such a body comes from 1644, and is again hostile and associates the term with dubious foreign practices.^[2] The process has repeated itself in recent times, as leaders have felt the need to have a Kitchen Cabinet or "sofa government"^{[original research?]}.

Westminster cabinets[link]

Under the Westminster system, members of the cabinet are collectively responsible for all government policy. All ministers, whether senior and in the cabinet or junior ministers, must publicly support the policy of the government, regardless of any private reservations. Although, in theory, all cabinet decisions are taken collectively by the cabinet, in practice many decisions are delegated to the various sub-committees of the cabinet, which report to the full cabinet on their findings and recommendations. As these recommendations have already been agreed upon by those in the cabinet who hold affected ministerial portfolios, the recommendations are usually agreed to by the full cabinet with little further discussion.

Cabinet deliberations are secret and documents dealt with in cabinet are confidential. Most of the documentation associated with cabinet deliberations will only be publicly released a considerable period after the particular cabinet disbands; for example, twenty years after they were discussed.

In theory the prime minister or premier is first among equals. However, the prime minister is the person from whom the head of state will ultimately take advice on the exercise of executive power, which may include the powers to declare war, use nuclear weapons, expel ministers from the cabinet, and to determine their portfolios in a cabinet reshuffle. This position in relation to the executive power means that, in practice, the prime minister has a high degree of control over the cabinet: any spreading of responsibility for the overall direction of the government has usually been done as a matter of preference by the prime minister – either because they are unpopular with their backbenchers, or because they believe that the cabinet should collectively decide things.

The shadow cabinet consists of the leading members, or frontbenchers, of an opposition party, who generally hold critic portfolios "shadowing" cabinet ministers, questioning their decisions and proposing policy alternatives.

The Westminster cabinet system is the foundation of cabinets as they are known at the federal and provincial (or state) jurisdictions of Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Pakistan, India, South Africa, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth of Nations countries whose parliamentary model is closely based on that of the United Kingdom.

United States Cabinet[link]

Barack Obama's Cabinet, 2009

Under the doctrine of separation of powers, a cabinet under a presidential system of government is part of the executive branch. In theory, at least, they carry out policy rather than create it. In addition to administering their respective segments of the executive branch, cabinet members are responsible for advising the head of government on areas within their purview.

They are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the head of government and are therefore strongly subordinate to the president as they can be replaced at any time. Normally, since they are appointed by the president, they are members of the same political party, but the executive is free to select anyone, including opposition party members, subject to congressional confirmation.

Normally, the legislature or a segment thereof must confirm the appointment of a cabinet member; this is but one of the many checks and balances built into a presidential system. The legislature may also remove a cabinet member through a usually difficult impeachment process.

In the Cabinet, members do not serve to influence legislative policy to the degree found in a Westminster system; however, each member wields significant influence in matters relating to their executive department. Since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States has acted most often through his own executive office or the National Security Council rather than through the Cabinet as was the case in earlier administrations.

European Union[link]

In some European countries and in the institutions of the European Union, "cabinet" (French pronunciation: [kabiˈne]) refers not to a group of officials, but to the private office of consultants and assistants working directly for a minister or senior executive.

Cabinets[link]

See also[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Cabinet.

• Ministerial responsibility
• Cabinet collective responsibility

References[link]

Senator The Honourable Penny Wong
Penny Wong in May 2012
Australian Senator for South Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2002
12th Minister for Finance and Deregulation
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 September 2010
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Lindsay Tanner
Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water
In office 3 December 2007 – 13 September 2010
Prime Minister	Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard
Preceded by	position created
Succeeded by	Greg Combet
Personal details
Born	(1968-11-05) 5 November 1968 (age 43) Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Domestic partner	Sophie Allouache
Children	Alexandra
Residence	Australia
Alma mater	University of Adelaide
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Uniting Church in Australia
Website	www.financeminister.gov.au

Penelope "Penny" Ying-yen Wong^[1] (born 5 November 1968), an Australian senator representing South Australia, is the Commonwealth Minister for Finance and Deregulation. Wong is a member of the Labor Party and member of the Australian federal cabinet.

Wong was the first Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water. Her appointment was amended on 26 February 2010, by the Prime Minister, to the Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water. This change in the Government's cabinet was brought about by the controversy of the Home Insulation Program (HIP).^[2] On 13 September 2010, she was sworn in as Minister for Finance and Deregulation in the Gillard Labor cabinet.^[3] She has been a member of the Australian Senate since 2002, representing South Australia.

Wong is the first openly lesbian member of the cabinet, and the first Asian-born federal minister.^[4][5] Before entering Parliament, Penny Wong was a barrister and solicitor in Adelaide and an adviser to the Carr Government in New South Wales.^[6]

Early life[link]

Wong was born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia to a Malaysian Chinese Hakka father and an Australian mother.^[7][8] She moved to Australia at the age of eight with her mother and younger brother Toby, after her parents separated. Toby went on to become a chef in Adelaide, South Australia.

Wong gained a scholarship to Scotch College, Adelaide where she studied chemistry, physics and mathematics and was accepted into the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide.^[9] After spending a year on exchange in Brazil,^[10] Wong found she had an aversion to blood. She then studied and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours at the University of Adelaide and completed a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of South Australia.^[9][11][12]

When she was 18, Wong took over the control of the Adelaide University Labor Club.^[13] While at university, she worked part-time for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. Wong also became involved in political activism at university, winning a position on the National Executive of the National Union of Students. Wong has been a delegate to the South Australian Labor Party State Convention every year since 1989, with the exception of 1995.^[14] Her time at university was one where a substantial number of contemporaries became Australian politicians. Former senator Natasha Stott Despoja was a contemporary, along with current Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill whom Wong dated while at university.^[10][9]

Career[link]

Wong graduated from university in 1992. She continued her association with the CFMEU as an industrial officer. She was admitted to the South Australian Bar in 1993.

During 1995 and 1996, Wong acted as an advisor to the timber union and the newly-elected New South Wales state government, specialising in the area of forest policy in the middle of the fierce 1990s environmental battles over logging in NSW.^[15]

On returning to Adelaide, Wong began practising law, working as a solicitor at the firm Duncan and Hannon between 1996 and 1999. From 1999 to 2002, Wong worked as a legal officer with the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. During this time, she also won a position on the ALP's state executive.

During her legal career (between 1996 and 2002), Wong appeared 11 times before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 15 times before the South Australian Industrial Relations Court, 8 times before the South Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 3 times before the South Australian Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal and 10 times before the South Australian Workers Compensation Tribunal.^[16]

Wong ran for pre-selection for the Senate in 2001, and was selected for the top position on the Labor Party's South Australian ticket. Wong is a member of EMILY's List Australia, the support network for Labor women, and, until her appointment as a minister following the 2007 election, sat on a number of Senate committees, primarily those related to economics.

In June 2005, Wong was appointed Shadow Minister for Employment and Workforce Participation and Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility. Following the reshuffle in December 2006, she became responsible for the portfolios of Public Administration and Accountability, Corporate Governance and Responsibility, and Workforce Participation.

In November 2007, in the wake of the Labor Party victory in the 2007 election, Wong was appointed Minister for Climate Change and Water. As a result of this promotion, she is the highest ranked politician representing South Australia. She accompanied then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to Bali for the international climate change talks. Wong led final negotiations as Chair of the United Nations Working Group in the closing days of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2007,^[17] shortly after her appointment as Minister for Climate Change and Water.

In September 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced Wong had been promoted to succeed Lindsay Tanner as Minister for Finance and Deregulation.^[18][19]

Personal life[link]

Penny Wong is lesbian, and was the first sitting member of the Australian Labor Party to come out while still in parliament.^[20] Her partner, Sophie Allouache, a public servant and former University of Adelaide Students' Association president, attended her swearing-in ceremony along with Wong's mother, Jane Chapman. Although her father remains overseas, they keep in touch.^[10] In December 2011, Allouache gave birth to their first child, Alexandra,^[21] after announcing the IVF-assisted pregnancy using donor sperm in August 2011.^[22]

In 2010, Wong was selected by readers of samesame.com.au as one of the 25 most influential lesbian Australians.^[23] Wong is a practising Christian,^[10] attending Pilgrim Uniting Church in Adelaide.

See also[link]

• Rudd Ministry
• Gillard Ministry

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Penny Wong

• Official ALP website biography
• Penny Wong Senate Biography

v t e Rudd Cabinet (2007–10) Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd Anthony Albanese • Chris Bowen • Tony Burke • Kim Carr • Stephen Conroy • Simon Crean • Chris Evans • John Faulkner • Martin Ferguson • Joel Fitzgibbon • Peter Garrett • Julia Gillard • Joe Ludwig • Jenny Macklin • Robert McClelland • Nicola Roxon • Stephen Smith • Wayne Swan • Lindsay Tanner • Penny Wong