accountability of the executive: through CMR and IMR

what is executive made up of, and how many numbers for each

government (96), ministry (30-40), cabinet (20)

Who is the administrative executive

public service

who is the political executive

government

public sector

a term used to describe all activities of the public service to differentiate it from the private sector

what is the public service

ministerial departments and agencies and their employees, which is funded through the budget

what is a public servant

a person who serves a minister in the public service loyally and impartially. they are governed by Howard’s public service act 1999

bureaucracy

hierarchical organization of officials, appointed to carry out public objectives

who is the most senior public servant

Steven kennedy, who is the secretary of the PM and cabinet. He is the highest paid at $914,000 a year

ministerial responsibility

• Ministers are individually responsible for the work of their departments and are answerable to parliament for all their departments activities

• They are expected to accept responsibility for any failure in admin, any injustice to an indiviual or any aspect of policy which may by criticised in parliament, whether personally or not

three types of behaviour ministers can be held responsible for

• Personal (when the ministers behaviour, though unrelated to any portfolio held, is not appropriate of a minister in the commonwealth. Eg barnaby joyce getting drunk in canberaa falling on pavement)

• Primary (in relation to the policy decisions ministers make within their portfolio)

• Vicarious (in relation to the activities of the public servants)

bridget mckenzie example

• the department of PM and cabinet found that she was a member of a gun club which recieved $36,000 under a program she oversaw as sports minister

• she then resigned for a conflict of interest on 2 feb 2019

• 'I maintain that at no time did my membership of the shooting sports club influence my decision making, nor did I receive any personal gain. However, I acknowledge that my failure to declare my memberships in a timely manner constituted a breach of the PM's ministerial standards'

• BUT, she came back into the ministry, as a regional education minister

angus taylor example

• minister for energy and emissions reduction

• In 2019 he met up w environment minster to discuss weakening law about banning farmers from clearing endangered grasses from their land

• Investigation was also being conducted at the time into the poisoning of grass on a property from a company taylor had a part in

• Conflict of interest

• He refused to resisgn and says he makes no apology

how else can individual minsters be held responsible aside from IMR? and example

By their party. for example throughout the Morrison coalition government, a number of ministers were reshuffled, promoted and demoted in or out of cabinet, such as Melissa price who was stood down as environmental minister after the 2019 election.

collective ministerial responsibility

A westminster style parliaments the government is the party (or coalition) that can demonstrate majority support in the lower house of parliament. If a government cannot maintain this support it must resign

cabinet confidentiality

the members of the cabinet must not reveal the content of the discussion which takes place. This allows for cabinet members to privately debate and raise concerns.​

cabinet solidarity

the members of the cabinet must publicly show a unified position, and must vote with the government even if they privately disagree with the decision that has been made. If they can’t agree, they must resign. 

strengths and weakness of CMR