What is the Cabinet in Australian government?

The Cabinet in Australian government is the senior decision-making body of the executive, made up of the Prime Minister and senior ministers from across major portfolios. Cabinet sets the government's direction, decides major policy questions, allocates resources, and coordinates the work of individual ministers and departments.

Cabinet operates by convention rather than by formal constitutional provision. The Constitution refers only to ministers of the Crown and to the Federal Executive Council (section 62), but Cabinet has been the practical centre of executive decision-making throughout Australian federal history. Cabinet meetings are confidential, with discussions covered by the convention of Cabinet confidentiality protecting frank discussion among ministers.

Cabinet operates through committees for specific portfolio areas: the Expenditure Review Committee (often called the Razor Gang), the National Security Committee, the Cabinet Committee on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, the Cabinet Committee on Indigenous Affairs, and others. These committees develop detailed proposals for full Cabinet consideration. The full Cabinet typically meets weekly during sittings and less often during constituency periods, with additional meetings called as needed.

Cabinet decisions follow the principle of collective responsibility. Once Cabinet makes a decision, all ministers must publicly support it, even if they disagreed in the discussion. Ministers who cannot accept a decision are expected to resign from Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary (a senior public servant in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet) supports the Cabinet's work through preparing agendas, distributing papers, recording decisions, and implementing follow-up. Cabinet papers are kept confidential for 20 years before being released to the National Archives under the Archives Act 1983, with major Cabinet decisions then becoming subjects of research and journalism. Recent reforms following the Robodebt Royal Commission have emphasised the importance of ministers being properly informed by their departments and of decision-making being properly recorded.