The shadow cabinet or shadow ministry is a feature of the Westminster system of government. It consists of a senior group of opposition spokespeople who, under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, and whose members shadow or mirror the positions of each individual member of the Cabinet. Their areas of responsibility, in parallel with the ruling party's ministries, may be referred to as a shadow portfolio. Members of a shadow cabinet have no executive power. It is the shadow cabinet's responsibility to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government, as well as to offer alternative policies. The shadow cabinet makes up the majority of the Official Opposition frontbench, as part of frontbenchers to the parliament. Smaller opposition parties in Britain and Ireland have Frontbench Teams.
Sussan Penelope Ley is an Australian politician who has been deputy leader of the Liberal Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition since May 2022. She has been member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales seat of Farrer since 2001 and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.
The Cabinet of Australia, also known as the Federal Cabinet, is the chief decision-making body of the executive branch of the federal government of Australia. The cabinet is appointed by the prime minister of Australia and is composed of senior government ministers who head the executive departments and ministries of the federal government, this often includes assistant ministers and a number of special envoys and other government advisors. The cabinet is separate to the federal Department of the Prime Ministers and Cabinet.
Warren Errol Truss is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th deputy prime minister of Australia and the minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott government and the Turnbull government. Truss served as the federal leader of the National Party of Australia between 2007 and 11 February 2016 when he announced his decision to retire and not contest the 2016 federal election. He was the member of the House of Representatives for Wide Bay from the 1990 election until his retirement in May 2016. Following the merger of the Queensland branches of the Nationals and Liberals, Truss was re-elected in 2010 for the Liberal National Party.
Mitchell Peter Fifield is an Australian politician and diplomat who last served as the Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations. He previously served as a Senator for Victoria from 2004 to 2019, representing the Liberal Party. He was a government minister in the Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments, serving as Assistant Minister for Social Services (2013–2015), Manager of Government Business in the Senate (2013–2015), Minister for Communications (2015–2019), and Minister for the Arts (2015–2019).
Richard Donald Marles is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the 19th and current deputy prime minister of Australia and the Minister for Defence since May 2022. He has been the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019, having served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Corio since 2007.
Bradley Ronald "Brad" Hazzard is a retired Australian politician who served as the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly district of Wakehurst between May 1991 and March 2023.
Michaelia Clare Cash is an Australian politician who served as the 38th Attorney-General of Australia from 2021 to 2022 in the Morrison government. She has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2008 and is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Darren Jeffrey Chester is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the House of Representatives for Gippsland in Victoria, representing the Nationals since 2008. Chester had served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Defence Personnel between March 2018 and July 2021 in the Turnbull and Morrison governments. He was also Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC until May 2019.
Kenneth George Wyatt is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, representing the Division of Hasluck for the Liberal Party. He is the first Indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives, the first to serve as a government minister, and the first appointed to cabinet.
Daniel Thomas Tehan is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal Party and has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2010 election, representing the Victorian seat of Wannon. He held ministerial office in the Coalition governments under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, serving as Minister for Defence Materiel (2016), Defence Personnel (2016–2017), Veterans' Affairs (2016–2017), Social Services (2017–2018), Education (2018–2020), and Trade, Tourism and Investment. He was a public servant and political adviser before entering parliament.
Alan Tudge is an Australian former politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the House of Representatives between 2010 and 2023. He was a cabinet minister in the Morrison government from 2019 to 2022.
Karen Lesley Andrews is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison government as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology from 2018 to 2021 and as Minister for Home Affairs from 2021 to 2022. She is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and has represented the Queensland seat of McPherson since the 2010 federal election. Andrews sits as a Liberal and previously served as an assistant minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. Before entering politics she was a mechanical engineer and industrial relations consultant.
David Bernard Coleman is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal Party and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2013 federal election, holding the New South Wales seat of Banks. Coleman served as the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention from December 2020 until May 2022. He previously served as Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs in the Morrison government from August 2018, although in December 2019 he took indefinite leave for personal reasons. He had earlier served as Assistant Minister for Finance in the Turnbull government from 2017 to 2018.
The Shadow Ministry of Bill Shorten was the opposition Australian Labor Party shadow ministry from October 2013 to May 2019, opposing the Abbott government, Turnbull government and Morrison government.
The first Turnbull ministry was the 69th ministry of the Government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. It succeeded the Abbott ministry after a leadership spill that took place on 14 September 2015 ended Prime Minister Tony Abbott's leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia. On 15 September, the National Party confirmed, after successful negotiations, that it would continue a coalition agreement with the Liberal Party, guaranteeing the Turnbull government a majority in the Australian House of Representatives.
Julian Martin Leeser is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal Party and has represented the Division of Berowra since the 2016 federal election. He was a shadow minister under Peter Dutton from 2022 to 2023.
The second Turnbull ministry was the 70th ministry of the Government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. It succeeded the first Turnbull ministry following the 2016 Australian federal election on 2 July 2016.
The second Morrison ministry was the 72nd ministry of the Australian Government. It was led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The second Morrison ministry succeeded the first Morrison ministry following the 2019 Australian federal election. The ministry was announced on 26 May 2019 and was sworn in on 29 May. Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election, the ministry was succeeded by the Albanese ministry on 23 May 2022.
The Shadow Ministry of Matthew Guy was the Coalition opposition, opposing the Andrews government in the Parliament of Victoria, Australia. Matthew Guy held the position of opposition leader twice, first from 4 December 2014 until 6 December 2018, following his loss in the 2018 Victorian state election, and then again from 7 September 2021 until 8 December 2022 when he defeated his successor, Michael O'Brien in a leadership spill. The shadow cabinet was made up of the caucuses from the Liberal Party and Nationals.
