A passing comment on today’s Insiders program about Malcolm Turnbull being the only member of the Federal Cabinet over the age of 60 led to the tables on this page.

Turnbull is the only member of the executive over 60 in what we traditionally called the ministry, but only if you don’t count the Parliamentary Secretaries, the people now called Assistant Ministers. Two of them – Ken Wyatt and Jane Prentice – are over 60.

Turnbull is the only member of Cabinet or the Outer Ministry over 60, but only since Andrew Robb and Warren Truss retired earlier this year. Ian Macfarlane was also over 60 but he left the government last year (with a little help from Turnbull).

Of the 22 members of Cabinet, 13 are under the age of 50. At 39, Kelly O’Dwyer is the youngest Cabinet minister, whilst Senator Matt Canavan, at 35, is the youngest member of the outer ministry. Two of the twelve Assistant Ministers are under 40, with Wyatt Roy the youngest member of the entire executive, at 25.

Two of Turnbull’s Cabinet ministers will soon turn 60. Senator Nigel Scullion gets there on May 4. Provided the government survives the expected double dissolution on July 2, Julie Bishop will still be a Cabinet minister when she turns 60 on July 17. Senator Arthur Sinodinos and Senator George Brandis will turn 60 in 2017.

The overall average age of Turnbull’s 42-member executive is 48.7. The average age of the 22 members of Cabinet is 49.4. The Outer Ministry of 8 averages 47.3, whilst the 12 Assistant Ministers average 48.4. Wyatt Roy pulls the average of the Assistant Ministers down a bit but it’s interesting that there aren’t more of them from the ranks of the 30-somethings, given that the position is seen as a training ground. [Read more…]