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Western Australian McGowan Labor Government: Full Cabinet List

This is the full list of Cabinet members and Parliamentary Secretaries in the Western Australian McGowan Labor government.

The ministers took office today at a swearing-in ceremony at Government House.

There are 17 members of the Cabinet: 12 men, 5 women.

There are 7 Parliamentary Secretaries: 4 men, 3 women

The ministers took office following the ALP’s victory in the election on March 11. The ALP won 41 seats to 18 for the Liberals and Nationals. The seat of Kalgoorlie remains in doubt, but will be won by either Liberal or National candidate. The Liberals are likely to finish with 13 seats and the Nationals with 5. [Read more…]


2016 Federal Election: The Oncers Who Have Become Twicers

Most of the first-term members of the previous parliament have been returned to the new 45th parliament.

Of 42 members elected for the first time at the 2013 federal election, 31 (73.8%) were re-elected on July 2, 2016.

Eight members (19%), all Liberals, were defeated at the election. [Read more…]


The Ages Of The Shorten ALP Shadow Ministry

This is a breakdown of the Shorten ALP Shadow Ministry based on age.

For comparative purposes, see the statistics on The Ages of The Turnbull Government Ministers.

Whereas Turnbull is currently the only member of the executive over the age of 60, the ALP has 8 such members, including 2 in the Shadow Cabinet: Jenny Macklin and Senator Kim Carr. In most respects, however, the age breakdown is fairly similar between the ALP and the Coalition.

The oldest member of the Shorten team is Warren Snowdon, 66, who first entered Parliament in 1987. The youngest is Senator Sam Dastyari, 32, who filled a casual vacancy in 2013.

The average age of the Shorten team is 50.2, compared to 48.7 for the government. Turnbull’s Cabinet has an average age of 49.4, compared to Shorten’s 50.0.

Shorten ALP Opposition – Ages of Shadow Ministers – Summary
Group 60-69 50-59 40-49 30-39 Total Average Age
CABINET
2
7
11
1
21
50.0
OUTER MINISTRY
2
2
3
2
9
48.4
PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES
4
6
4
2
16
51.4
TOTALS
8
15
18
5
46
50.2

[Read more…]


Gray Gray, ALP Member For Brand, To Retire From Parliament At Election

Gary Gray, the Labor member for the Western Australian electorate of Brand, has announced that he will retire from Parliament at this year’s election.

GrayGray, 57, has held Brand for three terms since he succeeded the former ALP leader, Kim Beazley, in 2007. He announced his retirement tonight at a meeting of the Brand Electorate Council.

Gray said it was “time to move on, and to support renewal in the WA Federal Parliamentary Party”.

Last year, Gray and the member for Perth, Alannah MacTiernan, were at risk of losing their preselections in the face of a push for control by the ALP state secretary, Patrick Gorman, who demanded that they sign a “candidate’s pledge”. The party’s National Executive intervened in the disputes in support of the MPs’ right to nominate. Gray also faced a challenge from the party’s Left faction via a candidate from the Electrical Trades Union.

At the 2013 election, Gray held Brand by a margin of 2.88%. Despite a nationwide swing of 3.61%, and a statewide swing in Western Australia of 1.87%, the swing against Gray was just 0.45%.

Following the redistribution of electoral boundaries in Western Australia, it is estimated that Brand’s margin is now 3.8%. [Read more…]