Western Australian ministries

The ministries of Western Australia (popularly called Cabinets) are the centre of executive power in the Government of Western Australia. They are composed of Ministers who are responsible for one or more portfolios, answer questions on those portfolios in Parliament, and control the operation and administration of departments, authorities, statutes and votes within those portfolios. In a formal constitutional sense, they possess executive power through being appointed to the Executive Council, which contains all members of the Ministry plus a Clerk (who is a staff member and not a member of Parliament), and is headed by the Governor of Western Australia who represents the Crown.

The members of the Ministry are selected by the Premier of Western Australia and then appointed by the Governor from members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly and Western Australian Legislative Council associated with the governing party or coalition. However, in Labor ministries generally, and the Nationalist Lefroy Ministry (1917–1919), Cabinet's composition is chosen by caucus (a meeting of all Parliamentary members of the party) rather than by the Premier. The Ministry must command the support of the Legislative Assembly—if it either loses a vote of no confidence on the floor of the Assembly, or loses a general election and hence a majority in the Assembly, it is expected to resign and the Opposition Leader, as prospective Premier, is then expected to form a Ministry.

The Constitution of Western Australia does not require Ministers to be members of Parliament, but provides that non-members can only be Ministers for a maximum of three months. This means that when a Government loses an election, the Ministry remains in office (in "caretaker mode") until a new Ministry is presented to the Governor for appointment. For example, when the state election on 6 September 2008 produced a defeat for the Labor government, the Labor ministers remained in office until 23 September 2008, when Premier Colin Barnett appointed a new Ministry.

Until 1948, it was necessary for Ministers, when appointed, to resign their seat in Parliament and re-contest it at a ministerial by-election—these were generally uneventful, but on two occasions, Ministers were defeated—in 1901 when half the Morgans Ministry were defeated, and in 1917 when John Scaddan was defeated upon his appointment to the Lefroy Ministry.

List of Western Australian ministries
Name Premier Party Date appointed Date replaced Reason for replacement
Forrest MinistrySir John ForrestMinisterial29 December 189014 February 1901Premier entered federal politics
Throssell MinistryGeorge ThrossellMinisterial15 February 190127 May 1901Lacked support in Assembly
Leake Ministry (1st)George LeakeOpposition27 May 190121 November 1901Lost confidence motion in Assembly
Morgans MinistryAlf MorgansMinisterial21 November 190123 December 1901Lost confidence motion in Assembly
Leake Ministry (2nd)George LeakeOpposition23 December 19011 July 1902Premier died in office
James MinistryWalter JamesOpposition1 July 190210 August 1904Lost election
Daglish MinistryHenry DaglishLabor10 August 190425 August 1905Lost confidence motion in Assembly
Rason MinistryCornthwaite RasonMinisterial25 August 19057 May 1906Premier resigned
Moore MinistrySir Newton MooreMinisterial7 May 190616 September 1910Premier resigned
Wilson Ministry (1st)Frank WilsonMinisterial16 September 19107 October 1911Lost election
Scaddan MinistryJohn ScaddanLabor7 October 191127 July 1916Lost confidence motion in Assembly
Wilson Ministry (2nd)Frank WilsonWA Liberal27 July 191628 June 1917Ministry collapsed
Lefroy MinistrySir Henry LefroyNationalist28 June 191717 April 1919Premier resigned
Colebatch MinistryHal ColebatchNationalist17 April 191917 May 1919Ministry collapsed
Mitchell Ministry (1st)Sir James MitchellNationalist17 May 191915 April 1924Lost election
Collier Ministry (1st)Philip CollierLabor16 April 192423 April 1930Lost election
Mitchell Ministry (2nd)James MitchellNationalist24 April 193024 April 1933Lost election
Collier Ministry (2nd)Philip CollierLabor24 April 193319 August 1936Premier retired
Willcock MinistryJohn WillcockLabor20 August 193631 July 1945Premier retired
Wise MinistryFrank WiseLabor31 July 19451 April 1947Lost election
McLarty–Watts MinistryRoss McLartyLiberal-Country1 April 194723 February 1953Lost election
Hawke MinistryAlbert HawkeLabor23 February 19532 April 1959Lost election
Brand–Watts MinistrySir David BrandLiberal-Country2 April 195911 April 1962Deputy Premier retired
Brand–Nalder MinistrySir David BrandLiberal-Country12 April 19623 March 1971Lost election
Tonkin MinistryJohn TonkinLabor3 March 19718 April 1974Lost election
Court–McPharlin MinistrySir Charles CourtLiberal-Country8 April 19745 June 1975Deputy Premier resigned
Court MinistrySir Charles CourtLiberal-National Country5 June 197525 January 1982Premier resigned
O'Connor MinistryRay O'ConnorLiberal-National Country25 January 198225 February 1983Lost election
Burke MinistryBrian BurkeLabor25 February 198325 February 1988Premier resigned
Dowding MinistryPeter DowdingLabor25 February 198818 February 1990Premier deposed by caucus
Lawrence MinistryDr Carmen LawrenceLabor19 February 199016 February 1993Lost election
Court–Cowan MinistryRichard CourtLiberal-National16 February 199316 February 2001Lost election
Gallop MinistryDr Geoff GallopLabor16 February 20013 February 2006Premier resigned
Carpenter MinistryAlan CarpenterLabor3 February 200623 September 2008Lost election
Barnett MinistryColin BarnettLiberal23 September 200817 March 2017Lost election
McGowan MinistryMark McGowanLabor17 March 2017Incumbent

See also
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