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User:JackofOz/Ministers not in Parliament

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This is a List of people who held Australian Federal Ministries while not Members of the Australian Parliament.

Section 64 of the Australian Constitution empowers the Governor-General to appoint ministers to administer departments. Such appointments are by convention always made on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Section 64 requires a minister to be a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate, or to become a member within three months of the appointment; if that does not occur, their appointment lapses. However, this provision of Section 64 specifically applied only "after the first general election". The reason for this was that the Federation of Australia occurred on 1 January 1901, but elections for the first parliament were not scheduled until 29 and 30 March. In the interim, the country needed a government. Section 64 of the Constitution gave this first government legitimacy.

Thus, the period from 1 January to 30 March 1901 saw the first examples of Australian ministers who were not members of the parliament. This was a unique circumstance in that there was at that time no parliament to be a member of.

However, Section 64 has been employed in a number of later cases. When a minister resigns or retires from parliament, or is defeated at a general election, their ministerial appointment does not necessarily cease at the same time as their membership of the parliament ceases. Subject to Section 64 and the advice of the Prime Minister, ministerial appointments continue at the Governor-General's pleasure.

First Barton ministry

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The members of the inaugural Barton ministry sworn in on 1 January 1901 were:

On 10 January, Sir James Dickson died suddenly. He was the only minister who never even had an opportunity to become a member of the parliament. His place as Minister for Defence was taken by Sir John Forrest from 17 January. Forrest's old portolio of Postmaster-General was taken by a new minister, James Drake, on 5 February.

With one exception, all ministers successfully contested the elections of 29 and 30 March. Richard O'Connor and James Drake became senators, and the remainder became members of the House of Representatives. Elliott Lewis, who remained Premier of Tasmania throughout his term as federal minister, chose to remain with Tasmanian politics alone, but remained Minister (without portfolio) until 23 April.

List of other ministers not in the parliament

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Following is a list of later cases where a Minister has for some period not been a member of the Parliament.

Name of minister Electorate
(House of Representatives) 		State (Senate) Ministerial
portfolio(s) 		Date left parliament Reason Date ceased to be a minister Notes
Thomas Playford II - South Australia Defence 31 December 1906 Defeated at election of 12 December 1906 24 January 1907 The first serving Minister to be defeated at an election
Agar Wynne Balaclava (Vic) - Postmaster-General 30 July 1914 (double dissolution) Retired before election of 5 September 1914 17 September 1914
James McColl - Victoria Vice-President of the Executive Council 5 September 1914 Defeated at election 17 September 1914
Andrew Fisher Wide Bay (Qld) - Prime Minister; Treasurer 26 October 1915 Resigned 27 October 1915
Patrick Glynn Angas (SA) - Home and Territories 13 December 1919 Defeated at election 3 February 1920
William Webster Gwydir (NSW) - Postmaster-General 13 December 1919 Defeated at election 3 February 1920
Walter Massy-Greene Richmond (NSW) - Defence; Health 16 December 1922 Defeated at election 5 February 1923
Alexander Poynton Grey (SA) - Postmaster-General 16 December 1922 Defeated at election 5 February 1923
Arthur Rodgers Wannon (Vic) - Trade and Customs 16 December 1922 Defeated at election 5 February 1923

References

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