Duties
The duties of the Deputy Prime Minister are to act on behalf of the Prime Minister in his or her absence overseas or on leave. The Deputy Prime Minister has always been a member of the Cabinet, and has always held at least one substantive portfolio. (It would be technically possible for a minister to hold only the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister, but this has never happened.)
If the Prime Minister were to die, become incapacitated or resign, the Governor-General would normally appoint the Deputy Prime Minister as Prime Minister on an interim basis until the governing party elects a new leader. This has not occurred since the title has been created as a portfolio, however the previous unofficial deputies Arthur Fadden and Frank Forde both briefly served as Prime Minister on this basis (following Robert Menzies' resignation and John Curtin's death, respectively). In the case of both Gillard and Keating their election as party leader preceded their predecessor's resignations and their subsequent appointments as Prime Minister.
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“The duty of the State toward the citizen is the duty of the servant to its master.... One of the duties of the State is that of caring for those of its citizens who find themselves the victims of such adverse circumstances as makes them unable to obtain even the necessities for mere existence without the aid of others.... To these unfortunate citizens aid must be extended by government—not as a matter of charity but as a matter of social duty.”
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