The Shadow Cabinet of Australia is a group of senior Opposition spokespeople who form an alternative Cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual Minister or portfolio of the Government.
The "opposition front bench" comprises the full shadow ministry including the shadow cabinet, other shadow ministers and shadow parliamentary secretaries.
As an institution, the shadow cabinet is much less defined—or studied—than the Cabinet with its well established formal procedures. Shadow Cabinet operates more as a committee of an opposition political party than an institution of Government or Parliament. The Cabinet Handbook was first published in 1926 and the updated version is available on-line but no such equivalent exists for Shadow Cabinet.
Since the 2007 federal election, the Liberal–National Coalition has been the Official Opposition. Following the 2010 federal election, the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, announced the current Shadow Cabinet on 14 September 2010.
Read more about Shadow Cabinet Of Australia: Members of The Shadow Cabinet, Other Shadow Ministers, Shadow Parliamentary Secretaries, Other Positions, Previous Shadow Cabinets
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