In the past 20 years, Australia has had 6 prime ministers namely: John Howard (1996-2007), Kevin Rudd (2007-2010), Julia Gillard (2010-2013), Kevin Rudd (2013), Tony Abbott (2013-2015) Malcolm Turnbull (2015-2018) and Scott Morrison (2018 to date). Although they all play a common role as PM, each and everyone’s reign has brought a significant impact to the republic of Australia. (Coltheart, 2018). a) The PM has the power to choose election dates. However, despite the fact in the past where the PM would take a quality time to determine the election timing this role has changed in that it is seen in the reign of Julia Gillard (2007-2010) that after winning unopposed she quickly set the election date that results to her party losing resulting to difficulties passing laws that satisfy the needs of people (AFP, 2013). b) The PM undertakes the role of allocation of Ministers in various positions it was seen in the past the ministry got elected by the Caucus. However, these role has been radicalized since it isn’t always the case as it is depicted that the former PM Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard who were liberal chose their ministries (AFP, 2013). c) Despite the fact that the PM has the role of chairing the cabinet and determining the cabinet agenda as well having the support of the cabinet, this role has eventually been revolutionized as it is seen in the reign of Malcom Turnbull on how 5 cabinet ministers changed to support Dutton Camp and he had no powers over his own cabinet (Farnsworth., 1995). d) The PM is known to be the face of the government i.e. the spokesperson. However, in the past 20 years each PM has got his or her own agendas to full fill e.g. Julia Gillard fought for minorities, women rights, mental health etc. (Coltheart, 2018). References AFP. (2013). Kevin Rudd v Julia Gillard: timeline of three year battle. The Telegraph. Coltheart, D. L. (2018). National Archives of Australia. Australia's Prime Minister. Farnsworth., M. (1995). Prime Minister: Roles, Powers and Restraints. Australian Politics.com.

By 4 years ago . Marked as helpful (257). Marked as unhelpful (223)