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Prime minister of Australia

Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia
Coat of Arms of Australia.svg
Malcolm Turnbull at the Pentagon 2016 cropped.jpg
Incumbent
Malcolm Turnbull

since 15 September 2015
Government of Australia
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Style The Honourable
(Formal)
Prime Minister
(Spoken)
Member of
Reports to Parliament
Residence
Seat Canberra (primary)
Sydney (secondary)
Appointer Governor-General of Australia
Term length At the Governor-General's pleasure
Inaugural holder Edmund Barton
Formation 1 January 1901
Salary $507,338 (AUD)
Website pm.gov.au

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the head of government in Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of the Crown, the leader of the Cabinet and the chairperson of the National Security Committee. The office is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia and exists only through an unwritten political convention and tradition. Despite this, in practice it is the most powerful parliamentary position in Australia. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia.

Almost always and according to convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party or largest party in a coalition of parties in the House of Representatives. However, there is no constitutional requirement that the prime minister sit in the House of Representatives, though by convention this is always the case. The only case where a member of the Senate was appointed prime minister was John Gorton, who subsequently resigned his Senate position and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives (Senator George Pearce was acting prime minister for seven months in 1916 while Billy Hughes was overseas).

Malcolm Turnbull has held the office of Prime Minister since 15 September 2015. He received his commission after replacing Tony Abbott as the leader of the Liberal Party, the dominant party in the Coalition government, following the outcome of the September 2015 Liberal leadership ballot.


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