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The Australian prime ministership was created out of almost nothing during the first five decades of the twentieth century
A VISITOR to Australia, knowing nothing of the country, its history or its institutions, might consult the constitution, the official rule book, to understand how Australia functions. There, the visitor would find the powerful figure of the governor-general, though reading the newspapers, watching the news and listening to people talk would yield barely a mention of this personage. Instead, the focus is on someone called the prime minister, of whom not a single mention can be found in the constitution. How can this be so?
The answer is both simple and complex. The simple answer is that the office did not exist at the time the constitution was framed and given legislative effect by an Act of the British Parliament, whereas the Crown, whose representative the governor-general is, was already extant and clearly defined. The complex answer is that both the office and the function of the prime minister were created as part of the machinery of government necessary to add administrative muscle and flesh to the constitutional skeleton; neither was defined, but each has evolved over time…
