Shadow ministry of Tony Abbott

The Shadow Cabinet of Australia, also known as the Opposition Front Bench is a group of senior Opposition spokespeople who form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government. After the Labor Party's win in the 2007 federal election, the Liberal-National Coalition became the official Opposition. Brendan Nelson became leader in the resulting 2007 leadership election. In September 2008, Brendan Nelson resigned the leadership of the Liberal Party and participated in the ensuing leadership ballot. Malcolm Turnbull defeated Brendan Nelson in the resulting 2008 leadership election 45 votes to 41, thus making Turnbull Opposition Leader. Turnbull announced his Shadow Cabinet on 22 September 2008. It was reshuffled on 16 February when Julie Bishop stepped down from the role of Shadow Treasury. On December 1, 2009 Tony Abbott was elected Opposition Leader in the 2009 leadership election. He announced his Shadow Cabinet 8th of December 2009.

The reshuffle was needed after Mr Abbott last week ousted Mr Turnbull as Liberal leader following a revolt from the conservative faction against his support for an emissions trading scheme. Mr Turnbull ruled out serving on the frontbench under Mr Abbott last week after he lost the leadership.

Members of the Shadow Cabinet

Portfolio	Shadow Minister
Leader of the Opposition	Tony Abbott
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs	Julie Bishop
Shadow Treasurer	Joe Hockey
Shadow Minister for Trade, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Leader of the Nationals	Warren Truss
Shadow Minister for Broadband Communications and Digital Economy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate	Tony Smith
Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate	Sophie Mirabella
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Water	Ian Macfarlane
Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate	Barnaby Joyce
Shadow Minister for Resources and Energy Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia	Nick Minchin
Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector	Kevin Andrews
Shadow Special Minister of State Shadow Cabinet Secretary	Michael Ronaldson
Shadow Minister for Human Services Deputy Leader of the Nationals	Nigel Scullion
Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water	Greg Hunt
Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing	Peter Dutton
Shadow Minister for Defence	David Johnston
Manager of Opposition Business in the House Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training	Christopher Pyne
Shadow Attorney-General	George Brandis
Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Food Security, Fisheries and Forestry	John Cobb
Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship	Scott Morrison
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations	Eric Abetz
Shadow Minister for the Arts	Steven Ciobo
Shadow Minister for Small Business	Bruce Billson
Spokesman for Customs	Michael Keenan
Spokesman for Families	Kevin Andrews
Spokeswoman for Childcare	Sharman Stone
Spokeswoman for Seniors	Bronwyn Bishop

Shadow Parliamentary Secretary positions are Cory Bernardi, Gary Humphries, Simon Birmingham, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Simon Birmingham.
Chairman of Coalition policy development Andrew Robb.
Shadow cabinet secretary Phillip Ruddock

Previous Shadow Cabinets

• September 2008 to November 2009
• December 2007 to September 2008
• December 2006 to November 2007
• March 2005 to December 2006
• October 2004 to March 2005
• July 2004 to October 2004

See also

• Cabinet of Australia
• First Rudd Ministry
• Current Australian Commonwealth ministry
• New South Wales Shadow Cabinet

External links

• Parliament of Australia, Official current Shadow Ministry list, retrieved January 2008
• Shadow Ministry, [1], retrieved 08 January 2009