Cabinet Appointments in the Howard Government 1996-2007

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that were associated with cabinet appointment in the Howard Government 1996-2007. Broadly, the factors that are cited as important in cabinet appointment in general fall into two categories: the representational and the personal. The representational factors are those that are associated related to an individual’s role as a “representative.” The personal factors are those that are associated with an individual’s personal qualities. Thus, an individual who impresses the selectorate with her oratorical or technical skills may stand a higher chance of being selected than another individual who does not have such skills. In this paper I will demonstrate that the representational factors provide negligible explanation for cabinet appointments in the Howard government. In contrast, the personal factors were significantly more important. In particular, I identify the level of concreteness/abstractness in a parliamentarian’s first speech in parliament as an important factor.