The Shadow Ministry of Bill Shorten was the opposition

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

shadow ministry from October 2013 to May 2019, opposing the

Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...

Turnbull government The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Au ...

and

Morrison government The Morrison government was the Australian Government, federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison governmen ...

. The Opposition Front Bench is a group of senior

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comedy ...

spokespeople who are regarded as the alternative Cabinet to the

Cabinet of Australia The Cabinet of Australia, also known as the Federal Cabinet, is the chief decision-making body of the Australian government. The Cabinet is selected by the prime minister and is composed of senior government ministers who administer the exec ...

, whose members shadow or mark each individual Minister or portfolio of the Government. Neither the Shadow Cabinet nor the Shadow Ministers have any official status in the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

. The Shadow Cabinet's membership is determined by the rules and practices of the Opposition party. From 2013 Labor leadership ballot resulting from the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Coalition (Australia), Liberal/National Coalition Opposition (Australia), opposition led by ...

, to

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, the Shadow Cabinet was led by former

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. He also ...

of the

Prime Ministers A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

and

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

led the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

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governments during this time.

First Shadow Ministry (2013-2016)

First arrangement

Bill Shorten announced the first arrangement of his Shadow Ministry on 18 October 2013. Shadow Assistant Minister for Health

Melissa Parke Melissa Parke (born 11 August 1966) is a former Australian Labor Party politician and UN human rights lawyer, who served as Member for the federal electoral Division of Fremantle in the Australian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2016. In ...

resigned on 17 February 2014 On 4 March, she was replaced in that role by Stephen Jones.

Alannah MacTiernan Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan (born 10 January 1953) is a former Australian politician. From 1988 to 2023, she has served in politics at a federal, state, and local level, including as a minister in the Western Australian state gove ...

was appointed to Jones's previous role as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure and was also appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Western Australia. On 1 July 2014,

Don Farrell Donald Edward Farrell (born 6 June 1954) is an Australian politician and former trade unionist. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been Minister for Trade and Tourism and Special Minister of State in the Albanese gove ...

's Senate term expired. Farrell's portfolios of Veterans’ Affairs the Centenary of ANZAC were added to those of

David Feeney David Ian Feeney (born 5 March 1970) is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor member for the division of Batman in the House of Representatives from 7 September 2013 to 1 February 2018. Before that, he was a member of the Australian ...

Amanda Rishworth Amanda Louise Rishworth (born 10 July 1978) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously ...

replaced Farrell in the Ministry as Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Higher Education.

Nick Champion Nicholas David Champion (born 27 February 1972) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the South Australian Labor Party and has served in the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 South Australian state election, representin ...

replaced Rishworth as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health.

Louise Pratt Louise Clare Pratt (born 18 April 1972) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2016 and will leave office on 30 June 2025, She was previously a Senator from 2008 to 2014. She is a member of the Labor Part ...

's Senate term expired at the same time. She was replaced as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water by

Lisa Singh Lisa Maria Singh (born 20 February 1972) is an Australian former politician. She was a Australian Senate, Senator for Tasmania from 2011 to 2019. She had previously been a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, representing the division of D ...

, whose position as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General was taken by

Graham Perrett Graham Douglas Perrett (born 5 January 1966) is an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2025, representing the Queensland seat of Moreton for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He worked as a school ...

. Joel Fitzgibbon also added the portfolio of Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs to his existing Agriculture portfolio.

Shadow cabinet

Outer Shadow Ministry

Shadow Parliamentary Secretaries

Second arrangement

Shadow Cabinet

Michelle Rowland Michelle Anne Rowland (born 16 November 1971) is an Australian politician. She is serving as the Attorney-General of Australia in the second Albanese ministry since 13 May 2025. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represe ...

and

Katy Gallagher Katherine Ruth Gallagher ( /'gæləhər/ GAL-ə-her; born 18 March 1970) is an Australian politician who has been serving as the Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Minister for the Public Service and Vice-President of the Executive ...

were promoted to the Shadow Cabinet on 13 October 2015. The final arrangement of the Shadow Ministry prior to the 2016 election was announced in October 2015.

Outer Shadow Ministry

Shadow Parliamentary Secretaries

Second Shadow Ministry (2016-2019)

Initial arrangement

Following the narrow defeat at the 2016 election, the

re-elected

and

Tanya Plibersek Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Social Services in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously the Minister for the Environment and Water from 2022 to 2025. She was ...

as leader and deputy leader respectively. On 23 July 2016, the Shadow Cabinet was announced.

Sam Dastyari Sam Dastyari (born 28 July 1983) is an Australian former politician, who from 2013 to 2018 represented New South Wales in the Australian Senate as a member of the Australian Labor Party. Dastyari was previously General Secretary of the New South ...

resigned from the Ministry on 7 September 2016. He was replaced as Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs by

Tim Hammond Timothy Jerome Hammond (born 25 March 1975) is a former Australian politician. He was the member for Perth in the Australian House of Representatives. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party and succeeded the previous member, Alannah MacTie ...

and by

as Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.

Deborah O'Neill Deborah Mary O'Neill (born 4 June 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as a Senator for New South Wales with the Australian Labor Party since 2013. She previously served as Member of Parliament for Robertson from 2010 to 2013. Befo ...

replaced Hammond as Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation, also being appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health.

Warren Snowdon Warren Edward Snowdon (born 20 March 1950) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from July 1987 to March 1996, and again from October 1998 until May 2022. Initially representing the Division o ...

added the position of Shadow Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health to his existing portfolios. Hammond was not replaced as Shadow Assistant Minister for Digital Economy and Startups or Shadow Assistant Minister for Resources and Western Australia. Instead,

Ed Husic Edham Nurredin "Ed" Husic (born 3 February 1970) is an Australian politician. Husic is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, elected to represent the seat of Chifley in western Sydney for the Australian Labor Party at the 2010 ...

was appointed as Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy on 11 October 2016. In 2017, Kate Ellis announced her intention to retire from Parliament at the next election. She was replaced as Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Development by

, who entered the Shadow Cabinet. The TAFE portfolio was given to Doug Cameron and the training portfolio was given to

resigned from the shadow ministry pending a ruling on her eligibility for election to Parliament

Shadow cabinet

Outer Shadow Ministry

Shadow Assistant Ministers

Final arrangement

Shadow cabinet

Outer Shadow Ministry

Shadow Assistant Ministers

References

{{Australian federal shadow ministries Politics of Australia Opposition of Australia Shorten