Interactive: profiles of the cabinet and shadow cabinet

In this election year, there will be much focus on the performance of the prime minister and opposition leader respectively, as Australian election campaigns have tended to become increasingly presidential. This deflects attention from the important role that members of the cabinet and shadow cabinet play in the running of the country.

So we decided to take a critical look at how these key members of the government and the opposition have performed politically and on important policy issues. To do that we asked our experts from universities around Australia to appraise their performances.

In some cases, ministers or shadows hold more than one portfolio. To simplify the policy analysis, we have chosen a key policy area for which they are responsible and asked our experts to analyse those.