What sort of decisions can ministers make during the caretaker period?
The caretaker convention stops ministers and bureaucrats from making major policy decisions that are likely to obligate an incoming government and from making significant appointments, or entering major contracts or undertakings. There is no clear rule on what constitutes a major decision, but factors taken into account are the significance of the decision in terms of policy and resources, and whether it is a point of contention between the big parties. Ordinary administrative matters can be dealt with as usual. 4 Can the Prime Minister travel overseas? On any international negotiations, the government is expected to defer discussions or adopt an observer-only status. If this is not possible, it can enter discussions with the result subject to the authorisation of the opposition. Prime ministers can travel abroad during the caretaker period, such as when John Howard travelled to an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting in Shanghai during the 2001 election campaign, though th
