The Cabinet of Australia is the council of senior Ministers of the Crown, responsible to Parliament. The ministers are appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister, who serve at the former's pleasure. Cabinet meetings are strictly private and occur once a week where vital issues are discussed and policy formulated. Outside the cabinet there is an outer ministry and also a number of junior ministers, called assistant ministers previously called Parliamentary secretaries, responsible for a specific policy area and reporting directly to a senior Cabinet minister.