Politics & Government

Scott Morrison’s new generation cabinet

16 Comments

From The Guardian, here it is:

    Scott Morrison – prime minister

    Josh Frydenberg – treasurer

    Marise Payne – foreign affairs

    David Coleman – immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs

    Peter Dutton – home affairs

    Melissa Price – environment

    Dan Tehan – Education

    Michael McCormack – deputy prime minister, infrastructure, transport, regional development
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    Nigel Scullion – Indigenous affairs

    Michael Keenan – human services, digital transformation

    Bridget McKenzie – regional services, sport, local government, decentralisation

    Christopher Pyne – defence

    Steve Ciobo – defence industry

    Darren Chester – veterans’ affairs, defence personnel, minister assisting the prime minister for the centenary of Anzac

    Simon Birmingham – trade, tourism, investment

    Christian Porter – attorney general

    Alex Hawke – special minister of state

    Mitch Fifield     – communications; arts

    Mathias Cormann – finance, public service, leader of the government in the Senate

    Greg Hunt – health

    Matt Canavan – resources and northern Australia

    David Littleproud – agriculture; water

    Kelly O’Dwyer – jobs, industrial relations and women

    Michaelia Cash – small and family business, skills and vocational education

    Karen Andrews – industry, science and technology

    Paul Fletcher – families and social services

    Angus Taylor – energy

    Ken Wyatt – senior Australians and aged care; Indigenous health

    Alan Tudge – cities, urban infrastructure and population

No place for Abbott, but the ABC said he may get a gig as a ‘special envoy’.

My reaction is quite positive, given the bunch he had to choose from. In several cases he seems to have split responsibilities so that diverse views will be presented. We can hope that some good comes from Peter Dutton losing immigration to David Coleman, who has immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs.

Population has also been included in Alan Tudge’s portfolio of cities, urban infrastructure and population.

Angus Taylor has energy, while Melissa Price has environment.

In Liberal Party shootout brings changing of the guard I pointed out that Taylor claimed he was not a climate sceptic and had been concerned about rising CO2 levels for 25 years. Nevertheless:

    Taylor has referred to anthropogenic climate change as “the new climate religion” telling Parliament that “religious belief is based on faith not facts. The new climate religion, recruiting disciples every day, has little basis on fact and everything to do with blind faith.”

According to WAToday, Melissa Price:

    was a lawyer before entering parliament, working as general counsel for CBH Group and Crosslands Resources Ltd.

    She has served on parliamentary committees for Agriculture and Industry, Indigenous Affairs, Infrastructure and Communications, and Northern Australia.

    As assistant environment minister, Ms Price has been responsible for climate adaptation and resilience, biodiversity, chemicals, waste, air quality and ozone policy, and was the director of Australia’s national parks.

Sounds a good start. I would think that GHG reduction targets would be her bailiwick.

We know that in April Scott Morrison blasted coal rebels, saying new coal power was twice as expensive.

He must have had a briefing.

My impression is that ScoMo has a robust personality and is capable to tell a minister to bugger off if they come up with something really stupid.

Given a little time to settle and in the absence of more revolting behaviour, the ‘new generation’ team may be competitive in the polls.

16 thoughts on “Scott Morrison’s new generation cabinet”

  1. Ambi has a great comment on the other thread:

    Deary me!
    56:44 on 2PP

    I hear that the new Environment Minister once worked in the mining industry. This is a step forwards, people. Rocks are an important part of our planet’s environment. In fact, the rocks provide a sure and solid foundation for everything else.

    Where would the rivers, seas and forests be without rocks to undergird them? Where the atmospheric dust without regular volcanic replenishment? How can you possibly have continents without rocks?

    [Hansard extract]
    “Crystals, diamonds, gold, beach sands, and indeed soils, Mr Speaker! Members opposite may mock, Mr Speaker! I stand for the boulders of this wide, rock-strewn land. Terra Australis, Mr Speaker. And Terra does not mean koalas and rare parrots!! No indeedy. We must raise the rocks, inspect them, and then if profitable, process and export them. We must build, but we must build surely“.

    (Minister feels tug on sleeve. Colleagues ask her to sit down.)

    Yes, Newspoll has come out 56-44 and Bill Shorten is preferred PM!

    It seems our new environment minister Melissa Price has worked in mining, national parks, and has looked at Agriculture and Industry, Indigenous Affairs, Infrastructure and Communications, and Northern Australia on parliamentary committees. Also:

    As assistant environment minister, Ms Price has been responsible for climate adaptation and resilience, biodiversity, chemicals, waste, air quality and ozone policy, and was the director of Australia’s national parks. (Emphasis added)

    All that should be useful, when compared to previous ministers in that area.

    I can’t find anything about her position on human-caused climate change.

  2. Seems Barnaby Joyce is to be a special envoy to the drought and Abbott to Indigenous Australians.

    As to the latter, I believe about 80% of them are quite well integrated and are mostly doing quite well, although many experience racism in their daily lives. Hard to know what Abbott will do that is at all useful. Amanda Vanstone and John Hewson, both of whom he has worked for, say that he only cooperates if you do things his way.

  3. HMAust Patrol Vessel “Little Johnny”

    Bulletin to Crew
    27 08 2018
    SEC= Unclassified

    Admiral Morrison has confirmed all arrangements.
    Crew to report for urgent briefing on 10Sept next.

    Midshipman Barnaby has been rescued from his small raft, and will be appointed Plenipotentiary to our Dry and Destitute Landlubber Brothers [and Sisters]. His Personal Flag will continue to be the Jolly Rogering.

    Close attention should be paid to Life Rafts, at all times. No cause for Alarm. Just saying. Make sure they are seaworthy and ready to launch at a moment’s notice. No cause for Alarm.

    We sail to clearer waters. Onwards, lads!

    The customary measure of Rum will be dispensed with, considering the circumstances.

    The vessel has thrived since Viscount Turnbull went ashore.

    The Rogue’n Josh will be in charge of funds; best curry favour with him, lads!

    WARNING: the Party Whip has gone missing.
    A Prank is suspected.
    If The Whip is not returned forthwith, there shall be no more parties! {obviously}

  5. The mining and construction companies I have worked for all had a very positive attitude to the environment and, at least, compliance with environmental laws.
    Having someone with a mining background as environment minister is not all bad

  6. Indeed, John.

    I was taken in by what I might call the anti-mining subtext in an ABC Radio news bulletin. I should have followed Brian’s method and examined her background and Parliamentary interests since election.

    And yes, mining operations have had to work within environmental constraints and regulations for many decades in Australia.

  7. This ABC article claims that Turnbull would not have been defeated if Dutton had not mislead Gorman about the support for Dutton.

    Senator Cormann had told Turnbull on Wednesday afternoon that he “no longer enjoyed the support of the majority of members in the Liberal Party partyroom”. Now he was not so sure.
    A man who would normally rely on his own counsel and well-honed instinct, Senator Cormann had allowed himself to be convinced that the Dutton uprising was a dead certainty.
    He had been assured by Dutton himself that he had the numbers. Cormann’s mistake was to believe him.

    If this claim is true it might be asked whether Dutton should remain in cabinet.
    To add to government woes Turnbull says he will resign on Friday. This means that there will have to be a by-election unless a full election is called.

  8. John D, there is still a question as to how many former miners do you need to run the country?

    Morrison has appointed John Kunkel, the former deputy CEO of the Minerals Council of Australia, to head up his office.

    That was six years. Before that he spent two years as head of government affairs (a political lobbying position) for the country’s biggest coal producers, Rio Tinto.

    Then:

    Kunkel’s previous work includes with former consultancy Concept Economics, headed by two of the most ferocious opponents of climate action and renewable energy schemes, Henry Ergas and Brian Fisher, who was on Tony Abbott’s panel reviewing the renewable energy target.

    We’ll see how Price goes, but I have an uneasy feeling the conservatives have basically won.

    However, ScoMo may be enough of a moderating force to keep the ‘liberals’ in the tent. In any case, everyone is going to be allergic to causing more trouble after what just happened.

    And in nine months time many voters will have forgotten.

  9. I think the fundamental point with Cormann’s role is that he was not consulted by Turnbull in calling the spill on the Tuesday. Cormann said that the initial spill “crystallized” the issue which then had to be resolved.

    Sure, if Cormann had made different judgements Turnbull would still be PM today. But would he still be PM in two weeks time?

    The matter is settled now and the man I see as willing to destroy the world to save his job has been seen off.

    ScoMo said yesterday that he hadn’t paid any attention to the ‘debate’ over climate change, which leaves the future more open than it had been with Turnbull in charge (perhaps not the right word).

  11. Brian:

    John D, there is still a question as to how many former miners do you need to run the country?

    I had a management role in the coal industry. While I was in that role I accepted there were some positions I had to defend that I didn’t completely agree with and that I couldn’t join some organization that was attacking the company I was working for or the industry I worked in. In theory i could imagine something that was serious enough fore me to leave and protest but it didn’t happen.
    Problem with the government is that there are too many lawyers. Morris by the way did science at university.

  12. There’s an audio podcast available at the Beyond Zero Show, of Ian Dunlop talking at a recent lunchtime presentation at the Darebin Climate Action Network annual general meeting about working with elites on the climate emergency, link here. From time interval 17:48, Ian says:

    I suppose what I am really coming from is that, don’t look at climate as just the solution… the only solution to our problem. There’s a whole lot more that has to be done, but the point is that, um… we are now at the point that there is going to be no choice. There are solutions, and somehow, we have to put this together in a constructive sense, to move forward through the entire process. The first thing you’ve got to do, is get over the climate threshold because if you don’t solve climate, the rest of the um… debate becomes academic. I mean, you can have all the best ideas in the world about circular economies, and ah… you know, different economic systems, different social systems, but if you don’t have a liveable climate, you know, you are going to degenerate into chaos, frankly.

    What I have seen so far of ScoMo, suggests to me that he appears to be avoiding the climate emergency issue.

    Climate change must be part of the focus of governments. Without a liveable climate, humanity has no future. Energy infrastructure must transition to zero-carbon emissions technologies, and ASAP.

    From time interval 28:14, Ian says:

    And now the final point. There is a whole continuing suite of lies being talked about this problem, by your local members, in particular. A whole lot of absolute nonsense, which cannot be allowed to pass.

    Challenge the nonsense. Decry the lies.

  13. Cabinet.
    Back bench.
    Mr Turnbull as ex-PM.

    A Liberal backbencher from suburban Melbourne (in the Guardian Australia today):

    Liberal MP Julia Banks has announced she will not recontest her marginal seat of Chisholm in an incendiary statement blasting the “cultural and gender bias, bullying and intimidation” of women in politics.

    In a blow to Scott Morrison’s attempts to heal the wounds of the Liberal party divided by the successful conservative push to remove Malcolm Turnbull, Banks revealed she had experienced intimidation and bullying both from within her own party and from the opposition Labor party.

    Well, …. there could soon be a parade of all kinds of chickens, coming home to roost in Canberra.

    A sort of “healing”, but not what the new PM was hoping for??

    Thanks, Tony.
    Thanks, Peter.
    ‘Bye, Malcolm.

  14. Footnote.

    On tonight’s ABC TV news at 7pm, the story about Julia Banks MP mentioned bullying from within her own Party.

    It omitted to mention bullying from the opposition ALP.
    It also focused on ‘the Peter Dutton forces’.

    Both of those points narrowed the range of her complaint.

    (I’m assuming the Guardian report was accurate. If so: poor journalism, ABC TV News!)

  15. Ambi, I’ve heard multiple times she says she was bullied by Labor too. I can’t see any reason why they would, but I’m not saying she would be wrong.

  16. Australian National University researchers Professor Andrew Blakers, Dr Matthew Stocks and Bin Lu won this year’s NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Eureka Prize for Environmental Research. The Conversation has an article on the 2018 Eureka Prize winners also, here.

    On 21 Feb 2018, at the public hearing conducted by the NSW Parliament Legislative Council Select Committee on Electricity Supply, Demand and Prices in NSW, per the Committee Hansard Proceedings Report (page 53), Professor Andrew Blakers’ sworn testimony included (bold text my emphasis):

    The key point that I would like to get across is that the game is up—wind and solar photovoltaics [PV] have won the race. It is a lay-down misere. The number one new generation technology being installed around the world is solar PV, number two is wind, and coal is a distant third. This year, roughly 200 gigawatts of PV and wind new generation capacity will go in around the world, while only 50 gigawatts of coal will go in. That is a difference factor of four between PV and wind and coal. In Australia, virtually all new generation capacity is PV and wind. The reason for this is that PV and wind are decisively cheaper than coal, even when one adds the additional costs to stabilise a variable renewable energy supply, such as storage, primarily in the forms of batteries and pumped hydro; stronger interconnection; and some spillage of wind and PV. That is the basic message I have. If you want cheap electricity you push renewables as hard as you can.

    But will ScoMo and Angus Taylor continue to ignore the evidence, and keep promoting coal and gas as the answer for Australia to have cheap energy for the future?

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