‘Finally taking it seriously’: Inside Albanese’s reshuffle
Anthony Albanese has shifted two ministers – including close friend Andrew Giles – from the ‘poison’ portfolios they never should have had, says our Canberra bureau chief Greg Brown, in this transcript from our daily news podcast The Front. Read and listen now.
In federal politics, some portfolios are much tougher than others.
Immigration: You need nerves of steel and the ability to sail past allegations of heartlessness. You’re in charge of the overall migration mix, deportations and offshore detention. What could go wrong, right?
Home Affairs: You carry the can for border protection, counter-terrorism and cyber security. When a boat full of Sri Lankan or Pakistani asylum-seekers lands in remote Western Australia, you get the call.
When Anthony Albanese came to government in 2022 he chose two newbie ministers. Immigration went to a member of the PM’s own Left faction: Andrew Giles, a lawyer, and Home Affairs to a member of Labor’s right: former Victorian local mayor and management consultant Clare O’Neil.
They have struggled – not necessarily because of personal failings, but because these are hugely challenging jobs for first-time ministers – or anyone.
What is Tony Burke’s new job?
Now, both their jobs have been handed to one of the most powerful people in government: Tony Burke, from Labor’s famously ruthless NSW Right faction and one of Albanese’s key lieutenants.
Burke takes pretty much all their responsibilities – except ASIO, the nation’s spy agency, has moved out of Home Affairs and into the Attorney-General’s department.
Greg Brown is the Australian’s Canberra bureau chief.
Greg Brown: “Tony Burke will be the minister for both Home Affairs and Immigration. So he’s doing two former ministers’ jobs in one.
“He’s also looking after multicultural affairs, which I think is critical given he’s a Western Sydney MP with a higher Muslim population. And we know that Labor’s facing a lot of pressure in multicultural communities over their position on Israel and Palestine.
“He’s also the minister for the arts. He’s also the minister for cyber security, which comes under home affairs. And he’s also the leader of the House, which is kind of like the government’s key strategist.
‘Two years too late’
Greg Brown: “Now, I think a key takeout from this is that this is the appointment that Anthony Albanese made two years too late.
“Upon coming into government, he should have treated home affairs and immigration seriously.
“Instead, he knew no one wanted to do either. It’s always poison for an ambitious Labor politician to take those portfolios.
“So he put in Clare O’Neil – someone who I don’t think has a particularly close relationship with – He put her into home affairs, and then he put his very good mate, Andrew Giles, into immigration because he knew that Giles, being very loyal to him, wouldn’t say no and wouldn’t be angry with him about it.”
Big promotion for Murray Watt
Claire Harvey (host): Taking Burke’s previous job is another winner from the reshuffle: the left faction’s Murray Watt – the widely respected minister for Agriculture, who’s been promoted to Employment and Workplace Relations – a big Cabinet job.
Greg Brown: “It’s a big promotion for Murray Watt. He’s one of the key figures of the Queensland left. And, he’s got a lot of, union backing, factional backing. But he’s also a very good performer. He did a really good job with agriculture; he was able to neutralise a lot of issues for Labor in that portfolio.
“So I think this is Albanese shoring up some of his internal support by people that are from the United Workers Union, but also rewarding Senator Watt for his very good performances.
“In doing so, though, it does risk putting regional Australia off side. And that is really something that Labour traditionally struggles with.”
What did Andrew Giles do wrong?
Claire Harvey: Andrew Giles has been dealing with a nightmarish unintended consequence of a Labor policy.
Labor inherited from the Coalition a tough regime of deporting convicted criminals who are non-citizens of Australia.
But early in its term, Labor decided to introduce a new rule – called Direction 99 – which allowed the tribunal that rules on these cases to consider the length and depth of a criminal’s connection to Australia when deciding whether to let them stay.
Surprise surprise – this led to hardcore convicts whom the Government wanted to deport being allowed to remain in Australia.
The Government had to frantically dump that policy.
What did Clare O’Neil do wrong?
Clare O’Neil’s tenure – and remember she was in charge of Border Force – has seen an uptick in what the government calls ‘unauthorised maritime arrivals’ – boat people.
More than 350 ‘potential irregular immigrants’ – that’s another government euphemism – have arrived, and all have been either turned back to their country of departure or taken to the processing centre on Nauru.
Last month, 12 people were turned back, 37 were taken to Nauru, 5 went home from Nauru to their own countries and 5 voluntarily left Australia.
So it’s a trickle – not the kind of flood the Opposition predicted when Labor came to power.
In April, O’Neil described Operation Sovereign Borders as: “a sacrosanct part of Australian public policy.”
We’re talking about a few hundred asylum-seekers, not tens of thousands. So why is Clare O’Neil facing the chop?
Greg Brown: “Well, I think she’s very much seen as part of the problem. While it might have been delegated to Andrew Giles, the fact is she was the senior minister in those portfolios.
“She should have been ensuring some of those mistakes weren’t made.
“Quite frankly, I think that she, she got off pretty lightly with public criticism because so much of it was borne by Andrew Giles.”
Claire Harvey: O’Neil and Giles were jointly assigned to handle another migration headache – a High Court decision to release scores of stateless detainees. The High Court ruled they couldn’t be held in custody indefinitely. Some had been convicted of serious crimes. Since their release, some have allegedly committed more violent offences.
‘Defensive’ Albanese says it’s just a reshuffle
But Greg, to listen to Anthony Albanese you’d think Immigration and border protection was not the dumpster fire it seems to be.
Anthony Albanese, asked why he moved Andrew Giles, said: “Because there’s a reshuffle. What you do when there’s a reshuffle is that there is a change that then has a knock on effect. The fact is that we have been a very stable government.”
Claire Harvey: In fact the PM sounded pretty defensive in his Sunday press conference.
Anthony Albanese: “We have been the most experienced incoming Labor government in history. We are considered. Things are orderly. Policy processes are right.”
Greg Brown: Well, I think it was a bit of a bizarre explanation. I agree with you, Claire, because you think if you’re moving on ministers in high profile portfolios where there are a lot of problems, he’s moving them on and then saying, ‘Oh, but they didn’t do anything wrong. They did a great job’.
“So there’s actually no explanation to the electorate as to why it’s happening. It doesn’t seem to pass the pub test, really.
“I think nearly all of it is HR, quite frankly. The retirement of a couple of ministers gave him the opportunity to make a couple of these key changes. I think it’s more about the sales pitch than the policy.”
Julie Collins and Jenny McAllister get new jobs
Claire Harvey: Both O’Neil and Giles have been reappointed to new jobs. Giles will take on Skills and Training – and that portfolio has been dumped from Cabinet, so he’ll be in the outer ministry. Ouch.
In Clare O’Neil’s case, it’s homelessness and housing – portfolios she takes from Julie Collins, who’s now minister for agriculture. O’Neil remains in Cabinet but it’s a much less important role.
Greg Brown: “They did need more energy in housing, I think, they’re facing a lot of pressure from both the Coalition and the Greens on that portfolio.
Claire Harvey: Coming into the ministry is Jenny McAllister, a NSW Senator, who becomes minister for cities and emergency management.
New Indigenous Australians minister Malarndirri McCarthy
Malarndirri McCarthy is a Yanyuwa woman and a former journalist, born in Katherine in the Northern Territory. She’s been a territory MP and since 2016, a Senator.
She took the sport vacated by another Territory Indigenous star, former athlete Nova Peris.
She’s a passionate advocate for her people, and has spoken of how John Howard’s emergency intervention in remote communities – sparked by reports of rampant child sex offending and substance abuse – left her deeply saddened.
Now, she’s minister for Indigenous Australians, taking the portfolio from Linda Burney, who’s retiring.
Greg Brown: “It’s extremely tough after the mishandling of that voice referendum.”
Claire Harvey: The 2023 referendum defeat – Australians voted no to enshrining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the constitution – left Labor promising to forge a new path ahead towards reconciliation – but it’s been light on detail so far.
Greg Brown: “Senator McCarthy, I think, will be in a very tough spot because she’ll have the Indigenous leadership pushing for new architecture, things like a legislated voice, which could have been done without a referendum already.
“Things like a Makarrata commission; making movements on not just truth telling, but treaty.
“However, I think there’s such little appetite to go down this path within the government at the moment that I don’t think she’ll be given a whole lot of leeway from the Prime Minister to do things other than the sort of old fashioned things that governments have done with Indigenous affairs, which is the practical stuff – education, crime, and these sorts of things.
“I’d be pretty staggered if she oversaw an ambitious new architecture for Indigenous Australians.
“But that is going to be, I think, a key point of tension between her and the Prime Minister.”
Claire Harvey: Greg Brown is The Australian’s Canberra bureau chief.
This is an edited transcript of our daily news podcast, The Front. Listen wherever you get podcasts.
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