Musical chairs leave Scott Morrison’s team lacking experience

Debilitating leadership changes have hollowed out the Coalition’s base of experienced, long-term MPs.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is Scott Morrison’s most experienced frontbencher. Picture: Kym Smith

Debilitating leadership changes have hollowed out the Coalition’s base of long-term MPs, leaving the Morrison government’s cabinet with less parliamentary experience and about half the ministerial and frontbench service of the Labor opposition.

The reshuffle of Nationals ministers last week underlines the chronic shortage of experience in the government ranks. The junior Coalition partner was unable to appoint a minister in the Senate, with the upper house team leaders having to be two former ministers without portfolios.

Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has less than 10 years’ parliamentary experience and just over three years’ frontbench service. His new deputy, David Littleproud, has only three years’ parliamentary service and just over two years’ ministerial experience.

Former leader Barnaby Joyce, who unsuccessfully challenged Mr McCormack this month, is the only one of 21 Nationals MPs who was in parliament during the Howard era.

For a Coalition government in its third term, it is extraordinary that the total period in parliament for its 23 cabinet ministers is 253 years compared with 283 years for the Labor shadow cabinet, which has the same number of members.

According to detailed analysis by The Weekend Australian, the Morrison cabinet’s total frontbench experience, in government and opposition, is just 119 years, compared with the 196 years of ­experience Labor’s shadow cabinet has accumulated.

The Morrison cabinet has only one member who served as a minister in the stable Howard government era — Peter Dutton. Only three Howard ministers — Mr Dutton, Kevin Andrews and Eric Abetz — remain in parliament.

In contrast, there are five current ALP frontbenchers who had already reached shadow minister status in the pre-2007 Howard era — Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong, Tony Burke, Joel Fitzgibbon and Chris Bowen — and seven who served in the Rudd-­Gillard government ministries.

 

The pre-2007 Labor frontbenchers have been in parliament a total of 154 years and have a total frontbench experience of 114 years, four times that of their ­Coalition opponents.

The two longest-serving Labor frontbenchers are the current leader, Mr Albanese, and Mr Fitzgibbon, Labor’s agriculture and resources spokesman, each with more than 23 years in parliament and 18 years on the frontbench.

After Mr Dutton and Greg Hunt, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has the most frontbench experience in his cabinet at just over 11 years, although he ranks below six ministers on parliamentary experience, with just over 12 years.

Of the past five prime ministers, only Tony Abbott had more than 10 years’ parliamentary service when he became leader.

Given that the ALP and ­Coalition have recorded almost equal time in government since the defeat of the Howard government in 2007, the relative lack of experience in the Morrison cabinet appears to be a result of the Liberal and Nationals leadership changes and turmoil since Malcolm Turnbull replaced Mr Abbott as prime minister in 2015.

There have been large-scale ministerial changes since 2013 as leaders and their supporters were dumped, sidelined or resigned. There have been a number of ministers also forced to resign and go to the backbench as a result of individual errors.

Former Liberal leaders and prime ministers Mr Turnbull and Mr Abbott are out of parliament and Mr Joyce is on the backbench.

The longest-serving Liberal MP, the “father of the house”, Mr Andrews, who served as a minister in both the Howard and Abbott governments, has been on the backbench since Mr Turnbull took over, as has Senator Abetz.

Former Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey resigned to become Australia’s ambassador in Washington, and former Liberal attorney-general George Brandis was appointed to London.

After Mr Morrison’s successful leadership bid in 2018, the other then longest-serving Liberal minister and leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, and the deputy Liberal leader and foreign minister, Julie Bishop, both Howard era MPs, left parliament.

NSW senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who played a crucial role in gathering religious and ­migrant votes, was also lost.

In the past two weeks the ­Nationals have lost Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan from cabinet, replaced by Darren Chester, who has had 11 years in parliament and four years on the frontbench, and Keith Pitt, six years in parliament and no previous frontbench experience.

Labor, having learnt the cost between 2007 and 2013 of frequent leadership changes after Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd and then Rudd replaced Gillard, opted for stable leadership for Bill Shorten and stuck with the then opposition leader after the ALP went within a seat of defeating the Turnbull government in 2016.

ALP ministerial changes were kept to a minimum and, despite the shock Labor loss to Morrison in 2019, the Albanese shadow ministry included most of the members of the Shorten frontbench.

Parliamentary experience is crucial to a government — as demonstrated this week when Labor exploited divisions within the ­Nationals to nominate a rogue ­Coalition MP, Llew O’Brien, to stand against the government’s choice of Damian Drum for Deputy Speaker and won.

Mr Albanese told The Weekend Australian: “If we are successful at the next election, we will have the most experienced cabinet going into government in Labor’s history.”