Nationals leader McCormack to keep faith with his team

Michael McCormack is expected to make no or minimal changes to his Nationals frontbench as a ­reshuffle looms.

Scott Morrison with NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Nationals leader Michael McCormack near Ballina on Thursday. Picture: AAP

Michael McCormack is expected to make no or minimal changes to his Nationals frontbench as a ­reshuffle looms, with Coalition insiders saying they ­believe Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan will remain on the backbench.

Nationals sources told The Australian on Thursday that the Deputy Prime Minister was happy with his team, which is largely made up of loyalists.

“It is a Liberals reshuffle, not a Nationals one,” a Nationals source said. ‘There won’t be grand changes in the Nats. The changes will be Liberal changes.”

Senator McKenzie took the fall for the “sports rorts scandal” in February and resigned from cabinet, while Senator Canavan joined the backbench when he supported Barnaby Joyce in a leadership spill earlier this year.

Nationals MPs on the frontbench include Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, Resources Minister Keith Pitt and Veterans and Defence Personnel Minister Darren Chester.

The small reshuffle is expected to be announced on Friday. ­Coalition sources tipped Dan Tehan to be shifted from education to trade, and Michaelia Cash to take on education on top of her responsibilities in employment and skills.

West Australian MP Ben Morton, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, is expected to be elevated to the frontbench as special minister of state. Queensland senator Amanda Stoker is tipped to be given an assistant ministry role in the industrial relations space, while Immigration Minister David Coleman will likely go to the backbench after a long stint on leave for family reasons.

Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck is tipped to be shifted from the aged-care portfolio after underperforming during the COVID-19 crisis, and the aged-care portfolio will be moved into cabinet, possibly within the remit of Health Minister Greg Hunt.

A shuffle of department secretaries is also imminent, with movements flagged across Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence, Home Affairs and Attorney-General departments.

The looming departure of DFAT secretary Frances Adamson, and Attorney-General’s Department chief Chris Moraitis’s appointment as director-general of the Office of the Special Investigator has opened the way for a shuffle of mandarins.

Defence secretary Greg Moriarty, who has been in the role since 2017, is viewed as the leading candidate to replace Ms Adamson at DFAT. Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo, who has a long history with the Department of Defence, is being tipped to replace Mr Moriarty.