PM announces line-up of new ministry
Anthony Albanese is unveiling his new cabinet after the Labor party was elected to federal government with the “largest ALP caucus in history since federation”.
The prime minister says it presents “an extraordinary opportunity for ministers, but for the entire caucus going forward” to put “an ambitious agenda to change this country for the better”.
He says:
The cabinet will be made up of: Richard Marles as deputy prime minister and minister for defence; Penny Wong as foreign affairs minister; Jim Chalmers as treasurer; Katy Gallagher, minister for finance and public service; Don Farrell, minister for trade, tourism and special minister of state.
During the election campaign I confirmed all of those people would continue to fulfil their responsibilities.
Tony Burke will be minister for home affairs, immigration and citizenship, cybersecurity as well as the arts; Mark Butler as minister for health and ageing, disability and the NDIS; Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy; Catherine King minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government; Amanda Rishworth will be the minister for employment and workplace relations; Jason Clare, minister for education; Michelle Rowland will be the new attorney general; Tanya Plibersek, minister for social services.
Key events
The prime minister said he expects to discuss tariffs with other world leaders while he is in Italy for the new pope’s inauguration.
Albanese says:
We tried to have a Free Trade Agreement with Europe and it will be good to have a discussion further about whether that can be advanced. We chose not to conclude that because it wasn’t in Australia’s national interest, but quite clearly in today’s uncertain world, with tariffs and trade issues being so central, no doubt there will be discussions.
And I will take the opportunity as well as having what will be an incredible honour for me, I have got to say. It was Mother’s Day yesterday and can I say this – my mum would be pretty chuffed at the idea that her son will be going as Prime Minister to see the inauguration of a Pope in the Vatican City. Thanks, very much.
Albanese has confirmed has been invited to the inauguration of the new pope this week and intends to attend.
Albanese says:
I have been invited to the formal inauguration of Pope Leo XIV. It is taking place on Sunday. It’s my intention – we are sorting out logistics at the moment – is to travel from Jakarta to Rome and to the Vatican City to be able to attend and represent Australia at that event which will be so important for Catholics around the world and those of faith here in Australia as well.
Josh Butler
There’s also a number of interesting assistant ministry and envoy roles announced.
Dan Repacholi, the towering Hunter MP, gets an envoy role responsible for men’s health after starting some national conversations on that issue in his first term; Josh Burns, the well regarded third-termer, will be special envoy for social housing and homelessness, issues he’s strongly advocated for in his Melbourne seat.
Rebecca White, the former Tasmanian Labor leader, comes right into the ministry as the assistant for health, Indigenous health and women. Peter Khalil is the new assistant defence minister, while popular Queenslander Nita Green becomes the assistant minister for tourism, the Pacific and Northern Australia.
Andrew Charlton, the rising economic star, is the new cabinet secretary and assistant minister for science and technology.
Anika Wells’ portfolios a ‘natural fit’ as commonwealth responsible for sport infrastructure, PM says
My colleague Josh Butler has asked the prime minister about Anika Wells being given the communications and sport portfolios.
He asks:
Is that a circuit-breaker to get through some further restrictions or further reforms on gambling advertising? And as she will also have to implement the under-16 social media ban later in the year, is the prime minister confident that age assurance trial is running as it should be?
Albanese responds to the second but doesn’t address the first question:
I am [confident in Anika]. We’re putting sport with infrastructure. It is one of the changes that we will make to put sport across from health. The commonwealth’s major responsibility for sport is essentially infrastructure. It will go in the department that includes infrastructure, includes communications and will include sport. It was a natural fit to have Anika Wells. There is this thing happening in 2032 in Brisbane and that will be a big focus of sporting activity leading up to then and Anika has played a really important role as well as a Queenslander in getting that together and that will be an important part of her remit and we want continuity there.
Josh Butler
Rising stars of Labor left enter cabinet in important roles
Some additional changes beyond what we expected in this ministry change.
Murray Watt, the well-regarded Queensland left senator, will follow his work in the tricky employment portfolio by having to take on the tricky task of shepherding through the “nature positive” changes and Labor’s plan for an environmental protection agency.
The former environment minister Tanya Plibersek, who was unable to get those changes through, will get another challenging portfolio in social services. Mark Butler will get the NDIS in this reshuffle, where he’ll work with Plibersek in responding to disability portfolio issues.
Anne Aly and Tim Ayres, two rising stars of the left, also enter cabinet in important portfolios – Ayres taking Ed Husic’s portfolio of industry, and Aly taking small business as well as multicultural affairs.
Albanese says home affairs and attorney general’s department will continue to be same
Asked if the attorney general’s department and home affairs will still be the same thing, Albanese says it will, and “we will have some cross-swearing in so that people can work seamlessly on it”.
He says:
We want to make sure that people can have access to all of the information at the appropriate time. There were issues arose out of information-sharing during the caravan incident, let’s call it, and we want to make sure we get it right and learn from that experience.
The “caravan incident” he’s referring to is, of course, this one:
PM expresses confidence in Mark Butler and Jenny McAllister to manage NDIS
Albanese is asked about the NDIS portfolio in the wake of Bill Shorten leaving politics. Shorten, in this question, was characterised as “someone who was also very hardline when it came to some of the misuse and abuse of the NDIS”.
Albanese says the NDIS is moving into the overall health portfolio and that:
Mark Butler has a great interest in this area. He has had an interest for a long period of time, but Jenny McAllister has shown in the work that she has done in emergency management, in the short period of time that she has been in the ministry, [that] she is someone who has a capacity to have a great attention to detail and that is precisely what’s required when it comes to the reform of the NDIS.
We want to make sure that the NDIS fulfils what its intention was, that everyone has the best opportunity to contribute to Australian society and that people with a disability don’t get left behind. But we also want … some of the activity that we’ve seen, that Bill Shorten began, making sure that some of that waste and inefficiencies weren’t there, because that’s not serving the people with disability. I am very confident that Mark and Jenny are ideally suited to perform that task.
Plibersek ‘very positive’ about moving to social services, PM says
The PM opens to questions, and the first two questions are about Tanya Plibersek, who has just lost her environment portfolio to take up social services.
Asked if he sees Plibersek having that role until we next go to the election, Albanese says:
I am just announcing it today. You are asking me of people moving on. This is the ministry that I am announcing today. I hope it continues for three years across the board.
He said Plibersek was “very positive” about the portfolio.
Albanese gives condolences to Matt Thistlethwaite after father’s death during campaign
There’s now a long list of assistant ministers, but Albanese pauses to give his condolences to Matt Thistlethwaite, who he has appointed assistant minister for immigration, foreign affairs and trade, as Thistlethwaite’s father died during the election campaign.
Albanese says:
It was a really difficult time when you are going through a public election campaign to lose your father, and on behalf of the Labor party, I express my condolences to Matt and his family.
Moving to the outer ministry, Albanese lists the following:
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Matt Keogh will continue as minister for veterans’ affairs and defence personnel.
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Kristy McBain is the minister for regional development, local government and territories and minister for emergency management.
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Andrew Giles is the minister for skills and training.
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Jenny McAllister is the minister for the national disability insurance scheme.
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Dan Merlino enters the ministry as the assistant treasurer and financial services.
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Jess Walsh is the minister for early childhood education and youth.
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Sam Rae is the minister for aged care and seniors.
Albanese continues with his ministry list:
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Julie Collins, minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
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Clare O’Neil, minister for housing, homelessness as well as minister for cities.
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Madeleine King, minister for resources and northern australia.
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Murray Watt, minister for the environment and water.
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Malarndirri McCarthy, minister for Indigenous Australians.
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Anika Wells, minister for communications and minister for sport.
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Pat Conroy, minister for defence industry and minister for Pacific Island affairs.
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Anne Aly, who is new to the cabinet, as minister for small business; she will also be minister for international development and multicultural affairs.
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Tim Ayres enters the cabinet as minister for industry and innovation and minister for science.
The biggest changes to Albanese’s new ministry
Josh Butler
The new ministry list is out, with the biggest changes including:
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Michelle Rowland becoming the new attorney general.
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The health minister, Mark Butler, gets the NDIS added to his portfolio.
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Amanda Rishworth moving to employment and workplace relations.
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Tanya Plibersek moving to social services.
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Anika Wells moving to communications.
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Murray Watt moving to environment.
PM announces line-up of new ministry
Anthony Albanese is unveiling his new cabinet after the Labor party was elected to federal government with the “largest ALP caucus in history since federation”.
The prime minister says it presents “an extraordinary opportunity for ministers, but for the entire caucus going forward” to put “an ambitious agenda to change this country for the better”.
He says:
The cabinet will be made up of: Richard Marles as deputy prime minister and minister for defence; Penny Wong as foreign affairs minister; Jim Chalmers as treasurer; Katy Gallagher, minister for finance and public service; Don Farrell, minister for trade, tourism and special minister of state.
During the election campaign I confirmed all of those people would continue to fulfil their responsibilities.
Tony Burke will be minister for home affairs, immigration and citizenship, cybersecurity as well as the arts; Mark Butler as minister for health and ageing, disability and the NDIS; Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy; Catherine King minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government; Amanda Rishworth will be the minister for employment and workplace relations; Jason Clare, minister for education; Michelle Rowland will be the new attorney general; Tanya Plibersek, minister for social services.
We’re expecting the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to step up to speak to media any minute – the press conference is scheduled for 2pm AEST – for what is likely to be the announcement of his new cabinet. We’ll bring you all that shortly.
From Kylie to Bon Scott and Ossie Ostrich, memorabilia to fill new Melbourne museum
The $3.5m Australian Museum of Performing Arts, currently under construction inside Melbourne’s Hamer Hall and set to open in December, is expected to feature items like Kylie Minogue’s gold hotpants, a 19th-century cloak worn by Dame Nellie Melba, and more.
The items come from a stash of more than 850,000 costumes, props, posters and other memorabilia, including AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott’s leather jacket, a journal by Nick Cave, a model of the Priscilla Queen of the Desert bus, and the puppet Ossie Ostrich from the TV program Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
At a launch event on Monday, Arts Centre Melbourne chief executive Karen Quinlan said the collection was established in 1975 and was estimated to be worth almost $80m, but had mostly been kept in storage.
The museum will be located on the upper terrace of the Hamer Hall building overlooking the Yarra River.
The museum was funded by the Victorian government to the tune of $500,000 and the rest contributed by philanthropists. It is part of the $1.7bn Melbourne arts precinct transformation project slated for completion in 2028.
– With AAP
Australian stocks rise amid global economic concerns
Long-awaited US-China trade negotiations have helped push the local share market higher but worries about inflation and global growth remain, with neither nation budging on tariffs, AAP reports.
By midday AEST, the S&P/ASX200 was up 26.5 points, or 0.32%, to 8,257.7, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 26.6 points, or 0.31%, to 8,488.9.
Weekend talks between China and US officials in Switzerland were hailed for making “substantial progress”, but neither side mentioned plans to remove or reduce the US’s 145% duties on China’s imports, nor Beijing’s 125% imposts on US goods.
Seven of 11 local sectors were trading higher by midday, led by a 2.4% rally in energy stocks as the trade talks between the world’s two biggest oil consumers pushed the crude price higher, with Brent futures trading at US$63.78 a barrel.
The worst performing sector on the ASX was consumer staples, down 0.5%, with Woolworths shedding 0.9% to $32.95 as it announced plans to cut prices on hundreds of items from Wednesday.
Locally, Wednesday’s employment data will be the last major economic figures ahead of the Reserve Bank’s meeting next week, when markets expect the central bank to cut rates for the second time this year.
The Australian dollar is buying 64.23 US cents, up from 63. 97 US cents on Friday at 5pm.
Australian warship deployed to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea
HMAS Sydney has been deployed under the enforcement of United Nations security council (UNSC) sanctions against North Korea.
The ADF said in a statement it had enforced UNSC sanctions against North Korea since 2018 to “deter and disrupt illegal maritime activity, including ship-to-ship transfers at sea”.
These sanctions limit North Korea’s imports of refined petroleum and crude oil, and its exports of coal. HMAS Sydney support to Operation Argos marks the 13th time a Royal Australian Navy vessel has been deployed to enforce UNSC sanctions since 2018.
The commanding officer of HMAS Sydney, Ben Weller, said the missile destroyer previously supported Operation Argos in September 2024.
We work closely with the enforcement coordination cell located at Yokosuka in Japan, and sail in areas where suspected illegal activity is expected to take place.
The ship is equipped with an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and a suite of sensors that allow us to monitor illegal ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned goods.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Who will – and won’t – be able to vote for next Liberal leader
The makeup of the Liberal party room that will decide the next leader has been finalised as the final seats in the election are called.
The Liberal Party’s federal director, Andrew Hirst, was given until Monday morning to determine which candidates in the remaining undecided seats were projected to win to allow time for them to travel to Canberra ahead of Tuesday’s leadership ballot.
Guardian Australia has confirmed Gisele Kapterian (Bradfield), Mary Aldred (Monash), Zoe McKenzie (Flinders) and Terry Young (Longman) will be allowed a vote.
However, Amelia Hamer won’t be in the room after falling short in her bid to reclaim Kooyong from teal MP Monique Ryan.
The ABC called Bradfield for Katperian and Kooyong for Ryan on Monday morning.
Flinders, Longman and Monash remain “in doubt”, according to the ABC, although the Liberals are ahead in each.
