Source : the age
By David Crowe
Three federal ministers will gain expanded roles to manage the National Disability Insurance Scheme and run government services in a limited cabinet reshuffle to replace former Labor leader Bill Shorten when he leaves parliament.
In addition, Aged Care and Sports Minister Anika Wells is the biggest winner from the reshuffle and will move into federal cabinet in her current portfolio, replacing Shorten with a Queenslander and a rising star of the Labor right faction.
Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells is a major winner from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reshuffle.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the changes on Thursday morning in a low-key statement about the “updates” to the ministry, overshadowed by news of the ceasefire agreement in the Middle East.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is also working on a reshuffle of his senior ranks to replace Senate leader and foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham and government services spokesman Paul Fletcher, both of whom are leaving parliament.
While the prime minister’s move prepares the government for the election due by May 17, it avoids a major overhaul of the ministry to ensure most ministers will enter the election without having to grapple with new portfolios.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth gains responsibility for the NDIS in addition to her existing portfolio, making her the key advocate for the scheme at a time when Labor is trying to assure people about the quality of care at the same time it restrains future spending.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, a key member of the prime minister’s inner circle because of the power of her portfolio on spending and revenue decisions, will gain responsibility for government services. This includes Services Australia, the key agency that interacts with millions of Australians who receive payments from the commonwealth.
Anne Aly, the Minister for Early Childhood Education and a key advocate for Labor’s childcare agenda in the lead-up to the election, will be given responsibility for disability services as minister assisting Rishworth on the NDIS.
The changes are in line with reports over the past six weeks about the likely reshuffle, including a report in this masthead on December 1 that said Shorten’s portfolio was likely to be divided between other ministers.
The outcome maintains the factional balance in the cabinet by replacing Shorten, a leading member of the right, with someone from his own faction, but the decision to elevate Wells means a greater role for Queenslanders at the top of the government.
Wells becomes the third Queenslander in cabinet, after Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Employment Minister Murray Watt.
The other leading contender for the cabinet post, Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh, a member of the right faction from Western Australia, is seen as a likely promotion in any future reshuffle.
Albanese sought to avoid any sense that the departure of Shorten would undermine the NDIS.
“When Labor established the NDIS, we made a promise to people with disability, to families and to carers, not to leave you behind. We will keep that promise,” he said.
“As a country, we still have a long way to go to take responsibility for ensuring that people with a disability are seen and treated equally in health, in education and in employment.
“The NDIS has changed so many lives, but there is much work still to do, because the truth is, under the former government, the scheme did lose its way.”
Shorten will leave the ministry when his colleagues are sworn into his portfolios at Government House on Monday, leaving him free to take up his new post as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Canberra. He announced his new job last September and said he wanted to take up the post before the beginning of the academic year. He starts at the university on Monday.
Shorten secured $1 billion for the NDIS in the mid-year budget in December with the stated aim of hiring more staff to check applications and cut down on fraud, helping to achieving savings over the long term.
While disability advocates object to some of the moves, the government has been warned that annual outlays on the NDIS will reach $97 billion a year within a decade. The scheme is due to grow 12 per cent this financial year after peaking at 23 per cent in the final year of Coalition government. The Labor aim is to bring the growth down to 8 per cent per year.
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