Maximum security

New super-ministry created to oversee domestic agencies

PETER Dutton has been handed the reins of a new national security mega-agency in what Malcolm Turnbull described as the most significant reform of its kind in four decades.

Labor says it’s more about shoring up the prime minister’s leadership, which was under threat from the immigration minister and his conservative backers.

However Mr Turnbull said

the change was about staying ahead of the threats against Australia.

“It is not about politics. It is about safety, Australians’ public safety,” he said.

“The arrangements that I have announced are ... logical, they are rational, they make operational sense.”

They would also give Mr Dutton responsibility for the agencies “defending, preserving, protecting our national security at home”.

The portfolio is modelled on the UK’s Home Office, not the Department of Homeland Security in the US, and includes responsibility for domestic intelligence, border protection and the Australian Federal Police.

Mr Dutton, who now holds the immigration and border protection portfolio, will be assisted by Attorney-General George Brandis and Justice Minister Michael Keenan.

The transition will be managed by a taskforce and be completed by mid-2018.

Mr Turnbull said the changes follow a review of Australia’s intelligence community by Michael L’Estrange, a former head of the foreign affairs department. But he conceded a home affairs ministry wasn’t a specific recommendation as the idea wasn’t within the review’s remit.

“We need these reforms, not because the system is broken, but because our security environment is evolving quickly,” he said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the idea was more about resolving Liberal party civil wars.

“I don’t think this is a captain’s call, I think it’s Peter Dutton’s call,” he said.

“Everybody knows that Malcolm Turnbull has to keep Peter Dutton onside so Malcolm Turnbull can keep his own job.”