Barnaby Joyce shifts old foes and rewards Bridget McKenzie and Andrew Gee in Nationals ministerial reshuffle
Barnaby Joyce has shifted old foes out of cabinet and rewarded key supporters who helped his leadership return with plum positions in the latest Morrison government reshuffle.
After days of speculation, Joyce announced his picks for the ministry, shifting Queensland’s Keith Pitt to the outer ministry, while dumping Michael McCormack backers Darren Chester and Mark Coulton altogether, and promoting his supporters Bridget McKenzie and Andrew Gee.
Pitt will retain the resources and water portfolios but will no longer sit in the cabinet, making it the first time in five years a minister holding those portfolios was moved to the outer ministry.
Pitt also lost the key Northern Australia portfolio in the reshuffle, which will now sit with David Littleproud and first-term Queensland senator Susan McDonald, who will take on the role as an “envoy” for northern Australia.
Chester, a longtime critic of Joyce and key Michael McCormack backer, was prepared for his move out of the ministry, despite pleas from veterans and their families to retain him in the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio. With the royal commission into defence and veteran suicide now getting under way, veterans have called for consistency.
Gee will become the fifth minister to head the portfolio since 2015.
McKenzie, who was forced to resign as sports minister in February 2020 after failing to declare a conflict of interest during the height of the sports rorts affair, had made no secret of her desire to return to the cabinet.
She made a play for the water portfolio in the last sitting week, working to scuttle Pitt’s Murray-Darling Basin Plan legislation, in an ultimately unsuccessful bid.
But she has been rewarded with control over the regions, being made regionalisation, regional education and regional communications minister, which also will include emergency management and drought – previously headed by Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud.
McKenzie’s rise also comes at the expense of another McCormack-backer and soon-to-be former regional health minister, Mark Coulton, who will join Chester and his former leader on the backbench. David Gillespie, who voted for Joyce in the leadership spill, will take over the regional health portfolio.
In a statement released ahead of Joyce’s press conference officially announcing the changes – which come just months after the last change – Scott Morrison stressed the strong representation of women in the cabinet.
“These changes will provide the strongest female representation in an Australian government cabinet on record, building on the previous record also achieved under my government,” he said.
“However, it is not just about the size of the female contingent in my cabinet but the skills and the experience they all bring to help us solve our nation’s challenges.”
Chester said in a statement: “I have been incredibly humbled by the support expressed both publicly and privately in recent days by veterans’ organisations and individuals…
“As a back bencher, I want to see the Coalition government maintain the momentum for reform, and build on all the good work we are doing while the royal commission runs its course…
“Ministerial responsibility takes hours away from family life and the biggest benefit of being sacked from Cabinet for the second time is that we get to spend more time together in the place we love.”
The new ministry is due to be sworn in on Friday.
New ministers
Barnaby Joyce – minister for infrastructure, transport and regional development
David Littleproud – agriculture and Northern Australia
Bridget McKenzie – regionalisation, regional communications and regional education and minister for drought and emergency management
Andrew Gee – minister for veterans’ affairs and defence personnel
Keith Pitt MP – outer ministry as minister for resources and water
David Gillespie – minister for regional health and deputy leader of the House
Kevin Hogan MP – assistant minister to the deputy prime minister and assistant minister for local government
Susan McDonald – envoy for Northern Australia