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| Malcolm Turnbull's new ministry sworn in – politics live | Malcolm Turnbull's new ministry sworn in – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.39am BST01:39 | |
| Now I promised you a snapshot of the commentary about the reshuffle and its consequences. Here’s some of the first run views as the new ministers start arriving at Government House. | |
| Laura Tingle, Australian Financial Review | |
| Malcolm Turnbull has put a long overdue bomb under the Coalition, not just clearing out dead wood or Abbott loyalists but repositioning the government on key policy areas and, as a result, stealing the future from Labor. | |
| Paul Kelly, The Australian | |
| There has never been anything like this in our politics — a sweeping reconstruction and renewal of a first-term government. There has been no election but there is a new government. Malcolm Turnbull has put his stamp all over the Liberal party. The unifying concept, as he said, is “a contemporary 21st-century government”. As a circuit-breaker, this is a decisive moment. The key principles have been generational change, merit mostly, the elevation of women and rewarding of supporters. Turnbull has been decisive, ruthless and clever. | |
| Michael Gordon, The Age | |
| The biggest punt in Malcolm Turnbull’s sweeping transformation of the ministry concerns the elevation that everyone predicted, whether or not Tony Abbott stayed as prime minister: that of Scott Morrison to treasurer. Can the man who appealed so effectively to the worst instincts of the electorate as immigration minister when stopping the boats excel as the preacher of optimism and hope in starting the economy? | |
| Paula Matthewson, The Drum | |
| Former PM Tony Abbott made this inherent conservatism an advantage by playing up to the various manifestations of voter anxiety about our changing future. Now his successor Malcolm Turnbull plans to turn Abbott’s approach on its head, making change something that voters embrace rather than fear. It is a risky, but not unsurprising, move for the entrepreneurial parliamentarian. And it will define Turnbull’s success or failure. | |
| Lenore Taylor, Guardian Australia | |
| He’s sneaked in little checks and balances. To secure a new Coalition agreement with the Nationals, Turnbull agreed to transfer responsibility for water policy (although not the water trigger in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) to the agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, from the environment minister, Greg Hunt. Last week he said environmentalists should not be too concerned about this because the bulk of the work on water reform had been finished. In the fineprint of the reshuffle he also made South Australian senator Anne Ruston assistant minister for water, giving that state an assurance of close scrutiny of any decisions that might impact on its supply of water. Arthur Sinodinos, whose careful management style as John Howard’s chief of staff was a factor in the former prime minister’s longevity in government, has become cabinet secretary. In fact with Howard’s former “enforcer” Tony Nutt overseeing the prime ministerial transition and his old press secretary Tony O’Leary lending a hand for a while, the office changeover had a back to the future flavour. | |
| 1.28am BST01:28 | |
| The Labor leader Bill Shorten is launching the opposition’s higher education policy now in Melbourne. My colleague Lenore Taylor previewed this policy this morning. | |
| Take it away Lenore. | |
| The policy promises a $2.5bn net increase to higher education funding – more than reversing the Coalition’s proposed 20% cut to the average federal funding for a bachelor degree, a saving that has been factored into the current budget even though the measure has not passed the Senate. Labor will abandon the Coalition’s controversial plan to deregulate university fees, allowing them to charge more. It will retain the Gillard government’s 2012 decision to remove previous limits on bachelor degree student numbers, but will ditch plans to extend this demand-driven system to diplomas and associate degrees from non-university providers, like private colleges. And it will impose new restrictions on universities to ensure higher rates of completion. | |
| Shorten (who faces a number of challenges courtesy of the leadership change in the government, and Turnbull’s change of messaging) is telling his audience he wants the next election to be a referendum on the future, not a personality contest. | |
| 1.23am BST01:23 | |
| The new prime minister has batted away every question about the in’s and out’s of last week’s changing of the guard. What promises were made to whom and when? | |
| It’s interesting he feels he can get away with that. Perhaps he thinks the electorate’s attachment to the old regime was thin enough that he can bat away these questions as so much insider nonsense. Perhaps he thinks that people genuinely don’t care how the leadership was changed, as long as it was changed. | |
| Voters were very confused when the Labor party moved against Kevin Rudd, Labor recognised that dynamic all too late. Turnbull’s conclusion from what he’s saying and from what he’s not saying is he doesn’t need to explain the nuts and bolts of this transaction. | |
| 1.17am BST01:17 | |
| Just a fraction more from Sunrise on the theme of the king is dead, long live the king. Malcolm Turnbull on it’s tough to be shown the door – I ought to know. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| As you know, there was a spill in February this year. Tony accepted that he had been given I think he said a warning shot across the bows. So there was the clear – there was clearly an issue that he was given time to change the party’s or the government’s fortunes and as it turned out, the party room concluded that he had not done that. That’s why he was replaced. | |
| So I think there was a – the process if you like, was very different (to Labor’s decision to depose Kevin Rudd in 2010.) | |
| That still means it’s very tough on Tony. I know what it’s like to be removed as leader of the Liberal party. It’s horrible. It is a dark, black experience. It’s awful. That sense of rejection. I deeply empathise with him. | |
| I am one of the few people who actually has a pretty good insight. | |
| 1.09am BST01:09 | |
| The new prime minister did the rounds of breakfast television as well at the ABC’s flagship AM program. Turnbull was clearly enjoying himself. Here’s a little section from the Sunrise interview on the Seven Network. I think we can all admire Turnbull’s attention to detail in the House of Cards exchange. | |
| Q: You and Lucy have been sort of dubbed the new power couple, very similar to Francis and Clare Underwood in House of Cards. Do you see that as an insult or a compliment? | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| I have nothing in common with Frank Underwood other than we both use a rowing machine. | |
| Q: And, it has been noted. | |
| Turnbull: | |
| I’ve got a different model. I have one of the more traditional ones. It is rather interesting that he has – the one he has with the big bowl of water in it. | |
| Q: The water. We all notice you are not wearing a blue tie, you’ve moved to the red. | |
| Turnbull: | |
| Can I just say a to you, I decide the colour of my ties and the manner in which I wear them. | |
| (Yes, the new prime minister is certainly enjoying himself. They generally do at the beginning.) | |
| 12.53am BST00:53 | 12.53am BST00:53 |
| Good morning lovely people and welcome to another special edition of Politics Live to cover the swearing in of Malcolm Turnbull’s new front bench. And a few other worthy bits and pieces. | Good morning lovely people and welcome to another special edition of Politics Live to cover the swearing in of Malcolm Turnbull’s new front bench. And a few other worthy bits and pieces. |
| Many of you tuned in to our coverage yesterday of the ministerial reshuffle, which was a big bold move by the new occupant of the prime ministerial suite. Women are back in frontline roles (including Australia’s first female defence minister, Marise Payne), the moderates are back running the show (Turnbull, Bishop, Brandis, Pyne, Birmingham) and Tony Abbott’s Praetorian guard are, by and large, out the back door. | Many of you tuned in to our coverage yesterday of the ministerial reshuffle, which was a big bold move by the new occupant of the prime ministerial suite. Women are back in frontline roles (including Australia’s first female defence minister, Marise Payne), the moderates are back running the show (Turnbull, Bishop, Brandis, Pyne, Birmingham) and Tony Abbott’s Praetorian guard are, by and large, out the back door. |
| The new prime minister has also sent an industrial strength hint that key policies could be revised, particularly policies with no prospect of achieving Senate support. In case we missed Sunday’s hint he repeated it again on ABC Radio this morning. Turnbull cited no higher authority than John Howard on the “iron laws of arithmetic.” | The new prime minister has also sent an industrial strength hint that key policies could be revised, particularly policies with no prospect of achieving Senate support. In case we missed Sunday’s hint he repeated it again on ABC Radio this morning. Turnbull cited no higher authority than John Howard on the “iron laws of arithmetic.” |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | Malcolm Turnbull: |
| If you can’t get something through the Senate, I would say it’s highly possible you could change it to something that will get through the Senate. This is what John Howard calls the iron laws of arithmetic. | If you can’t get something through the Senate, I would say it’s highly possible you could change it to something that will get through the Senate. This is what John Howard calls the iron laws of arithmetic. |
| A bit more, again, in case you missed it. No specific plans, but those plans, they can change quickly, so don’t leave the room. | A bit more, again, in case you missed it. No specific plans, but those plans, they can change quickly, so don’t leave the room. |
| There will be changes to policies if they don’t work as well as we think, or we think others can work better. None of this is written in stone, but I don’t have any plan to change those policies because everything we see at the moment suggests they’re working very well. | There will be changes to policies if they don’t work as well as we think, or we think others can work better. None of this is written in stone, but I don’t have any plan to change those policies because everything we see at the moment suggests they’re working very well. |
| Turnbull has done a couple of interviews this morning and I’ll give you a bit more of those shortly, as well as the first run commentary from various people about the new team. Then we’ll turn our minds to blooming camellias and tulips and the rolling lawns of Government House, where the new ministry will be formalised as kangaroos hop serenely by. And all that. | Turnbull has done a couple of interviews this morning and I’ll give you a bit more of those shortly, as well as the first run commentary from various people about the new team. Then we’ll turn our minds to blooming camellias and tulips and the rolling lawns of Government House, where the new ministry will be formalised as kangaroos hop serenely by. And all that. |
| The comments thread is open for your business and Mikearoo and I are at your disposal on the twits. He’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo | The comments thread is open for your business and Mikearoo and I are at your disposal on the twits. He’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo |
| Put your pinkies out. Starch and iron the napkins. | Put your pinkies out. Starch and iron the napkins. |
| Let’s get cracking. | Let’s get cracking. |
| Updated at 12.55am BST | Updated at 12.55am BST |