CHANGES APLENTY AS PARLIAMENT RETURNS

Parliament has returned this week and following the summer break there have been a number of changes, some of which have been forced and others which have come about following time to reflect.

Given the sheer number of changes happening in a short space of time, Nexus is here to provide you with a summary of the movements and what this may mean for your business.

LIBERAL/NATIONAL COALITION

Following former Minister for Agriculture, Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie’s decision to leave Cabinet, it was inevitable that there was going to need to be changes to the ministry as well as to the leadership of the National Party.

With Senator McKenzie’s position as Deputy Leader open, Leader, the Hon Michael McCormack also faced a challenge to his leadership from former Nationals Leader, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP. Mr Joyce received the support of Senator the Hon Matt Canavan on Monday night, with Senator Canavan resigning from his position as Minister for Resources and Northern Australia in the process.

Nationals Leader, the Hon Michael McCormack MP retained his position following a spill vote at Tuesday morning’s Nationals Party Room meeting. Cabinet Minister, the Hon David Littleproud MP was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Nationals Party, over colleagues the Hon Dr David Gillespie MP and the Hon Keith Pitt MP.

With regards to the Nationals Senate Leadership team, Senator McKenzie has remained as the Nationals Leader in the Senate, with Senator Matt Canavan continuing to serve as Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate despite both Senators no longer holding ministry positions.

Following the confirmation of the Nationals Leadership, Mr Morrison and Mr McCormack announced a ministerial reshuffle on Thursday. As Deputy Leader of the Nationals, it is tradition that Mr Littleproud can choose his portfolio. He elected to regain the Agriculture portfolio he held prior to the election as well as retaining his ministerial responsibilities for drought and emergency services.

Minister for Veterans’ and Defence Personnel, the Hon Darren Chester MP retained his portfolio which has been promoted into Cabinet. Mr Chester and Mr Littleproud will be joined by the Hon Keith Pitt MP who has been brought into Cabinet as Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia, taking on the water portfolio from Mr Littleproud and the portfolio held by former Minister, Senator the Hon Matt Canavan.

There have also been changes to the Outer Ministry with the Hon Andrew Gee MP being promoted as he was named Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education as well as Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment.

This has seen a change in the portfolio responsibilities of his Nationals colleague, the Hon Mark Coulton MP, as he was named as the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communication and Local Government. This means that Mr Coulton no longer has his responsibilities in the trade and investment portfolio and has had the scope of his regional service portfolio reduced, with a heavy focus on regional health and communication.

Assistant Minister for Children and Families, the Hon Michelle Landry MP has also received additional responsibilities in the ministerial reshuffle, being appointed as Assistant Minister for Northern Australia.

Finally, with Mr Gee’s promotion, Nationals member, Mr Kevin Hogan MP has been appointed as Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister.

THE GREENS

In a shock to many political observers, Senator Richard Di Natale announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down as the Leader of the Australian Green. Senator Di Natale also announced that he would be leaving the Parliament to spend more time with his family.

Following the Greens Party Room meeting on Tuesday it was announced that the Member for Melbourne, Mr Adam Bandt MP would be the new Leader of the Australian Greens with Senator Larissa Waters and Senator Nick McKim serving as his co-deputies. Mr Bandt is the first Greens Leader from the House of Representatives, with his here predecessors all hailing from the Senate. Senator Waters will continue to lead the Greens in the Senate.

With Mr Bandt’s election, there has already been a noticeable shift in how the Greens are approaching Parliament, with Mr Bandt keen to put pressure on the Government with the introduction of a ‘Green New Deal’ bill based on the package proposed in the United States which aimed to marry the economic approach of former US President, the Right Honourable Franklin Roosevelt while pushing for greater utilisation of renewable energy and efficiency of resources.

KATTER’S AUSTRALIA PARTY

The Member for Kennedy, the Hon Bob Katter MP announced on Monday that we has going to step down as the National Leader of Katter’s Australia Party and was handing the reins over to his son and the Queensland Member for Traeger, Mr Robbie Katter MP.

Despite stepping down from the leadership, Mr Katter has indicated that he has no intention of retiring from federal politics and intends to contest his seat once again at the next election. Mr Katter said that he was stepping down so that he would have more time to ‘go after our enemies’.

Mr Robbie Katter MP has signalled that although his new role would require a national focus, his first priority was the upcoming Queensland state election and ensuring that Katter’s Australia Party maintained and built upon their current position.

With so many changes happening in the major parties in a short period of time, some may be thinking that this may spell the end of the upheaval for a while. However, people can never be sure of what will happen in politics and the team at Nexus would not be surprised if the major political parties endured more departures and changes throughout 2020.

We have previously outlined what we think may happen in the 2020 political year, including further changes to both the Coalition and Labor, which you can read here.