CANBERRA, Aug 27, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – Scott Morrison, Australia’s new prime
minister, has announced his “next generation” cabinet.
Morrison was sworn-in as Australia’s 30th prime minister on Friday night
after defeating conservative colleague Peter Dutton by 45 votes to 40 in a
ballot on the leadership of the governing Liberal Party.
He announced on Sunday night that Dutton would remain as the Minister for
Home Affairs but with reduced powers after immigration responsibilities were
decoupled from the portfolio.
The role as Minister for Immigration will instead be filled by David
Coleman.
Marise Payne, who served as Minister for Defence under former PM Malcolm
Turnbull, will replace Julie Bishop as the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Bishop, who served as the party’s deputy leader for 11 years, ran against
Morrison and Dutton for leadership but was eliminated in the first round of
voting.
She announced her resignation as the Minister for Foreign Affairs on
Sunday.
Christopher Pyne, the former Defence Industry Minister, is the nation’s new
Minister for Defence.
Angus Taylor, a conservative who has been a strong campaigner against wind
turbines, is the new Energy Minister, succeeding Josh Frydenberg who became
the party’s deputy leader and Australia’s Treasurer on Friday.
Speaking on Monday, Frydenberg said that renewable energy sources would be
an important part of the new regime’s energy policy.
“I’m really pleased for Angus, he is extremely talented, he has got a depth
of experience in the private sector and he will bring a fresh set of eyes to
a fresh set of challenges,” Frydenberg told Sky News Australia on Monday.
“His focus is on affordability and reliability, building on the successes
to date, and we have separated energy out from environment and that will
assist him in delivering our goal of lower electricity prices which is is a
real priority for the Morrison government.”
Turnbull’s signature energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee (NEG),
was fatal for the former prime minister with government conservatives
threatening to rebel over his plan to embed a 26-percent emissions reduction
target in the policy.
Key Dutton supporters Michael Sukkar, James McGrath and Concetta
Fierravanti-Wells were not returned to the ministry having been key players
in Turnbull’s downfall.
Tony Abbott, a former prime minister and leading conservative in the
government, was not picked in the ministry but was offered a role as an
indigenous affairs envoy.
Dutton was sworn-in as Home Affairs Minister on Monday morning so that he
could attend an intelligence and security meeting on Monday while the rest of
Morrison’s 23-member cabinet will be sworn-in on Tuesday.