Malcolm’s “21st century” government

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From the AFR:

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.

The sheer scale of Turnbull’s renovations is breathtaking. There is no sense of the constraint of sentiment in the number of careers that have been brought to an abrupt end, or Turnbull’s preparedness to rocket rising stars straight into the cabinet. There is no time to lose, it seems, in letting people get more experience in junior ministries.

In one fell swoop on Sunday afternoon, Turnbull put both issues at the centre of remaking the image of the modern Liberals. The Prime Minister’s language was all about hope and the future. Indeed he said he was announcing a “21st-century government and a ministry for the future” and it was hard to argue with this.

More gushing came from Paul Kelly:

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.

That very much remains to be seen. We have women and youth, more liberals and less loon ponders. A good start but the proof is in the pudding and any 21st century Australian economy will need to be based upon improving the competitiveness of the economy. That includes:

  • taxation reform
  • property regime reform
  • infrastructure
  • slower immigration
  • innovation reform

Anything short of material action in all five will leave Australia’s pre-historic economy rubbing two sicks together, digging up dirt and leveraging it into the publicly subsidised housing bubble instead of building a dynamic, competing and tradable economy.

And let’s not forget that the entire economy is hard wired to go the other way.

Here are the major changes from Fairfax:

  • Deputy Prime Minister Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister: Warren Truss
  • Foreign Minister: Julie Bishop
  • Trade and Investment Minister: Andrew Robb
  • Attorney General (Leader of the Government in the Senate): George Brandis
  • Treasurer: Scott Morrison
  • Assistant Treasurer, Small Business Minister: Kelly O’Dwyer
  • ​Industry, Innovation and Science Minister (Leader of the House): Christopher Pyne
  • Finance Minister (Deputy Leader of Government in the Senate): Mathias Cormann
  • ​Defence Minister: Marise Payne
  • ​Cabinet Secretary: Arthur Sinodinos
  • Agriculture and Water Minister: Barnaby Joyce
  • Indigenous Affairs Minister: Nigel Scullion
  • Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Minister: Josh Frydenberg
  • Immigration and Border Protection Minister: Peter Dutton
  • Environment Minister: Greg Hunt
  • Health and Sport Minister: Sussan Ley
  • Communications Minister, Arts Minister and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Government (Manager of Government Business in the Senate): Mitch Fifield
  • Employment Minister, Minister for Women and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service: Michaelia Cash
  • Social Services Minister: Christian Porter
  • Education and Training Minister: Simon Birmingham
  • Territories, Local Government and Major Projects Minister: Paul Fletcher
  • International Development and Pacific Minister: Steven Ciobo
  • Tourism and International Education Minister and Minister Assting the Minister for Trade and Investment: Richard Colbeck
  • Justice Minister and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Counter Terrorism: Michael Keenan
  • Special Minister of State, Defence Materiel and Science Minister: Mal Brough
  • Cities and Built Environment Minister: Jamie Briggs
  • Rural Health Minister: Fiona Nash
  • Veterans’ Affairs Minister, Human Services Minister: Stuart Robert
  • Vocational Education and Skills Minister (Deputy Leader of the House): Luke Hartsuyker
  • Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister: Alan Tudge and James McGrath
  • Assistant Minister for Productivity: Peter Hendy
  • Assistant Minister for Cabinet Secretary: Scott Ryan
  • Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister: Michael McCormack
  • Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs: Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
  • Assistant Minister to the Treasurer: Alex Hawke
  • Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources: Anne Ruston
  • Assistant Minister for Science: Karen Andrews
  • Assistant Minister for Innovation: Wyatt Roy
  • Assistant Minister for Health: Ken Wyatt
  • Assistant Minister for Defence: Darren Chester

Still a solid rump of loon ponders in Finance, Immigration, Trade and Environment but is still a big improvement, in theory.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.