In time for our final newsletter of the year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison this afternoon announced his cabinet reshuffle. Most ministerial posts haven’t changed hands, though there are some significant ones. The major moves are these: for good reason, Richard Colbeck has been demoted to aged-care services (while aged care proper has been brought into cabinet under Greg Hunt). Dan Tehan is the new trade minister and Alan Tudge takes the education and youth portfolio, with Simon Birmingham as minister for finance. Interestingly, the “young Liberal powerbrokers” touted by Janet Albrechtsen in The Australian this week – her “Aussie Squad” of Tim Wilson, Andrew Bragg, James Paterson and Jason Falinski – all missed out. It’s fair to say that Morrison’s government isn’t blessed with talent, so this should be read as a slap in their collective faces.

Alex Hawke has been promoted to minister for immigration. Paul Fletcher will take on cities and urban infrastructure, on top of communications and arts. Jane Hume becomes minister for superannuation, financial services and the digital economy. Zed Seselja will be minister for international development and the Pacific. And Amanda Stoker, Luke Howarth, Jonathon Duniam and Andrew Hastie have been given assistant ministerial appointments.

Morrison and the other senior members of the government will be happy to have survived the year, and must be glad to see the end of it.

The potential spread of Sydney’s northern beaches COVID cluster will be a cause for renewed concern, to be added to the other major challenges facing the government (the economy, China, climate-change policy and IR proposals, and more), so we hope Morrison and co get a good rest. They’ll need it.

Finally, we are sad to announce that Paddy Manning, your guide to Australian politics for the past three years, is stepping down from his role as contributing editor for The Monthly Today. We will recruit his successor soon and be back with you early in the new year.

It has been a great pleasure (not to mention an education, in the best way) to work with Paddy over this period. He is departing to work on his PhD about News Corp and his book about Lachlan Murdoch, and will continue to make freelance contributions to The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

We are grateful to Paddy, and leave the last word in The Monthly Today in 2020 to him:

“Dear readers, it’s been an amazing privilege and a wild ride watching and analysing three years of Australian politics up close at The Monthly, a period which included one prime ministerial knifing, one unlosable election, one global pandemic (and recession), three budgets, 50+ bubble-bursting pub tests and more scandals than you can poke a stick at. Thanks for reading!” 

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GOOD OPINION State of the arts “It’s all been very weird.” Guardian Australia A “successful” recipient of emergency COVID-19 relief funding for the arts says there has been a dreadful lack of communication from the government. Six months after the program was announced, and nine months into the pandemic, arts organisations have not seen a cent. BAD OPINION My hands are clean “I am pleased but not surprised to be cleared of all branch-stacking allegations.” Nine Media Former Liberal Party powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan responds to a forensic audit – which proposed disciplinary action against several of his party allies and the expulsion of 170 members – by claiming complete vindication. The year that was (plus, Buon Natale from Paul Bongiorno) Scott Morrison started the year bruised by his response to the bushfire crisis. But the pandemic has seen a big bounce in his approval ratings. With an election predicted for next year, will it be enough to secure another term? LISTEN NOW The Number 28 The number of coronavirus cases in Sydney’s northern beaches cluster after 10 new cases were confirmed this morning ABC News The Policy Borders forced “New border measures have been introduced as Sydney’s northern beaches COVID cluster continues to grow. Here’s what we know about the current rules.” Guardian Australia States and territories have swiftly introduced a range of border closures and restrictions for NSW travellers. The list   Film Citizen plain: ‘Mank’ “Shot in black and white, Mank has been hailed as a meticulous re-creation of classic Hollywood aesthetics. However, this is not the case. For one thing, Fincher’s decision to shoot in widescreen makes no historical sense. The format wasn’t introduced until 1953 – the same year, ironically, that Mankiewicz died. Films of the period depicted were uniformly shot in the boxier 1.37:1 ratio. And yet Fincher, ever pernickety about small details, even introduces the small circles in the upper-right corners of frames (remember them?) that signify reel-changes. Of which, of course, there are none.” The Monthly Archive Nick Kyrgios: talent to burn “Nick Kyrgios’s favourite sport, to play and to watch, is basketball. This preference feels a bit illicit, like an open love affair. He often looks like a basketballer, moving on court with the languid shuffle of an NBA player approaching the free-throw line. After a big serve or forehand, he will find himself caught out by a quick return, because he has emphasised his follow-through to create an aesthetic piece of hang time. After freakish shots he is known to raise his arms, as though looking for a teammate’s chest bump.” The Monthly Travel Seeking a safe harbour “The evening light is fading on the Hawkesbury and my husband and I are starting to panic. We’re under strict instruction to moor our rented houseboat before the sun sets and things are not going well. Keith’s job is to point the boat at a buoy and motor slowly alongside while I stand at the prow with a giant stick, ready to hook the buoy-rope, pull it aboard and tie up. I make contact, thread my hook through the mossy loop and draw the heavy rope into the air. Victory! No! Failure!” The Saturday Paper