
Sunk cost
Was Labor’s modest deficit gap really worth two days of tantrums?Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne and Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a press conference today. Image © Mick Tsikas / AAP Image
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced his highly anticipated cabinet reshuffle, trumpeting its focus on women while announcing a new “cabinet taskforce” on women’s issues, co-chaired by himself and Minister for Women Marise Payne – whom he suggested would now be the “prime minister for women”. JobKeeper may have ended today, but not in the Morrison government: the reshuffle was exactly that, with no one demoted from the ministry. Both Linda Reynolds and Christian Porter remain in cabinet – Reynolds as minister for government services and the NDIS, and Porter as minister for industry, science and technology – while their previous roles of defence and attorney-general/industrial relations have gone to Peter Dutton and Michaelia Cash respectively. Dutton’s home affairs portfolio did not go to Stuart Robert as expected but to outgoing technology minister Karen Andrews, while Robert received employment from Cash. Morrison, making the announcement alongside Payne, emphasised the focus on women in the “shake-up”, but his clumsy “prime minister for women” comment hit a nerve. Was it an admission, one journalist asked, of the fact that he was failing in his duty to represent women? Morrison rejected the assertion, clarifying that he had only meant to say she would draw together the work of the various new ministers for women. So who are these new ministers for women?
Social Services Minister Anne Ruston (who this morning insisted it was up to disgraced MP Andrew Laming whether he remained in parliament, and defended his right to take paid medical leave, after he was accused of harassing and upskirting women) has been made part of the cabinet’s leadership team, as well as minister for women’s safety. Minister for Superannuation Jane Hume (who was a proponent of the contentious and now abandoned policy of allowing women to use their superannuation to escape domestic violence) gained the additional portfolio of minister for women’s economic security. Amanda Stoker (who, as Guardian Australia’s Amy Remeikis tweeted, once accused former Queensland LNP leader Deb Frecklington of “playing the gender card” and strongly opposes abortion) has been made assistant minister for women.
Payne, who remains foreign minister as well as minister for women (despite calls from Patricia Karvelas and Michelle Grattan to prioritise the latter by making it a standalone position in cabinet), also noted the welcoming back into cabinet of Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price. Payne and Price have something in common: Price became known as the “invisible minister” last time she was in cabinet, going missing as environment minister during a summer of fires, floods and other natural disasters, while Payne has been seen as largely absent over the past six weeks as minister for women, failing to attend the March 4 Justice or even last week’s Coalition staff meeting on the treatment of women in parliament, audio of which has been leaked to Nine.
Payne, who has also largely avoided the media lately, was finally forced to take questions in today’s press conference, and was asked, unsurprisingly, whether Andrew Laming should be forced to resign. She joined the slew of senior Liberals twisting themselves into knots to be seen to condemn Laming’s actions while simultaneously insisting that it is fine for him to remain in parliament until the next election – a shameless stance required to prevent the government being plunged into minority. Morrison, given yet another clear opportunity to demonstrate his seriousness in addressing the sexism problem, followed suit. “He was elected by the people in his electorate, and he was elected to serve for three years. And that is what he intends to do,” he said, claiming this is what other governments have done in the past (wrong), and then abruptly leaving.
Morrison must be hoping today’s “shake-up” will be enough to shake up the polls, with Sunday’s Newspoll showing his satisfaction rating falling from 62 per cent to 55 per cent in the space of two weeks – numbers widely attributed to his floundering response to the scandals facing his government. What he still doesn’t seem to grasp is that it doesn’t matter how many women, or even ministers for women, he has in his ministry, while he continues to keep an alleged rapist in there – and a known creep in his party.
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Sunk cost
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