Commonwealth of Australia January to June 2017

Abstract

Shambolic Instability becomes the New Norm in the Forty-fifth Parliament. The sequence of political crises and exasperating setbacks afflicting the Turnbull government since it was narrowly returned in July 2016 looked set to continue into 2017. The ministerial resignation of Health Minister Sussan Ley (who paradoxically added an extra “s” into her name because a numerologist said it would make her lucky) triggered a ministerial reshuffle in early 2017. Despite giving the impression that the government was acting out of desperation, Malcolm Turnbull took the opportunity to make a fairly substantial reconfiguration of his Cabinet and the outer ministry. The only recently-reshuffled but ever-versatile Greg Hunt was shifted from the Industry portfolio to become the new Health (and Sport) Minister (with the Nationals David Gillespie (New South Wales) appointed as Assistant Minister for Health, thereby becoming the Coalition’s fifth and sixth ministerial appointments in the health area since 2013). Hunt was replaced as Industry Minister by Arthur Sinodinos (the former Cabinet Secretary) who was also given responsibility for Innovation and Science. Western Australia’s Indigenous MP Ken Wyatt was appointed Minister for Aged Care and Indigenous Health. While the reshuffle was largely forced on the PM, it also gave him scope to remould his ministry and shore up his base of support with rumours circulating among his colleagues that Malcolm Turnbull was a “dud politician” and his leadership would not last beyond the current year — although no obvious successor was evident among the senior Liberals.