Latest news with #AnikaWells
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Greens go maroon with Larissa Waters as Coalition looks to rebuild with Queensland 'complexion'
A maroon footy tumbled through the doors at Government House as Anika Wells was sworn in this week. That's one way to announce Queensland's presence in Canberra. It's been a big week for the Sunshine State, with three leadership contests. Larissa Waters has become the first Greens leader to hail from Queensland, despite the party failing to repeat its 2022 "Greenslide" in Brisbane. In her first press conference as leader Waters pledged that the Greens would "get shit done" — spoken like a true Queenslander. David Littleproud — whose seat of Maranoa was the first to be called on election night — remains as Nationals leader after being challenged by Queensland Senator Matt Canavan. While the Coalition is without Peter Dutton, the influence held by Queensland members is not lost. In starting a new chapter, the Liberals created history with Sussan Ley becoming the party's first female leader with Queensland MP Ted O'Brien to be by her side. Meanwhile, five Queensland MPs have secured ministerial roles in Anthony Albanese's post election re-shuffle, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers the most senior among them. Wells adds communication to her sport portfolio as fellow Queenslander Murray Watt takes on environment and water. Australian National University visiting fellow Robert McMahon says Chalmers's prominence throughout the campaign was a "deliberate desire" to signal to Queenslanders one of their own is in a senior position. However, he says the instalment of Watt in Tanya Plibersek's former environment portfolio is a credit to his track record as a "safe pair of hands" rather than where he's from. "Geography does have its limits and when a government has some difficult issues — such as home affairs, workplace relations or environment — it will tend to opt for people with a proven track record rather than geographic location," he says. Dutton losing his seat came as a shock to Dr McMahon who thought there was "no way" Queenslanders would "vote against their man as prime minister". While it worked for Kevin Rudd back in 2007, in May the voters of Dickson deserted Dutton with a 7.7 per cent swing to Labor. "I thought that was a very interesting turn on this sort of geographical representation," he says. "His local constituents formed a view that, well, we don't want him as prime minister, so we have got to get rid of him as MP." The day after the election, Watt and Wells stood in Dutton's electorate to introduce his successor Ali France — who was elected on her third attempt — and Labor's other new faces. Watt coined Labor's new Queensland members the "magnificent seven", while Wells joked they had enough people for a netball team. On Friday Chalmers returned to the same park in Strathpine, and was introduced to the media by France, as he spruiked Labor's proposed changes to superannuation taxation. This week Senator Larissa Waters made history by becoming leader of the Greens. "I am proud that we have a Queenslander leading the Greens for the first time," she said. She conceded the party had a "Senate dominated" team after losing former leader Adam Bandt and Brisbane's Stephen Bates and Max Chandler-Mather. Elizabeth Watson-Brown, representing the Brisbane seat of Ryan, is the party's sole member in the lower house. Dr McMahon says while on paper the argument could be made for the "demise" of the Greens, the party has maintained a strong presence in the Senate. "They may very well increase their power," he says. In Queensland, every seat that changed hands fell to Labor, but the state still holds significant sway within the Coalition. Of the 43 MPs in the lower house, 16 – nearly 38 per cent – hail from Queensland, including the Nationals leader and Liberals deputy leader. Australian National University's Frank Bongiorno says this will give a "particular complexion" to the party room. "Anything you do really needs a lot of Queensland consent and agreement within the Coalition because there is just so many of them," he says. Now the Coalition must come up with a game plan without their former leader.
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Albanese has broken a record for female MPs but when will Labor see another female leader?
Anthony Albanese's re-elected government includes a record number of female MPs, but insiders worry there's a long road ahead to promote women to top leadership roles. One arm crossed her body as the other raised to her face. Anika Wells was standing mere metres from the king's representative, who was set to swear her into office as Australia's new communications minister. But she wouldn't be the first in her family to have a vice-regal interaction this morning. With one eye peeking around the corner, five fingers of her almost-five-year-old's left hand waved at Governor-General Sam Mostyn. But his gaze wouldn't last long, soon distracted by the football his twin brother had just punted into the room. Mostyn, a former AFL commissioner, had mere seconds earlier foreshadowed what was about to unfold. "There's footy about to happen," she told the Labor frontbenchers and their families who'd travelled to Government House to be sworn in as ministers of the crown. "It's Queensland footy though." "Are these your children?" she asked Wells. "Yes," she replied. What came next captured the moment Australia now finds itself in. Mostyn, when she was sworn in, pledged she'd be an optimistic, modern and visible governor-general. She respects institutions and traditions, but freely dispenses with protocol when required. On Tuesday morning she did just that. She insisted the children come in, Wells's husband too. Then, speaking directly to the children, the governor-general told them they now had the best seats in the house. "Do you reckon you can hang there while we do this?" Mostyn asked the twins and their older sister. Anika Wells's family looks on as she's sworn in. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts ) They watched on as their mum was called forward, herself a reflection of modernity. Wells is a mother of three who gave birth to twins while in office. And at just 39, she's the cabinet's youngest member. And she's rejoining the Labor's caucus that will now likely include 70 women — or about 57 per cent. Across the House of Representatives, women will occupy just shy of half the seats (46 per cent). Women will make up about 60 per cent of the Senate. Despite the Labor caucus and cabinet reflecting the Australian public more than ever before — and far outstripping gender balance in their opponents — internally, frustrations are growing that Labor's top leadership positions aren't keeping pace with the change. And the people, they say, who lose out are those who don't fit in the old boys' club. Anthony Albanese has an opportunity in his landslide win. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts ) Second-term opportunities Anthony Albanese suddenly finds himself in rare air. Having been delivered a parliament with a substantial majority, Labor need only negotiate with the Greens or the Coalition to pass laws. He's won a landslide, he has a parliament he can work with and an opposition so diminished that it will likely take two terms to recover. But despite an overwhelmingly large and female majority, Labor can't be complacent by believing that the work is done. When parliament returns, sitting opposite him will be the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, Sussan Ley — despite her party's much smaller number of women. On his left flank will be the Greens' second female leader, Larissa Waters. Since 2019, Labor has been led by two men — Albanese and Richard Marles. Prior to that, since 2001 there had always been a woman as either leader or deputy (apart from a few months in 2013 when Albanese served as deputy to Kevin Rudd when he briefly returned to the prime ministership). Clare O'Neil considered a tilt at deputy leader in 2019. ( ABC News: Luke Stephenson ) At the time, Victorian frontbencher Clare O'Neil, a member of the Right faction, wanted to run for deputy. The blokes who run the party thought otherwise. At 38, O'Neil was told now is not your time. The result was fellow Victorian right member Marles became Labor's deputy leader. At the time, Labor figures put forward different reasons for why it wasn't O'Neil's time. "She would prefer to go home and have a KitKat rather than go out and drink with the boys' club," a former O'Neil staffer offered to the ABC at the time. A colleague at the time was more dismissive: "Clare says she's doing politics differently but, at the end of the day, someone had to do the numbers for Jacinda Ardern to be leader." Speaking to the ABC for this piece, a senior member of the party noted how well that factional play in 2019 had again worked out for the old boys' club. Also lost to the leadership is arguably one of the party's best-known figures — Tanya Plibersek. Viewed as a leadership rival to Albanese, he's offered little grace to her since becoming PM, repeatedly undercutting her as environment minister in the first term and then moving her to social services in the second term. Albanese, some colleagues say, doesn't see the issue. They say that's because all he sees are his two loyal lieutenants, Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher. Penny Wong, Julia Gillard and Katy Gallagher during the election campaign. ( ABC News: Adam Kennedy ) Captain's picks Watching on as Wells's children stole the show was a frontbench unlike anything that had come before. The success of women, especially those from Queensland, has helped deliver Labor's Left faction control of the caucus. While the Left has long been well supported at a rank-and-file level, within the party room, the Right has long been in control, especially when it comes to the leader. Albanese and Julia Gillard are the only Left faction figures to be PM. On the current numbers, the Left will account for more than 51 per cent of Labor's party room, which has delivered the faction an extra spot on the frontbench. The way Labor works is the factions put forward the names for the 30 frontbench positions and the leader assigns the roles. The factions delivered Albanese a 30-person frontbench with gender equity. However, as prime minister, he gets the power to pick 12 people for outer-frontbench positions. And his appointments have raised eyebrows. Just one-third of those he nominated were women. Asked why that was this week, Albanese dodged the question: "I think this is, in terms of the ministry and the cabinet, the most significant representation of women ever. Ever. And I think, you know, that's just a fact that it stands out, and I'm very proud to have so many women in very senior roles." But what hasn't gone unnoticed within his ranks is that when given the chance to promote women, he opted for a lower percentage than even the old boys' club of the factions put forward. "You just have to look at where all the power is in the government," an MP in Labor's Right told the ABC. "The prime minister, his deputy, the treasurer, the health minister, they're all men. "The only woman in a powerful position is Penny Wong." Penny Wong at Labor's victory party. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito ) When Albanese took the stage to declare victory on May 3, it was Wong who introduced him at his acceptance speech, just as she had done three years earlier. This doesn't happen by mistake. As much as Marles enjoys the title of deputy prime minister, many forget he holds that role. Some in the party wonder if the leader likes it that way. It serves Labor well in the public's eyes for Wong to be seen as Albanese's deputy, a role she has in all but title. Wong, along with Health Minister Mark Butler, was a key figure in the Praetorian Guard that protected the prime minister in his first term. Gallagher, too, is a close ally of Albanese, serving as minister for finance, minister for women, and minister for the public service since 2022. When Bill Shorten retired, Albanese added minister for government services to her collection of titles. She sits on every cabinet committee, works well with the treasurer, and serves as a steady hand who, along with Wong, leads the government. Some have gone as far as to notice that for all the men with the titles and roles that let them determine who gets what, it's left to the women to do the work. But the clock is ticking on this. Across the factions, a new generation of politicians, especially women, are feeling like the time is up. Their party has evolved, they argue, and it's now for some of the senior men to make way — if the infamous factions don't stand in the way. Anthony Albanese and Sam Mostyn with Labor's female ministers this week. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts ) How Labor raised women Yarralumla hallway footy wasn't Wells's only sporting moment since her re-election. She was standing with the six other Labor women — including Ali France who ended Peter Dutton's decades-long political career — who had won their Queensland races. "We have gone from one [Queensland] woman in the house to seven women in the house," Wells offered. "We now have enough for an entire netball team and we are here if you need." Ali France celebrates with her father Peter Lawlor and son Zac. ( AAP: Jono Searle ) That netball team Wells was talking about didn't just happen overnight. Rather, it was a three-decade project that culminated in a result that even shocked Labor luminaries. Labor entered the election fearing it would barely hold on to its already dismal representation in Queensland. It emerged with not just a doubling of its MPs but an eightfold increase in the number of female MPs. They swept previously safe Liberal seats in aspirational electorates throughout Brisbane's suburbs, toppling even the opposition leader. Liberal men have been inclined to call the kind of women who were standing behind Wells "quota queens" but it's those women who are now having the last laugh. The project dates back to a spring day in September 1994. Paul Keating emerged from Labor's national conference in Hobart — he told the waiting media — having overseen a change that would "be around when all of us are gone". "I think that, by and large, the party has decided that the time has come, that we will be a stronger and better party if more women are represented," he told reporters. At that conference were young delegates called Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, and a political staffer called Tanya Plibersek. The 1994 target was 35 per cent women preselected into held and winnable seats by 2002. By 2002, the party increased the quota again, this time to 40 per cent by 2012. By 2015, Plibersek was now Labor's deputy leader, having been elected in the class of 1998 alongside Gillard (Australia's first female PM) and Nicola Roxon (Australia's first female attorney-general). Plibersek oversaw Labor's next, and final, gender-affirmative-action goal for women to make up half the party room. Like Keating, she was victorious in getting an enforceable quota of 50 per cent by 2025. The women in Labor's 2022 ministry. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts ) Albanese presided over Australia's first majority female caucus in 2022. The success of Labor and teal independents saw record representation of women in the House of Representatives (38 per cent) and in the Senate (57 per cent). This was achieved despite the number of women in the Liberal Party going backwards. In January, Albanese also became the first prime minister to have a cabinet with gender parity, a landmark achieved after the retirement of former leader Shorten and his replacement in Wells. It was a milestone moment for the party. Not only was there now gender equity in the caucus, but also around the government's top table, although some within Labor wonder why it took until nearly the end of the term. The old boys' club Despite the changes since the election, greybeards within the party say Labor's factions aren't what they used to be. The loss of the socialist left to the Greens means the Left is much more moderate than it once was. But when asked to name senior figures within the factions, the names of men are quick to fall from lips. It goes some way to explaining how Tim Ayres, a competent and capable senator from NSW, a senior leader in the Left who is close to Albanese suddenly finds himself in cabinet, while longer-serving and fellow Left women such as Ged Kearney (a nurse-turned-president of the ACTU) and NSW senator Jenny McAllister find themselves stuck in the outer ministry. Kate Thwaites, who had been an assistant minister, lost her job, instead relegated to an envoy role. All three women either have no union base or are from unaffiliated unions. Undoubtedly, the biggest winner in the reshuffle is Marles's pick to elevate Sam Rae to the ministry. Labor MPs say his only claim to promotion is being the deputy prime minister's ally. "What we are seeing now is a whole new change," a long-serving Labor MP said. "There is still a lot of power with the factions and unions, who still exert control. But parliament is changing. There are many more women, there are many more intelligent people who have worked hard for their seats. It means there is pressure on the machine for change." Besides the lack of women getting promoted under Albanese, the dumping of Ed Husic, who lost his seat in cabinet along with Mark Dreyfus, has left a bitter taste in mouths when celebration would have otherwise been in order. Ed Husic ( ABC News: Dan Sciasi ) Dreyfus, a King's Counsel, considered retiring before the last election but pressed on, assuming he would remain the attorney-general. He was left blindsided by his dumping. Husic always faced a tougher challenge to keep his and, like Dreyfus, lost his spot when Marles flexed his factional might. Treasurer Jim Chalmers confessed it had been "unfortunate" and "messy", Western Sydney MP Mike Freelander told the AFR it was "disgraceful". Former PM Paul Keating issued a scathing statement about the demotion of the cabinet's sole Muslim member and its "most effective and significant" Jewish member. "It could have been handled in a kinder way," a Labor MP told the ABC. "There is a lot of anger that will last for a long time." Husic publicly laid the blame for his demotion at the feet of Marles. "I think people, when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin," he said. "The difficult issue here is that we've had bare-faced ambition and a deputy prime minister wield a factional club to reshape the ministry." A man from the NSW Right faction, to which Husic belongs, was always going to lose his seat given it was over-represented in cabinet. The four men all represent Western Sydney electorates. Tony Burke, Chris Bowen and Jason Clare all saw swings against them at the election, whereas Husic gained voters in a region where Labor faced backlash for its response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Speaking after his dumping, Husic said speaking out on the conflict had cost him his spot. His dumping also brought back memories of senator Fatima Payman being forced out of the party after she broke ranks to vote in support of Palestinian statehood. Fatima Payman quit the Labor Party last year. ( AAP: Mick Tsikas ) A party that champions diversity, be it gender or cultural background, now finds itself being accused by its own of expecting diversity to be shown, not heard. The now-cabinet minister Anne Aly offered a similar sentiment back in 2019 when party figures forced through Kristina Keneally's pre-selection into Fowler, an action that moved aside preferred local pick Tu Le. Albanese now admits it was a mistake for Labor to have run Keneally in the seat. Tu Le ran as Labor's candidate in 2025 but was not able to reclaim the ground the party lost to independent Dai Le, who retained the seat. It's worth pausing to remember the decision outgoing Fowler MP Chris Hayes made. An older, white man from the Right faction, he did everything that affirmative action calls for. He found a local woman, a rare woman of the Right, who had a background that reflected her community. He championed her cause and yet instead the Labor Party machine had other ideas. "Diversity and equality and multiculturalism can't just be a trope that Labor pulls out and parades while wearing a sari and eating some kung pao chicken to make ourselves look good," Aly told the ABC in 2019. "This is a huge failure for Labor when it comes to diversity and inclusion." Albanese's opportunity Even the harshest internal critics of Labor's factions and the decisions that have played out since the May 3 election, insist they are excited and optimistic about what is before them. The prime minister, however, has been keen to play down any suggestion this could be a moment for big reform. Since his victory, he's repeatedly pointed out that voters have given him a mandate to deliver what Labor promised, such as cheaper medicines, a modest tax cut and an expansion of Medicare urgent care clinics. While some have derided his cautious approach to reform, others say the slow approach is the strategy that has delivered the kind of parliament voters have just elected. Those the ABC spoke with for this piece, including Labor figures in and outside the parliament, across states, genders and factions, pin their hopes on the treasurer as someone who could drive reforms this term. They look to a crossbench filled with teal independents as serious people up for an adult conversation about tax reform. "We have a great treasurer willing to do some important things and we do need to talk about tax," a Labor MP said. "We have to reduce our reliance on personal income tax. We need to create a fairer system for young people. We need to be bold on housing." Albanese insists his door is open to any politician, irrespective of stripe, to come and offer an idea. Anthony Albanese has rare air to reform this term. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito ) He has the chance to remake Australia to embrace the modernity that he's eager to reflect. On a personal front, he finds himself on the cusp of something few leaders ever get — choosing when he'll leave the top job. That day isn't any time soon, with Albanese already thinking about a third term. During the campaign he was asked who would be Australia's second female prime minister. "Chances are, it'll be a Labor MP given our gender balance and that we're majority female," he replied. Sitting behind Albanese will be no shortage of capable women who could one day lead his party. Be it Plibersek, now the parliament's longest-serving woman in the House, or a new generation of figures such as O'Neil and Wells. When Gillard lost the nation's top job in 2013, she confessed she'd been bemused to read her colleagues say she had faced more pressure as a result of her gender and yet then insist it had "zero effect" on the position of her party. "The reaction to being the first female PM does not explain everything about my prime ministership, nor does it explain nothing about my prime ministership," Gillard said in her final press conference as prime minister. "What I am absolutely confident of is it will be easier for the next woman, and the woman after that, and the woman after that, and I'm proud of that," she later added with tears in her eyes. A woman will again one day lead Labor. Whoever she is, to get there she'll face no small task overcoming the party's old boys' club. Credits Words: Brett Worthington Photographs: Brendan Esposito, Matt Roberts
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
57 percent pay rise for politicians after Albanese win
By Published: | Updated: Australia's newest ministers are in for big pay rises following Labor's landslide election win - including some still aged in their thirties. Anthony Albanese is the highest paid around the Cabinet table at $607,516, followed by his deputy Richard Marles on $479,003 and Treasurer Jim Chalmers on $438,113, although these salaries are unchanged from their previous term. The biggest pay rises went to new Melbourne-based ministers elevated from the backbench on Tuesday when they were sworn in by Governor-General Sam Mostyn . These MPs have been promoted from the backbench to the outer ministry, increasing their base salaries by 57.5 per cent, from $233,660 to $368,015. Sam Rae (pictured left) at just 38 has been appointed the new Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, as a former Labor state secretary. He's joined in that salary jump by Daniel Mulino, an economist with a PhD from Yale, who has been appointed Assistant Treasurer; and Jess Walsh, a former union leader who now holds the Early Childhood Education portfolio. Two high-profile women have moved into the 23-member cabinet from the outer ministry - with their salary hiked from $368,015 to $403,064. They are Anne Aly (pictured left), a former academic and Perth-based MP, who now has the International Development, Multicultural Affairs and Small Business portfolios; plus former Brisbane-based lawyer Anika Wells, 39, who is moving into Cabinet with the Communications portfolio. Tim Ayres, a senator for NSW, got a 38 per cent pay rise and is the new Industry Innovation and Science Minister, earning $403,064 - up 38 per cent from his previous assistant minister job. New assistant ministers will earn a salary of $292,075. These include Rebecca White, the former Tasmanian Opposition Leader who is now the Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Women. Also among their number are Andrew Charlton, an economist who moves from the backbench to become Cabinet Secretary and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy; Peter Khalil, the new Assistant Minister for Defence; and Josh Wilson, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Senior ministers Tanya Pilbersek (now Social Services), Amanda Rishworth (Employment and Workplace Relations) and Michelle Rowland (Attorney-General) keep their $403,064 salary. The most senior ministers Penny Wong (pictured) (Foreign Affairs) and Jim Chalmers (Treasurer) earn $438,113 while Katy Gallagher (Finance) earns a little less at $408,905. Backbenchers get a base salary of $233,660. The Remuneration Tribunal determines the base pay of federal MPs every year, along with loadings for senior Cabinet ministers, junior ministers, assistant ministers and those who head parliamentary committees. New pay rises for all MPs come into effect in July, flowing through to backbenchers all the way up to the PM. But the loading formula for ministers remains the same, including those with extra duties managing government business in the Senate. Not everyone was a winner. Josh Burns, the Melbourne-based MP, was appointed a special envoy for social housing and homelessness - but unlike assistant ministers, doesn't get a 25 per cent loading on top of a backbencher's base salary of $233,660. And then the pay cuts... Former ministers suffered a 42 per cent pay cut, seeing their salaries fall from $403,064 down to $233,660. Former industry minister Ed Husic and attorney-general Mark Dreyfus will suffer big salary hits after Marles declined to use his clout as a Right faction leader to save them.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
How much is Anthony Albanese paid?
Australia's newest ministers are in for big pay rises following Labor's landslide election win - including some still in their thirties. Anthony Albanese is the highest paid around the Cabinet table at $607,516, followed by his deputy Richard Marles on $479,003 and Treasurer Jim Chalmers on $438,113, although these salaries are unchanged from their previous term. But the biggest pay rises went to new Melbourne-based ministers moving from the backbench on Tuesday, as they were sworn in by Governor-General Sam Mostyn. New Outer Ministers (One Step Below Cabinet) These MPs have been promoted from the backbench to the outer ministry, increasing their base salaries by 57.5%, from $233,660 to $368,015: Sam Rae (38) – New Minister for Aged Care and Seniors; previously Labor's Victorian state secretary, now Australia's youngest minister. Daniel Mulino – Economist with a PhD from Yale; appointed Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister. Jess Walsh – Former union leader now Minister for Early Childhood Education and Youth. New cabinet ministers on $403,064, marking a 9.5% rise from outer ministry salary of $368,015 High-profile women have moved into the 23-member cabinet from the outer ministry. Anne Aly - Former academic and Perth-based MP, now has the International Development, Multicultural Affairs and Small Business portfolios. Anika Wells (39) - Brisbane-based MP is moving into Cabinet with the Communications portfolio, adding this to Sport but dropping aged care. New cabinet minister on $403,064 getting 38% pay rise from $292,075 as an assistant minister Tim Ayres - A senator for NSW is the new Industry, Innovation and Science Minister, replacing Husic. New Assistant Ministers getting $292,075 salary Rebecca White - Former Tasmanian Opposition Leader Rebecca White becomes the Assistant Minister for Heath, Aged Care and Women as a first-term federal MP. Andrew Charlton - Parramatta-based economist moves from backbench to new role of Cabinet Secretary and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy. Peter Khalil - Melbourne-based MP is the Assistant Minister for Defence. Josh Wilson - Member for Fremantle is the new Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Tanya Plibersek - High profile former environment minister from Sydney moves to Social Services portfolio, putting her in charge of Centrelink payments from JobSeeker for the unemployed to the Age Pension, Youth Allowance and parenting benefits. Amanda Rishworth - Adelaide MP moves from social services to Employment and Workplace Relations. Michelle Rowland - Western Sydney MP becomes the new Attorney-General after serving as the previous communications minister in charge of a misinformation and disinformation bill that was dropped last year. Chalmers - Brisbane-based Treasurer earns the same. Backbenchers get a base salary of $233,660 The Remuneration Tribunal determines the base pay of federal MPs every year, along with loadings for senior Cabinet ministers, junior ministers, assistant ministers and those who head parliamentary committees. Others Josh Burns - Melbourne-based MP Josh Burns has been appointed a Special Envoy for Social Housing and Homelessness. Unlike assistant ministers, he doesn't get a 25 per cent loading on top of a backbencher's base salary of $233,660. Former ministers suffer 42% pay cut, seeing salaries fall from $403,064 down to $233,660 Rae and Mulino went to the ministry after Marles orchestrated the dumping of former industry minister Ed Husic and former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus from Cabinet.
ABC News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
The campaign was derided as dull, but the election aftermath kicks like a shirty mule
The aftermath of the 2025 federal election has very decidedly been a split-screen sort of affair, so it was appropriate that yesterday's swearing-in of the Albanese ministry at Yarralumla was scheduled for exactly the same time as the Liberal Party's swearing-at. Sorry, leadership vote. Live coverage toggled back and forth between the governor-general's gaff, where the twin sons of new Communications Minister Anika Wells conducted their now customary dragging of their mother (this year, a plush football was deployed in a lovely nod to Wells' continuing stewardship of the sports portfolio), and the Liberal party room, which TV cameras captured as leadership candidate Angus Taylor attempted to enter via the wrong door. These distractions aside, both events made history. The new Albanese Cabinet is the first in our Federation's 124-year lifespan to be majority-female. Of the 23 senior ministers sworn in by Governor-General Sam Mostyn yesterday, 12 — or 52 per cent — are women. And over in the blue corner, the Liberal Party yesterday for the first time chose a woman to be its federal leader: Sussan Ley, the Member for Farrer. Susan Penelope Braybrooks (as the Liberal leader was born in Nigeria, later to emigrate at age 13 to Australia after her Dad changed jobs from being a British spy) added an "S" to her first name back in the 1980s, when she became interested in numerology. "I worked out that if you added an 'S', I would have an incredibly exciting, interesting life and nothing would ever be boring," she explained dryly in a newspaper interview in 2015. Disappointingly, the numerology phase — along with Ley's teenage nose piercing and deep commitment to Canberra's punk scene — is a thing of the past. But was she on to something? Since taking on the extra consonant, Ley's worked as a shearer's cook, pilot, farmer, trained as an air traffic controller, had three kids, got an economics degree and two Masters (one in taxation law, one in accounting) and followed all that with a quarter of a century in politics. Like many Australian women of the "sandwich generation", she has juggled work and family at multiple junctures, and indeed yesterday departed Canberra to be with her mother, who is in palliative care in Albury. The last week cannot have been easy, but if Ley was stressed, it didn't show. And that's fortunate, because her life is about to get even more interesting. Ley assumes custody of the Liberal Party at a particularly upsetting time in its 81-year history. Of the seriously depleted Liberal ranks meeting in Room GR-114, yesterday, Ley won 29 votes. Her rival, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, won 25. It would be way too simplistic to interpret this roughly half-half split as a division between Liberals who think that campaigning on nuclear energy, anti-immigration and culture war issues was a terrible idea, and those who think the problem was they didn't go hard enough. But the closeness of the result absolutely confirms the scale of Ley's reconstruction task. By a broader margin of 38 votes to 16, the party room also backed Ted O'Brien as deputy leader, over fellow Queenslander Phillip Thompson, who took the room by surprise when he nominated "on a whim". There are many "learnings" from this development. And to be fair, for most Aussies the headline news would be the very existence of Thompson in any capacity. (He is a veteran, and the Member for Herbert, and a former Invictus Games competitor and powerlifting coach, so consider yourself introduced) But for Liberalologists, the real surprise was the non-candidacy of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who last week took the electrifying step of defecting to the Liberals from the National party room and announcing her bid to be 2IC of her new crew. Taylor and Price hard-launched their joint ticket on Sunday morning with a split-screen social media video in which both earnestly proclaimed their respect for each other, possibly from separate rooms. Of the 400-odd Instagram comments below the video, a solid majority simply said "Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus", in tribute to one of the accident-prone Member for Hume's best-loved public misadventures. We cannot now know what Nampijinpa Price's level of support would have been; when Taylor was defeated, she decided not to run after all. And now the deputy leader is Ted O'Brien, who until last Saturday was hoping that his main job for the next few years would involve speed-assembling a series of nuclear reactors from scratch at key points around the continent, but now finds himself taking on a reconstruction challenge far more complex and fissile. Nampijinpa Price's sensational defection — in which former Liberal leader, prime minister and minister for women Tony Abbott is reported to have played a significant role — came in a week of post-election eventfulness so hallucinogenically intense that at times it appeared the nation had slipped into some kind of metaverse where every single thing that anyone had on their election night bingo card, anywhere, was coming true one by one. Peter Dutton loses his seat! Adam Bandt loses his seat! Matt Canavan challenges for the leadership of the National Party! The Deputy Prime Minister Whacks the Attorney General! The Minister for Science Loses His Job And Chews Out The PM On Live TV! Tim Wilson Comeback! For a campaign that was widely derided as dull and uninspiring, the aftermath of Election 2025 has a kick like a seriously shirty mule. Live results: Find out what's happening in your seat as counting continues Viewed in split-screen, these remarkable events are easier to understand. The Liberal Party's ructions are caused by the unexpected scale of its defeat. And the Labor Party's are caused by the unexpected scale of its victory. The landslide result last Saturday is — of course, first and foremost — a breathtaking win for Anthony Albanese. But large victories create large expectations, especially among a large and under-occupied back bench. And a crushing political victory can sometimes turn out to be political risk in very convincing drag. John Howard experienced this after the 2004 election, in which he trounced Labor's Mark Latham and won control of the Senate, a victory that empowered him to introduce the Work Choices industrial reforms that finished him off three years later. It is a horrid truth of politics that the moments at which one feels most invincible are the commonest time codes for overreach and error. Governments with too much power aren't great for democracies, or even for themselves. Of the many vexing problems with which Sussan Ley's plate is piled high from today, the risk of hubris certainly isn't one. Expectations have never been lower. Which technically should give her the freedom to be ambitious. Fortunately, she seems the adventurous type.
