The first Turnbull Ministry

The composition of Prime Minister Turnbull’s refreshed and reinvigorated Ministry has been sliced and diced by pundits aplenty.

The important thing for business is to understand who is responsible for what and the changes in responsibilities that have taken place.

The full Ministry, inner and outer, plus Parliamentary Secretaries now known as Assistant Ministers, is available at:

http://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/parliamentary_handbook/current_ministry_list

There have been some changes in responsibilities and even in departmental names and they are listed in the following two documents:

AAO_amendment_21_Sep_2015

renamed_depts-21_Sep_2015

The full list of responsibilities (for those with insomnia) is also below:

AAO_9_July_2015

It is not a safe assumption that a new broom will sweep away any controversial or sticky items on the predecessor’s agenda or that the new Ministry will immediately change the agenda on operational matters.

The business of government has a certain inertia and a change of administration, particularly one within the same party and one that has to rely on the loyalty of those who may not have supported the change, does not necessarily halt matters that are in-train. Where there has not been a change of Minister expect little immediate change. Where there has, expect that it will take some time before the new Minister’s influence, on anything other than matters that drive headline news, will become obvious.

For all the media excitement at a new era, it is still a Coalition Government with a clear eye on the need to get re-elected, probably sooner rather than later. The motivation to avoid conflict and mistakes is high. Worth remembering if you need to engage with our new Federal executive level of Government.