Dutton retains Home Affairs and Fifield Communications as Scott Morrison unveils ministry
Peter Dutton has retained the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) portfolio following last week's leadership spill, with new Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing his ministry on Sunday afternoon.
Dutton had assumed the inaugural role of minister for Home Affairs after former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year created the superministry that combined the functions of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australian Federal Police (AFP), Border Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Austrac, and the office of transport security.
However, on Tuesday last week, after Dutton was unsuccessful in taking leadership of the Australian Liberal Party from Turnbull when the first of several internal party votes saw the prime minister retain his title as chief, Dutton resigned from Home Affairs and took a seat on the backbench.
Turnbull then relinquished his prime ministership on Friday after a second leadership spill that saw former Treasurer Morrison defeat Dutton 45-40 in a party vote and be sworn in as Australia's 30th prime minister on Friday night.
Under the new Morrison government, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has also retained his position, while Karen Andrews has been appointed as minister for Industry, Science and Technology and Michael Keenan kept hold of Human Services and Digital Transformation.
Greg Hunt has kept the Health portfolio and Christian Porter remains as attorney-general, while Marise Payne takes Foreign Affairs following the resignation earlier Sunday afternoon by Julie Bishop; Kelly O'Dwyer takes Jobs, Industrial Relations and Women; and Dan Tehan takes Education.
Former Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Angus Taylor has been moved to the Energy portfolio, after earlier this month praising the role of DHA and previously saying that he considers the Australian government's approach to cybersecurity "world leading", with no cybersecurity portfolio named by the prime minister on Sunday.
Morrison also unveiled Treasurer Josh Frydenberg; Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert; Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge; Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance Zed Seselja; Finance Minister Mathias Cormann; Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne; Minister for Defence Industry Steven Ciobo; Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman; Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Linda Reynolds; Minister for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education Michaelia Cash; Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham; Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Mark Coulton; and Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific Anne Ruston.
Michael McCormack is deputy prime minister and minister for Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Development under the Morrison government, while Bridget McKenzie is minister for Regional Services.
Related Coverage
Treasurer assumes interim responsibility for Australia's national security
After failing to take Liberal Party leadership from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Dutton has resigned from his post as the head of Australia's Home Affairs portfolio.
Taylor praises Home Affairs for sparking collaboration within government
Despite still pushing the 'stop the bots' approach to cyber defence, Australia's cyber minister didn't touch on the impending 'decryption' legislation.
Australian government committed to 'no backdoors': Taylor
'We simply don't need to weaken encryption in order to get what we need,' says cyber security minister Angus Taylor, but trust in our civilisation is crumbling.
Australian government bans Chinese vendors for 5G
Huawei and ZTE have effectively been banned from taking place in 5G network rollouts in Australia, including 4G evolutionary networks, under a national security decision.