The big loser in this Cabinet reshuffle isn't O'Neil or Giles. It's Home Affairs.
In announcing a reshuffle that was bigger than people expected, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has again cut the wings of the former government's super department.
For much of this year, journalists and Labor insiders have speculated over whether it would be Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil or Immigration Minister Andrew Giles who would be moved amid the fallout of the High Court’s NZYQ decision.
In the end, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decided to move them both on, handing veteran cabinet minister Tony Burke the super portfolio of home affairs and immigration in a significant shakeup of the government.
Albanese was keen on Sunday to present his government as the “most stable in living memory” – but he had for some time been looking for a trigger to shake things up.
Few expected the shake up to be quite this sweeping.
Knowing that the government’s response to NZYQ was continuing to harm Labor’s chances at the next election, the Prime Minister months ago called for any ministers who were planning to retire to let him know by the mid-winter break. After Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor came forward, Albanese had his trigger.
