Malcolm Turnbull names Greg Hunt to become health and sport minister
Arthur Sinodinos will take industry portfolio and Ken Wyatt to be minister for aged care and Indigenous health
Malcolm Turnbull and with Greg Hunt in Sydney. Hunt is to take over from Sussan Ley as health minister. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
Paul Karp
Wednesday 18 January 2017 12.01 AEDT
382
Greg Hunt is to become Australia’s health and sport minister, with Senator
Arthur Sinodinos taking Hunt’s portfolio of industry, innovation and science.
Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement at a media conference in Sydney, ending days of speculation after
Sussan Ley quit as health minister on Friday.
In the outer ministry, the assistant health minister, Ken Wyatt, will become the aged care minister and minister for Indigenous health, making him the first Indigenous person appointed to a commonwealth ministry.
The rising conservative talent Michael Sukkar will be appointed assistant minister to the treasurer.
The changes will take effect when the new ministers are sworn in by the governor general on Tuesday.
The prime minister said Hunt was “ideally suited” to health because he had “strong policy, analytical and communication skills, developed over a very long frontbench career”.
Hunt will represent the aged care sector in the cabinet and David Gillespie will continue to serve as assistant minister for health.
Turnbull said he had opted for a small reshuffle because he has a “very strong ministry” that was performing well.
The reshuffle would further strengthen it by “combining experience and new talent”, he said.
He paid tribute to Sinodinos, who he said could return to a frontline portfolio after he “restored traditional cabinet processes” in the position of cabinet secretary.
The cabinet secretary function will return to the prime minister’s office, reducing the size of the cabinet by one.
The special minister of state, Senator Scott Ryan, will continue as minister assisting the prime minister for cabinet.
Asked about the representation of women falling, Turnbull responded that he still had a “historically large number of women in my cabinet” for a Coalition government.
“I have appointed more women to my cabinet than any previous Coalition leader,” he said. I am very committed to having strong representation of women in the ministry.”
In a statement on Wednesday the Australian Medical Association president, Michael Gannon, welcomed the appointments of Hunt and Wyatt.
He said Hunt’s experience as a senior minister in the environment and industry portfolios should prepare him for the demands of the health portfolio.
Gannon said the AMA would meet Hunt “at the earliest opportunity” to discuss urgent matters before the May budget.
On Sunday
Gannon told Guardian Australia the incoming minister would have to deal with “a number of policies” the Coalition took to the election that had been “rejected” by many Australians.
“The AMA would like to see Mr Hunt get off to a flying start by scrapping the government’s freeze of Medicare patient rebates, which is causing great hardship for patients and doctors,” he said.
Gannon said other priorities included getting across reviews of the Medicare benefits schedule and private health insurance, and “the ongoing issue of public hospital funding … along with Indigenous health, mental health and prevention”.
Greg Hunt. Best. Minister. Ever
Good evening and welcome to the Madeuppys, the World Government Summit Awards. We cross now to the minister’s acceptance speech ...
Labor’s health spokeswoman, Catherine King, lamented that Turnbull had “changed his salesperson when it comes to health but he hasn’t changed a single one of his policies”.
She called on the government to unfreeze the Medicare benefits schedule and
cuts to bulk-billing incentives for diagnostic and medical imaging.
King criticised Turnbull for not appointing another woman to cabinet or as assistant minister, describing it as “telling” of the way the Liberal party failed to promote women.
The Greens leader Richard Di Natale lamented that female representation was down to five ministers out of 22.
He also called for Hunt to “rule out the exorbitant increase in health insurance premiums demanded by the industry and reverse the cuts to children’s dental care announced by his predecessor”.
Ley resigned after an investigation into her travel expense claims including what she called an “error of judgment” in charging for a trip to the Gold Coast in which she bought
a $795,000 apartment.
On Tuesday Turnbull
refused to release the report of the investigation, citing the fact it was a report to himself and the cabinet governance committee, but reiterated that Ley had made the right call in quitting.
Labor has sought to target Sinodinos, accusing Turnbull of “recycling” him after he
stood aside as assistant treasurer in 2014pending investigation by the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption of Australian Water Holdings, of which he was the deputy director.
Sinodinos was
cleared in relation to AWH but
faced enormous political pressure over illegal donations from property developers through the Free Enterprise Foundation to the NSW Liberal party during his time as treasurer of the party, of which he said he was unaware.
Asked whether Sinodinos had problematic “baggage”, Turnbull turned the attack on Labor.
He criticised
Bill Shorten’s decision to appoint his factional ally Kimberley Kitching to a Senate vacancy despite adverse findings about her by the trade union royal commission, which referred her for possible prosecution.
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...greg-hunt-to-become-health-and-sport-minister
