Leader of the House Tony Burke speaking in the House of Representatives chamber. Photo: Auspic.
Since Anthony Albanese named his new-look front bench, there has been much focus on Tony Burke and his task of repairing the government’s Home Affairs and Immigration approaches.
Mr Burke swapped the Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio for something of a super ministry while also keeping his Arts Minister and Leader of the House roles.
He is now Minister for Home Affairs; Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Minister for Cyber Security; Minister for the Arts; and Leader of the House.
ASIO leaves Home Affairs for the Attorney-General’s Department, but Burke has the rest, and it’s a huge job for one minister.
He takes on Home Affairs and Immigration from Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles in the wake of some poor decisions and bad headlines for the department and even worse polling results for Labor.
The Prime Minister was singing Mr Burke’s praises when he announced the ministry changes on Sunday (28 July), acknowledging the enormity of his new task.
“He’s certainly up for it. And what it means is that in terms of a department, there will be one person who will be responsible for it,” Mr Albanese said.
“I gave a lot of thought to the appropriate structure. I mean, that’s one of the reasons for the structure which is there – one minister and then two junior assistants … What I’m doing is putting in place [are] what I think are the appropriate structures for good governance … Tony Burke, I think, will be an outstanding minister in this role and that’s why we have structured it in this way.
“Tony, of course, is a senior minister who’s been focused on a range of portfolios … He has held similar portfolios in the past, and he’s someone who will bring that experience to what remains a challenging portfolio,” the Prime Minister said.
With Mr Burke, Matt Thistlethwaite will be the Assistant Minister for Immigration, and Julian Hill will be the Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.
Andrew Charlton was also appointed as a Special Envoy for Cyber Security and Digital Resilience.
In accepting the new role, Mr Burke, who was briefly Immigration Minister last time Labor was in office, issued a statement to say he was taking it on with a “deep sense of responsibility and resolve”.
“By maintaining strong borders, we can deliver an orderly and compassionate immigration system that is tailored to the needs of the nation,” Mr Burke said.
“When I took over the immigration portfolio in 2013, boat arrivals were at an all-time high.
“The policy changes I oversaw delivered a 90 per cent reduction in the number of people putting their lives at risk on boats.
“I have a deep commitment to modern multicultural Australia and I look forward to working with communities across Australia. I also look forward to continuing Clare O’Neil’s important work in protecting the nation from cyber threats.”
The Opposition immediately went on the attack, with shadow home affairs minister James Paterson saying Burke is likely to be compromised in his role because grassroots Muslim groups are challenging his seat of Watson.
Senator Paterson said Mr Burke will struggle to ensure proper identity and security checks are conducted “on the thousands of Gaza residents seeking to come to Australia” and that “it’s hard to imagine how you can do any checks in such a rush, or that Burke would be a more demanding minister to make sure they happen”.
Mr Burke hit back, describing Paterson’s comment as “an idiotic statement”, adding, “I have never hesitated to reject visas or to cancel visas”.
With all this in mind, Region asked a few public servants working at senior levels in his department just what they are expecting from their newly installed minister.
While a couple jokingly referred to him as the “New Minister for Everything”, most are anticipating a good working relationship between the department and the minister’s office.
“He might find his personal belief system compromised in his new role. This department is known for how harsh our approach is. Can Burke do that?” one EL1 said.
“I think Tony Burke is a decent person and he’s shown his respect and gratitude for the public servants he’s worked with so far,” said an SES.
“He obviously works hard and I’m sure he will expect the same from us, but I haven’t seen any signs of him being anything like a tyrant.”
And another: “Burke is professional and has been around at senior level for a long time now. He will embrace his new job and run with it.”
Leaving the best for last, one EL2 simply said: “I love it how Burke kept his Arts Minister role. It might be hard to marry that with Home Affairs, though.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Riotact.
