Federal election 2022
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government will investigate the arrival of a Sri Lankan asylum seeker boat on the morning of the election after outraged senior Labor members questioned the timing of the announcement and the Liberal Party’s immediate mass text messages to voters.
Minutes after being sworn in as the nation’s new prime minister, Albanese accused the Liberal Party of playing politics with national security after texting voters in marginal seats about the interception of the boat on the day of the election.
Anthony Albanese says his government won’t play politics with national security.Credit:James Brickwood
Albanese jetted out of Canberra on Monday bound for Japan, leaving his deputy Richard Marles as Acting Prime Minister. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can reveal that Marles, who was sworn in as Minister for Employment on Monday, will be appointed Defence Minister when the wider ministry is sworn in next Wednesday.
Albanese is in Tokyo for a meeting of the Quad grouping with United States President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday.
Also sworn in on Monday were Penny Wong as Foreign Minister, Katy Gallagher as Finance Minister and Jim Chalmers as Treasurer.
Labor is now edging towards the 76 seats it needs to form majority government, having won at least 74 seats, with a further eight seats too close to call. Albanese’s candidates are ahead in Bennelong, Deakin and Macnamara, and could potentially win Brisbane.
Government MPs believe Brendan O’Connor, who held the defence portfolio in opposition and immigration and home affairs when Labor was last in power, is the front-runner for the Home Affairs portfolio. However, housing spokesman Jason Clare, who also served a stint as home affairs minister in the Rudd-Gillard years, could be handed the portfolio.
Labor members are also questioning the timing and announcement of Australian Border Force’s interception of a Sri Lankan boat on Saturday morning to the west of Christmas Island. While not necessarily questioning the integrity of Border Force, they saw the disclosure of the interception as a last-ditch attempt to insert border security in the campaign.
The Liberal Party immediately on Saturday began texting millions of voters in marginal seats: “BREAKING – Aust Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Aus. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today.”
Multiple senior Labor sources, who could not speak on the record as a home affairs minister has not yet been sworn in, confirmed there would be a review into how the boat got so close to Australia and the timing of the disclosure.
It has not yet been decided on what form the review should take – including whether it would be a formal investigation or a lower-level inquiry. Border Force put out a statement on Saturday confirming a boat had “been intercepted in a likely attempt to illegally enter Australia from Sri Lanka”.
“The Australian government’s policy remains unchanged. We will intercept any vessel seeking to reach Australia illegally and to safely return those on board to their point of departure or country of origin,” Operation Sovereign Borders Commander Justin Jones said.
Albanese said on Monday the new government will “put Australia’s national interests first, and not attempt to play politics with national security issues”.
“I think we saw some politics played with national security issues on Saturday afternoon, and there are millions of Australians who received text messages on Saturday afternoon that demonstrated that is the case,” Albanese said shortly before flying off to Japan to meet his American, Indian and Japanese counterparts.
Labor MPs expect the prime minister to focus on his front bench lineup after he returns from Japan on Wednesday.
Before the election, Albanese said his starting point was that people would continue in their portfolios with few changes. But vacancies in the home affairs and environment portfolios, following the loss of Kristina Keneally and Terri Butler from parliament, have also complicated the picture.
Labor MPs expect to return to Canberra next Monday for meetings of the Left and Right factions that will decide which MPs are put forward for frontbench positions. From there, Albanese will assign portfolios, caucus will meet Tuesday and the rest of the ministry sworn in on Wednesday.
During the campaign, Albanese praised several members of his frontbench, including Chalmers, Gallagher, Clare, Ed Husic and Amanda Rishworth and confirmed a handful of changes were in the offing.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles after being sworn in.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The prime minister announced that bureaucrat Stephanie Foster, who led a review of Parliament House for Scott Morrison, had stepped into the role as acting head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet following the exit of Phil Gaetjens, who had once worked directly for Morrison and Peter Costello.
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy is expected to remain in his role but the head of the finance Rosemary Huxtable is tipped to retire in the coming months, while some in the Health Department have questioned whether secretary Brendan Murphy could bring forward his retirement too.
Sources speculated that Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Kathryn Campbell could also be in the firing line at some stage, with Labor previously questioning her role in the “robodebt” scandal as head of the Department of the Human Services.
Albanese said he would return to Australia to “set about implementing our agenda – our agenda that that has received the endorsement of the Australian people” after the Quad meeting.
He revealed he had already asked bureaucrats to begin work on establishing a national corruption watchdog.
He also named a national employment summit and constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, including a Voice to Parliament, as among his top priorities.
“I want to bring people together and I want to change the way that politics is conducted in this country,” Albanese said.
“People do have conflict fatigue, they want to work with people. And I’ll work with people – whether it’s the crossbenchers or the opposition to try to, wherever possible, to get agreement.”
Albanese said he was confident of getting a majority of 76 seats, but had already received assurances from the existing members of the crossbench – Rebekah Sharkie, Bob Katter, Andrew Wilkie, Zali Steggall and Helen Haines – that they would provide supply and not support any no-confidence motion against the new government.
He said parliament would sit at some stage before the end of July.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.
Most Viewed in Politics
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article