The parliamentary game of musical chairs continues as the major parties assemble their battalions for next year’s electoral campaign – or, as Mark Parton MLA recently called it, “war”. Last week, a reshuffle in the opposition ranks saw the formulation of a new shadow cabinet, the elevation of a new deputy opposition leader, and Jeremy Hanson’s demotion to the back bench; today, the Chief Minister announced a cabinet reshuffle and the creation and redistribution of portfolios among six of the nine ministers.

Planning passes from Mick Gentleman to Chris Steel, who hands over City Services to Tara Cheyne, who in turn gives Business and Multicultural Affairs to Mr Gentleman. Meanwhile, Mr Gentleman’s portfolios of Parks and Land Management go to Rebecca Vassarotti, and of Corrections to Emma Davidson respectively. And Ms Davidson swaps her Disability portfolio for Rachel Stephen-Smith’s Community Services portfolio.

A cabinet reshuffle was normal practice a year out from an election, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

“After three years of a four-year term, this is a pretty standard time to have a look at the team, and to make changes ahead of the election year, with clear priorities in mind.”

Those priorities are health, housing, the cost of living, and infrastructure delivery, Mr Barr said. Next year, the government will focus on new health infrastructure, hospital builds, walk-in centres, expand community health facilities, and training the health workforce. It will construct more homes, using the new planning system and the Commonwealth’s National Housing Accord to build more public and community housing, build-to-rent properties, and owner occupier and rental housing overall.

Mr Barr will chair a cost-of-living subcommittee, also comprising deputy chief minister Yvette Berry and ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury, that will develop proposals to alleviate financial pressure on Canberrans most impacted by energy, education, health and transport costs during the inflation crisis. Finally, the government has several major infrastructure projects, such as the Woden CIT campus, Molonglo Valley Bridge, the City Theatre precinct, light rail to Commonwealth Park, and renewing older areas of Canberra.

The changes also pick up on decisions of national priority made at last week’s National Cabinet meeting, such as reforming the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the national health system, and establishing a National Firearms Register.

“The Ministerial portfolio changes announced today are a clear vote of confidence in Greens in Government,” Mr Rattenbury said.

But opposition leader Elizabeth Lee thought the Chief Minister had “missed an opportunity … to address the failings” of some cabinet ministers.

“Andrew Barr had the opportunity to get rid of incompetent and underperforming ministers like Emma Davidson and Chris Steel but instead he has given them additional responsibilities,” she said.

Who does what

Adding Crime Prevention to his Police portfolio, Mr Gentleman will lead the ACT implementation of the Firearms Register and tackling recidivism.

“That’s a key part of the government’s efforts to ensure that crime is reduced in the city, but also through our corrective services systems, we are working across police and justice portfolios to reduce recidivism,” Mr Barr said.

Mr Gentleman was, Mr Barr said, “a very experienced” minister for Emergency Services – a portfolio he has held since 2016. He adds Fire to that portfolio.

“In storm season and coming into bushfire season, it is important that be his number one focus over the summer period,” Mr Barr said.

Mr Gentleman’s former Planning portfolio aligns with Chris Steel’s responsibilities as Minister for Transport, Mr Barr believes; he will deliver the government’s housing supply plan through the new planning system.

“The principal focus for Chris will be aligning the transport agenda with the planning agenda and the housing supply reform,” Mr Barr said. “That’s a key responsibility. Mick Gentleman has taken the planning reform project through to a point of effective completion. In the handover from Mick to Chris, in this instance, it’s now a focus on housing supply and on rolling out new transport infrastructure.”

Ms Lee was unimpressed. “Chris Steel who has presided over the mismanagement and waste of hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars [the CIT contracts, the abandoned HRIMS system] has now been given planning at a time when the planning system is undergoing a significant overhaul.”

Tara Cheyne takes on Mr Steel’s City Services portfolio, and will be responsible for the government’s suburban renewal program. She also adds Culture and the Creative Economy to her Arts portfolio, to support government investment and job growth in the night-time economy and the creative sector. (Last week, for instance, the government announced longer trading hours and less expensive licensing fees for restaurants and cafés.)

In turn, Mick Gentleman takes over Ms Cheyne’s former Business portfolio. City Services was “a big workload”, Mr Barr said. “You can’t add a whole lot of new portfolios as well as keeping all of your existing ones. So there did need to be a balancing of responsibilities across the different ministers. Mick Gentleman is a very experienced minister, and he has other portfolios that align well with taking on the business rôle.”

Mr Gentleman would combine his new Business portfolio with his Industrial Relations responsibilities “to ensure that a range of important worker protections are implemented and managed well with business in the ACT, particularly as that intersects with building quality and government procurement,” Mr Barr said.

But Elizabeth Lee was dubious. “The most concerning part of this reshuffle is that Mick Gentleman who is notoriously anti-business has been given the business portfolio, which should ring alarm bells for our business community.”

Rebecca Vassarotti adds Parks and Conservation to her Environment portfolio. Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said this was “a positive reform that will enable a more comprehensive and cohesive approach to addressing environmental issues in the ACT. It will enable Rebecca to build upon her achievements as the first Greens Minister for the Environment.”

Emma Davidson assumes Mr Gentleman’s responsibility for Corrections, which Mr Barr said aligned with her Justice Health portfolio. “This is clearly an area where having a single minister responsible will be important.”

“Assuming responsibility for Corrections alongside Justice Health places Emma in a better position to deliver a genuinely restorative justice system,” Mr Rattenbury thought.

Ms Davidson has a new Population Health portfolio, focusing on alcohol and drug policy, tobacco, bloodborne diseases, and e-cigarettes – “Areas where [there are] either specific cohorts of need within the ACT or areas that are of particular priority as part of a general population health and wellbeing focus.” Mr Rattenbury said the new portfolio would complement her Mental Health responsibilities.

Ms Davidson acquires Community Services from Ms Stephen-Smith and adds it to her Seniors and Veterans portfolio. “This portfolio maintains Emma’s responsibilities around carers, volunteers and adds community sector reform,” Mr Rattenbury said. “Assuming responsibility for Corrections alongside Justice Health places Emma in a better position to deliver a genuinely restorative justice system.”

Ms Davidson loses Disability, which health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith picks up. The latter minister will lead the ACT’s engagement with the Australian government on the design of new disability Foundational Supports and the NDIS reforms. The National Cabinet’s decision had pivoted disability policy to focus on health and education, Mr Barr said; rather than have four ministers working on the policy, he consolidated it to a team of three: himself, deputy chief minister and education minister Yvette Berry, and Ms Stephen-Smith.

Mr Rattenbury paid tribute to his Greens colleague: “Emma has been a passionate and effective Minister for Disability and has championed fixing the NDIS to ensure that no one is left behind. Her strong performance is acknowledged by disability advocates and services, and she is disappointed to have to hand over responsibility for the next phase of work.”

There has been speculation that Ms Davidson’s criticism of Federal Labor policy did not suit Mr Barr. Ms Davidson has opposed the 8 per cent spending caps on the NDIS the National Cabinet agreed to.

“The Greens are committed to changing systems and attitudes so that people with disability are not limited by their society and physical environments. In the ACT, we need to finalise and fund the ACT Disability Strategy and ensure the reforms to the NDIS are focused on the needs of the disability community.”

But Ms Lee expressed astonishment. “The fact that Andrew Barr has kept Emma Davidson in any portfolio at all following a number of failings in Mental Health, let alone giving her additional responsibilities is astounding.” The Canberra Liberals moved a no-confidence motion in Ms Davidson earlier this year, due to assaults at the Dhulwa Mental Health Unit: the death of a patient in a mental health facility; dysfunction and toxicity in her office; and a breach of ACT patient health records.

The ministers were happy with their new roles, Mr Barr said, knocking Ms Lee, who stripped Jeremy Hanson and Elizabeth Kikkert of their portfolios last week.

“I’m a consensus leader; I don’t banish people off into exile if there’s a policy disagreement. I think the key rôle of the Chief Minister is to be able to work well with people across the political spectrum. That’s something I’ve demonstrated over an extended period of time – I’ve never held majority government, have never had a majority on the floor of the Assembly, so I have to negotiate and work with people – and I think that’s a really key quality that any ACT Chief Minister needs…

“The reality of the ACT electoral system is that it’s unlikely that any one party is going to win a majority in their own right. So you have to be able to work with others. And that’s a really important quality in a Chief Minister. If your reaction to a disagreement is to sack and then exile the person you disagree with, that’s not going to work in a small parliament like ours, where you need to be able to work effectively with everyone.”

With the resignation of Queensland premier Anastasia Palaszcuk this past weekend, Mr Barr is now the only state or territory leader standing from the pandemic period.

“That was a very difficult period,” Mr Barr reflected. “People have left for a variety of reasons. Some were voted out; others have retired; but I remained very focused on the job I’ve got to do. I was clear last year when there was a change of government at the Federal level that I felt that gave a real opportunity to achieve some things in the ACT that we just hadn’t been able to with the federal Coalition.” Those include infrastructure projects and voluntary assisted dying legislation.

The change of government last year, Mr Barr said, “was a shot in the arm for me and my team – the opportunity to work with a Federal Labor government is not something that happens all the time – it was the first time in my time as Chief Minister… That was the sort of boost that I needed. I’m energised and really looking forward to 2024 – depending on what happens in the election, a period of time after that.”

Mr Barr is resolved to stand again.

“My commitment to the people of Canberra [is] that I will continue to work hard on their behalf locally and nationally,” he said. “Obviously, at this point, I am the most experienced of all the state and territory leaders. And I think that’s a real benefit for the ACT, as often because we are small, our voice can sometimes not be heard in national fora. But as the most experienced member of the national cabinet, I’ll make sure that Canberra’s needs are put on the national agenda. And I look forward to continuing to work with the Prime Minister and his federal team, particularly Senator Gallagher, to get great outcomes for Canberrans.”

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