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Turnbull to announce new ministry on Monday

Sep 16, 2015

New Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says a new federal ministry will be sworn in by the Governor-General on Monday.

It’s likely that will see an influx of women in Cabinet, with Turnbull telling reporters today: “There is no greater enthusiast than me for seeing more women in positions of power and influence in parliament”.

But he refused to reveal whether he planned to remove “a lot of dead wood” from the ministry he inherited from deposed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

South Australian Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs, who has been mooted for demotion, said he did not know how his loyalty to deposed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott may have harmed his ministerial aspirations.

Briggs said the Liberal party room meeting in which Turnbull defeated Abbott by 10 votes was a “brutal” experience.

“Monday night was the most difficult personal experience I think I’ve gone through, as far as the atmosphere and how it played out in that room,” he told ABC891 radio this morning.

“It was a brutal experience…

“I took the view on Monday night that, while I recognise the reasons that people were making a decision to change their vote, that Tony Abbott had been very loyal to me, given me an opportunity.

“He is a good person, he has very good values, he’s got a lot of character and I took the view that you shouldn’t just abandon people because of self-interest.

“I told both Malcolm and Tony what I intended to do, and in the end, the party room made a different decision.”

Despite his vote, Briggs acknowledged Abbott had not been popular in South Australia.

“I think it’s fair to say that the whole time of Tony’s leadership he was never particularly popular in South Australia,” he said.

“… what Malcolm will be able to bring is a fresh perspective, and he is an extremely good communicator who understands the economy extraordinarily well.”

Education Minister Christopher Pyne, who is reportedly vying to step into Kevin Andrews’ position as Defence Minister, said ministerial roles were Turnbull’s decision to make.

“This weekend … there’ll be an announcement about that,” he told ABC 891.

“If I move roles, I will do the new role with as much gusto as the one I’m doing now, and if I stay in education I’ll be happy.”

Andrews is fighting to keep his job.

He is one of a number of Abbott backers expected to be demoted or axed when the new ministry is unveiled.

“I think that continuity at the moment is quite important in this instance,” Andrews told reporters, as he confirmed Australian fighter jets had carried out their first strikes on Islamic State targets inside Syria.

Pyne, asked whether he had insisted on a commitment from Turnbull that 12 submarines would be built in South Australia, said: “I’m doing everything in my power to help boost and support the South Australian economy and South Australian jobs”.

South Australian Liberal Leader Stephen Marshall he said he had spoken with Turnbull about the submarines issue.

“Absolutely we spoke about subs,” told FIVEAA radio this morning.

“I always talk about subs when I go to Canberra.

“There is an appreciation now in Canberra that we need to have a continuous build.

“I not only met with the Prime Minister yesterday, but I also met with the Defence Minister Kevin Andrews regarding the White Paper which is about to be released.

“I’m not going to divulge conversations but I think that the White Paper will be very good for South Australia.

“I have a good friendship with Malcolm Turnbull which goes back years and I’ll use that friendship to advocate on behalf of South Australia.”

– with AAP

AAP Image/Lukas Coch

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