Australia news live: Tanya Plibersek shifted to social services as Anthony Albanese reveals new cabinet
PM announces line-up of new ministry
Anthony Albanese is unveiling his new cabinet after the Labor party was elected to federal government with the “largest ALP caucus in history since federation”.
The prime minister says it presents “an extraordinary opportunity for ministers, but for the entire caucus going forward” to put “an ambitious agenda to change this country for the better”.
He says:
The cabinet will be made up of: Richard Marles as deputy prime minister and minister for defence; Penny Wong as foreign affairs minister; Jim Chalmers as treasurer; Katy Gallagher, minister for finance and public service; Don Farrell, minister for trade, tourism and special minister of state.
During the election campaign I confirmed all of those people would continue to fulfil their responsibilities.
Tony Burke will be minister for home affairs, immigration and citizenship, cybersecurity as well as the arts; Mark Butler as minister for health and ageing, disability and the NDIS; Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy; Catherine King minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government; Amanda Rishworth will be the minister for employment and workplace relations; Jason Clare, minister for education; Michelle Rowland will be the new attorney general; Tanya Plibersek, minister for social services.
Key events
The PM opens to questions, and the first two questions are about Tanya Plibersek, who has just lost her environment portfolio to take up social services.
Asked if he sees Plibersek having that role until we next go to the election, Albanese says:
I am just announcing it today. You are asking me of people moving on. This is the ministry that I am announcing today. I hope it continues for three years across the board.
He said Plibersek was “very positive” about the portfolio.
There’s now a long list of assistant ministers, but Albanese pauses to give his condolences to Matt Thistlethwaite, who he has appointed assistant Minister for Immigration, Foreign Affairs and Trade, as Thistlethwaite’s father died during the election campaign.
Albanese said:
It was a really difficult time when you are going through a public election campaign to lose your father and on behalf of the Labor Party, I express my condolences to Matt and his family.
Moving to the outer ministry, Albanese lists the following:
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Matt Keogh will continue as Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and defence personnel.
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Christie McBain, Minister for Regional Development, local government and territories and Minister for Emergency Management.
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Andrew Giles, Minister for Skills and training.
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Jenny Macalister, the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
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Dan Merlino enters the ministry as the Assistant Treasurer and financial services.
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Jess Walsh Minister for Early Childhood Education and youth,
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Sam Ray, Minister for Aged Care and seniors.
Albanese continues with his ministry list:
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Julie Collins, minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
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Clare O’Neil, minister for housing, homelessness as well as minister for cities.
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Madeleine King, minister for resources and northern australia.
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Murray Watt, minister for the environment and water.
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Malarndirri McCarthy, minister for Indigenous Australians.
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Anika Wells, minister for communications and minister for sport.
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Pat Conroy, minister for defence industry and minister for Pacific Island affairs.
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Anne Aly, who is new to the cabinet, as minister for small business; she will also be minister for international development and multicultural affairs.
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Tim Ayres enters the cabinet as minister for industry and innovation and minister for science.
The biggest changes to Albanese’s new ministry
Josh Butler
The new ministry list is out, with the biggest changes including:
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Michelle Rowland, as the new attorney-general;
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Health minister Mark Butler gets the NDIS added to his portfolio;
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Amanda Rishworth to employment and workplace relations;
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Tanya Plibersek to social services;
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Anika Wells to communications;
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Murray Watt to environment.
PM announces line-up of new ministry
Anthony Albanese is unveiling his new cabinet after the Labor party was elected to federal government with the “largest ALP caucus in history since federation”.
The prime minister says it presents “an extraordinary opportunity for ministers, but for the entire caucus going forward” to put “an ambitious agenda to change this country for the better”.
He says:
The cabinet will be made up of: Richard Marles as deputy prime minister and minister for defence; Penny Wong as foreign affairs minister; Jim Chalmers as treasurer; Katy Gallagher, minister for finance and public service; Don Farrell, minister for trade, tourism and special minister of state.
During the election campaign I confirmed all of those people would continue to fulfil their responsibilities.
Tony Burke will be minister for home affairs, immigration and citizenship, cybersecurity as well as the arts; Mark Butler as minister for health and ageing, disability and the NDIS; Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy; Catherine King minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government; Amanda Rishworth will be the minister for employment and workplace relations; Jason Clare, minister for education; Michelle Rowland will be the new attorney general; Tanya Plibersek, minister for social services.
We’re expecting the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to step up to speak to media any minute – the press conference is scheduled for 2pm AEST – for what is likely to be the announcement of his new cabinet. We’ll bring you all that shortly.
From Kylie to Bon Scott and Ossie Ostrich, memorabilia to fill new Melbourne museum
The $3.5m Australian Museum of Performing Arts, currently under construction inside Melbourne’s Hamer Hall and set to open in December, is expected to feature items like Kylie Minogue’s gold hotpants, a 19th-century cloak worn by Dame Nellie Melba, and more.
The items come from a stash of more than 850,000 costumes, props, posters and other memorabilia, including AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott’s leather jacket, a journal by Nick Cave, a model of the Priscilla Queen of the Desert bus, and the puppet Ossie Ostrich from the TV program Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
At a launch event on Monday, Arts Centre Melbourne chief executive Karen Quinlan said the collection was established in 1975 and was estimated to be worth almost $80m, but had mostly been kept in storage.
The museum will be located on the upper terrace of the Hamer Hall building overlooking the Yarra River.
The museum was funded by the Victorian government to the tune of $500,000 and the rest contributed by philanthropists. It is part of the $1.7bn Melbourne arts precinct transformation project slated for completion in 2028.
– With AAP
Australian stocks rise amid global economic concerns
Long-awaited US-China trade negotiations have helped push the local share market higher but worries about inflation and global growth remain, with neither nation budging on tariffs, AAP reports.
By midday AEST, the S&P/ASX200 was up 26.5 points, or 0.32%, to 8,257.7, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 26.6 points, or 0.31%, to 8,488.9.
Weekend talks between China and US officials in Switzerland were hailed for making “substantial progress”, but neither side mentioned plans to remove or reduce the US’s 145% duties on China’s imports, nor Beijing’s 125% imposts on US goods.
Seven of 11 local sectors were trading higher by midday, led by a 2.4% rally in energy stocks as the trade talks between the world’s two biggest oil consumers pushed the crude price higher, with Brent futures trading at US$63.78 a barrel.
The worst performing sector on the ASX was consumer staples, down 0.5%, with Woolworths shedding 0.9% to $32.95 as it announced plans to cut prices on hundreds of items from Wednesday.
Locally, Wednesday’s employment data will be the last major economic figures ahead of the Reserve Bank’s meeting next week, when markets expect the central bank to cut rates for the second time this year.
The Australian dollar is buying 64.23 US cents, up from 63. 97 US cents on Friday at 5pm.
Australian warship deployed to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea
HMAS Sydney has been deployed under the enforcement of United Nations security council (UNSC) sanctions against North Korea.
The ADF said in a statement it had enforced UNSC sanctions against North Korea since 2018 to “deter and disrupt illegal maritime activity, including ship-to-ship transfers at sea”.
These sanctions limit North Korea’s imports of refined petroleum and crude oil, and its exports of coal. HMAS Sydney support to Operation Argos marks the 13th time a Royal Australian Navy vessel has been deployed to enforce UNSC sanctions since 2018.
The commanding officer of HMAS Sydney, Ben Weller, said the missile destroyer previously supported Operation Argos in September 2024.
We work closely with the enforcement coordination cell located at Yokosuka in Japan, and sail in areas where suspected illegal activity is expected to take place.
The ship is equipped with an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and a suite of sensors that allow us to monitor illegal ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned goods.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Who will – and won’t – be able to vote for next Liberal leader
The makeup of the Liberal party room that will decide the next leader has been finalised as the final seats in the election are called.
The Liberal Party’s federal director, Andrew Hirst, was given until Monday morning to determine which candidates in the remaining undecided seats were projected to win to allow time for them to travel to Canberra ahead of Tuesday’s leadership ballot.
Guardian Australia has confirmed Gisele Kapterian (Bradfield), Mary Aldred (Monash), Zoe McKenzie (Flinders) and Terry Young (Longman) will be allowed a vote.
However, Amelia Hamer won’t be in the room after falling short in her bid to reclaim Kooyong from teal MP Monique Ryan.
The ABC called Bradfield for Katperian and Kooyong for Ryan on Monday morning.
Flinders, Longman and Monash remain “in doubt”, according to the ABC, although the Liberals are ahead in each.
