You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker every morning to hear the latest episode. Just say play the news from the Australian. From the Australian, here's what's on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Monday, July twenty nine. Nursing homes have lost five billion dollars in the past five years, and three quarters of them face sustained losses without a new funding model. That story is live now for ours subscribers at the Australian dot com dot au.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is out and so is Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neill as Anthony Albanesi tries to regain control of border policy, plus a new Indigenous Affairs minister rises Today Anthony Albanese's big Cabinet reshuffled and what it tells us about the looming election.
Anthony Albanesi has put his government on an election footing by removing two underperforming ministers while putting one of his most senior lieutenants into the key Home Affairs ministry.
In federal politics, some portfolios are much tougher than others. Immigration, you need nerves of steel and the ability to sail past allegations of heartlessness. You're in charge of the overall migration mix, deportations and offshore detention. What could go wrong? Right Home Affairs you carry the can for border protection, counter terrorism and cybersecurity. When a boat full of Sri Lankan or Pakistani asylum seekers lands in remote wa you
get the call. When Anthony Albernezi came to government in twenty twenty two, he chose two newby ministers. Immigration went to a member of the PM's own left faction, Andrew Giles, a lawyer, and Home Affairs to a member of Labour's right former Victorian local mayor and management consultant, Claire O'Neil. They have struggled, not necessarily because of personal failings, but because these are hugely challenging jobs for first time ministers
or anyone. Now both their jobs have been handed to one of the most powerful people in government, Tony Burke, from Labour's famously ruthless New South Wales right faction. Burke takes pretty much all their responsibilities except azo the nation's spy agency that's moved out of Home Affairs and to the Attorney General's Department. Greg Brown is the Australian's Canbrook Bureau Chief.
Tony Burke will be the Minister for both Home Affairs and Immigrations, so he's doing two former minister's jobs in one. He's also looking after multicultural affairs, which I think is critical given he's a Western Sydney MP with a high Muslim population. He's also the Minister for the Art. He's also the Minister for Cybersecurity, which comes under Home Affairs, and he's also the Leader of the House, which is
kind of like the government's key strategist. Now. I think a key takeout from this is that this is the appointment that Anthony Albaneze he made two years too late upon coming into government. He should have treated Home Affairs and Immigration seriously. Instead, he knew no one wanted to do either. It's always poisoned for an ambitious labor politician
to take those portfolios. So he put in Claire O'Neill, someone who here I don't think as a particularly close relationship with He put her into Home Affairs, and then he put his very good mate Andrew Giles into Immigration because he knew that Jiles, being very loyal to him, wouldn't say no. And wouldn't be angry with him about it.
Taking Burke's previous job. Is another winner from the reshuffle the left factions. Murray What. He is the widely respected Minister for Agriculture who's been promoted to Employment and Workplace Relations, a big cabinet job.
It's a big promotion for Murray What. He's one of the key figures of the Queensland Left and he's got a lot of union backing, factional backing. But he's also a very good performer. So I think this is alb and easy shoring up some of his internal support by people that are close from the United Workers' Union, a key union, but also rewarding Senator What for his very
good performances. In doing so, though, it does risk putting regional Australia offside, and that is really something that Labor traditionally struggles with.
Andrew Giles has been dealing with a night Merrish unintended consequence of a labor policy Labour inherited from the Coalition a tough regime of deporting convicted criminals who are non citizens of Australia, but early in its term, Labour decided to introduce a new rule called direction ninety nine, which allowed the tribunal that rules on these cases to consider the length and depth of a criminal's connection to Australia
when deciding whether to let them stay. Surprise, surprise, this led to hardcore convicts whom the government wanted to deport being allowed to remain in Australia. The government had to frantically dump that policy. Claire O'Neill's tenure, and remember she was in Chine. Border Force has seen an optic in
what the government calls unauthorized maritime arrivals. Both people, more than three hundred and fifty potential irregular immigrants that's another government euphemism, have arrived and all have been either turned back to their country of departure or taken to the processing center on Nauru. Last month, twelve people were turned back, thirty seven went to Nauru, five went home from Nauru
to their own countries, and five voluntarily left Australia. So it's a trickle, not the kind of flood the opposition predicted when Labour came to power. Here's O'Neill in April.
Operation Sovereign Borders is a sacrisaint part of Australian public policy. It's something that I spend a lot of time on. It's something that we've devoted additional resources to. I've been a bit disappointed in recent days to see people that I actually respect in the opposition coming out and you know, telling untruths about this and calling into question aspects of
this policy. The Commander of Sovereign Borders has been really open that provides an alternative narrative for people smugglers, and I asked them to stop doing it Jesus.
So we're talking about a few one hundred asylum seekers, not tens of thousands. So why is Clara O'Neil facing the chop?
I think she's very much seen as part of the problem with While it may have been delegated to Andrew Giles, the fact is she was the senior minister in those portfolios. She should have been ensuring some of those mistakes weren't made. She should have been asking more questions of her junior minister about Direction ninety nine. Quite frankly, I think that she's got off pretty lightly with public criticism because so much of it was born by Andrew Giles.
O'Neil and Giles were jointly assigned to handle another migration headache a High Court decision to release scores of stateless detainees. The High Court ruled they couldn't be held in custody indefinitely. Some had been convicted of serious crimes. Since they're a leef, some have allegedly committed more violent offenses. But Greg, to listen to Anthony Albanezy, you'd think Immigration and Border Protection was not the dumpster fire. It seems to be why.
Did you move Andrew Giles from the portfolio?
Because there's a reshuffle. What we had to do, what we had to do, what we had to do. What you do when there's a reshuffle is that there is a change that then has a knock on effect.
In fact, the PM sounded pretty defensive in his Sunday press conference.
We have been the most experienced incoming labor government in history. We are considered, things are orderly, policy processes are right.
Well, I think it was a bit of a bizarre explanation. I agree with you, Claire, because you think if you're moving on ministers in high profile portfolios where there are a lot of problems, he's moving them on and then saying, oh, but they didn't do anything wrong. They did a great job, so there's actually no explanation to the electorate as to why it's happening, so it doesn't seem to pass the pub test. Really, I think nearly all of it as HR.
I think the retirement of a couple of ministers gave him the opportunity to make a couple of these key changes, and I think it's more about the sales peach than the policy.
Both O'Neill and Giles have been reappointed to new jobs. Giles will take on skills and Training and that portfolio has been dumped from cabinet, so he'll be in the outer ministry ouch. In Clara O'Neil's case, it's Homelessness and Housing. She remains in cabinet, but it's a much less important role.
They did need more energy in housing. I think they're facing a lot of pressure from both the Coalition and the Greens on that portfolio, so I think they're ho it will be more within like it does suit her more.
Coming up after the break, a new Minister in Indigenous Affairs to take on center numpimp Price. The Australian has all the best political commentary by none. You can read our experts analysis of all this, plus be the first to know about everything else by joining up subscribers at the Australian dot com dot au. We'll be back after the break. Mullinderry McCarthy is a young Uer woman and
former journalist, born in Katherine in the Northern Territory. She's been at Territory MP and since twenty sixteen a senator. She's a passionate advocate and has spoken of how John Howard's emergency intervention in remote communities, sparked by reports of rampant child sex, offending and substance abuse, left her deeply saddened. Now she's Minister for Indigenous Australians, taking the portfolio from Linda Bernie who's retiring.
It's extremely tough after the mishandling of that Voice referendum.
The twenty twenty three referendum defeat Australians voted no to enshrining an Aboriginal and Torres rate island of Voice in the Constitution left Labor promising to forge a new path ahead towards reconciliation, but it's been light on detail so far.
Senator McCarthy I think will be in a very tough spot because she'll have the indigenous leadership, pushing for new architecture, things like a legislated voice, which could have been done without a referendum already, things like a Macart commission, making
movements on not just truth telling but treaty. However, I think there's such little appetite to go down this path within the government at the moment that I don't think she'd be given a whole lot of lee way from I'm the Prime Minister to do things other than the sort of old fashioned things that governments have done with Indigenous affairs, which is the practical stuff, education, crime and these sorts of things. I'd be pretty staked if she
oversaw an ambitious new architecture for Indigenous Australians. But that is going to be I think a key point of tension between her and the Prime Minister.
Greg Brown is the Australian's CANBRA bureau chief. Australian's off to a flying start at the Olympics in Paris. Just ask US sports reporter Julian Lindon, who's been full side in Paris.
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