Page 44 - Australian Defence Magazine July 2019
P. 44

Political ponderings
A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT | CANBERRA
We have a new Defence Minister, Senator Linda Reynolds, the second female to ever hold that job, and the 12th Defence Minister since the turn of the century.
SHE’S the fifth Defence Minister since the coalition defeated Labor at the end of 2013. During the Howard years (1996-2007), there were another five. In its six years in government (2007-13), Labor managed three Defence Ministers.
That’s a rate of churn of Defence Ministers in coalition governments not matched in oth- er key portfolios such as Treasury and Foreign Affairs. For the entire life of the John Howard government, Peter Costello was treasurer and Alexander Downer Foreign Minister.
There has to be something said for finding someone who’s good at a job and leaving them to it, but that hasn’t been the case with De- fence, an enormously complex portfolio area.
Your correspondent has no idea what it is about coalition governments and their De- fence Ministers.
Under Howard, the portfolio appeared to be a rewardingly long and loyal service. The Defence portfolio was the crowning achievements of Ian McLachlan (1996- 98), John Moore (1998-2001), Peter Reith (2001) and Robert Hill (2001-2006).
All did their time in Defence then prompt- ly departed politics. None were in any way inept (others may take a different view), but it’s hard to say that Defence might not have benefited a little more constancy at the top, especially in overseeing implementation of the various internal reform programs.
On the big question as to just who was the worst Defence Minister of recent years, one name is regularly nominated by some past and present Defence figures.
That’s Stephen Smith, Labor Defence Minister from 2010-13. Your correspon- dent disagrees and he believes he deserves credit for drawing the line in the sand on the perennial issue of treatment of women in the ranks.
That was prompted by the ADFA ‘Sky-
pe scandal’, when a group of junior cadets thought it a great joke to film one of them having sex with a fellow female student and stream the video to the others snickering in a nearby room.
Public outrage was immediate and in- candescent, and Smith launched a series of reviews, which led to substantial but not universally popular cultural change across the Defence organisation. Defence still isn’t perfect but it has come a long way.
Most everyone thought the coalition would be done like a turkey dinner at the recent election. Maybe even some coalition MPs and Ministers were regretting their re- tirement decisions as the results unfolded.
create all sorts of interesting conflicts, as, in theory, more senior officers, including De- fence Chiefs, could order her around.
Reynolds, a West Australian Senator, is a relative newcomer to federal politics, arriv- ing in Canberra in July 2014. That wasn’t achieved without some angst, as she was elected as third and final Liberal Senator in the 2013 election, which brought the coali- tion back to power.
Then the electoral commission lost some ballot papers and the High Court ordered an- other Senate election for WA. There was no certainty she’d win in round two but she did.
Reynolds is even more recent to the min- istry, being appointed Assistant Minister for home affairs in August 2018, picked up the Defence Industry Minister portfolio, and had a spot in cabinet when Steve Ciobo stood aside earlier this year. That gave her just under three months to get across the vast Defence Industry space in the lead up to an election where the polls did not favour the coalition.
On the face of it, MP Melissa Price is an
Maybe one of them was Christopher Pyne, or maybe not.
Moving onto the new ministerial team, it is actually a little unusual that two of the four MPs with Defence responsibilities ac- tually have experience with Defence service.
New Assistant Defence Minister Alex Hawke did six years in the Army Reserve, reaching the rank of Lieutenant.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds is also a former reservist with 29 years in uniform (1984-2012), culminating with the very senior rank of Brigadier. She was the first Australian female reservist officer to attain a star rank.
Were she still a serving officer, it would
unusual choice for Defence Industry Min- ister. Her previous ministerial experience was as Assistant Minister, then Minister for the Environment. She is also from WA and was a lawyer with a resources company pre- politics.
The fourth member of the Defence min- isterial lineup is Victorian National Darren Chester, a former journalist, whose primary responsibility is Veterans Affairs, with De- fence Personnel matters thrown in.
He’s had a fairly lengthy association with Defence, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Defence Minister under Tony Abbott and then as Assistant Defence Minister under Malcolm Turnbull.
44 | July 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
DEFENCE BUSINESS
VIEW FROM CANBERRA
“On the big question as to just who was
the worst Defence Minister of recent years, one name is regularly nominated by some past and present Defence figures.”


































































































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