Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is prioritising cyber security in cabinet with the appointment of Victorian MP Clare O’Neil as Minister for Cyber Security. 

The Prime Minister has revealed his first ministry line-up of 23 members last Tuesday, with a record number of 10 women, as he worked towards establishing gender balance and representation in his government. 

“This is a record number (of women), this is the most positive group that has ever been put forward in terms of the cabinet, the ministry and the caucus,” the Prime Minister told reporters in Canberra. 

“I want to see us move towards 50-50 representation across all of the spectrum.” 

Alongside this reveal was the announcement of O’Neil’s appointment to the position of Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security. O’Neil previously served for more than a year as the Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care and served as the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Technology and Future of Work prior to it. 

The responsibility for the country’s cyber security fell under the previous Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews. However, the sector was not recognised as its own and announcements related to it had to be relayed to the public by the previous Assistant Minister for Defence Andrew Hastie and the Australian Signals Directorate. 

With cyber security now having its own portfolio within the government, it is expected that cyber security policies and programs will be pushed further to support the Australian Government’s plans of becoming a modern and leading digital economy by 2030. 

Aside from O’Niel’s new appointment as Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, the Prime Minister has also appointed new ministers for several roles within the government. 

NSW MP Michelle Rowland, who spent over five years as Shadow Minister for Communications, has been appointed to become the new Minister for Communications. She will be seeing to the implementation of Labor’s communications-related pledges. 

Former opposition leader Bill Shorten will also be the next minister for the NDIS and government services, while Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will take on defence and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher will be given additional responsibilities of minister for women and the public service minister. 

The full cabinet has been sworn in at a ceremony at Government House yesterday. 

Of the 30-member frontbench, 16 will come from the right and 14 from the left due to a proportionate split within the caucus.  

The Prime Minister said there was a good balance of new faces and members who had been in the previous Labor frontbench when the party was last in power. 

“We had a position whereby I think we have an overflow of talent on our side of parliament … It’s a mix of people who have served in the cabinet before,” he said. 

“That will augur well for how the government functions.” 

With AAP

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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