NDIS Minister Bill Shorten will end 17 years in politics on Monday, sparking a cabinet reshuffle ahead of the federal election.
The resignation creates vacancies in the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Government Services portfolios, handing the prime minister an opportunity to re-allocate roles within his 30-member ministry and finesse his frontbench team before voters head to the polls.
A government source told the ABC Mr Shorten’s responsibilities would be split up among three ministers in a reshuffle to be made public as soon as Thursday.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth will add the NDIS to her portfolio, with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to take on Centrelink and Anne Aly to become junior disability minister.
Katy Gallagher will be a surprise winner in the reshuffle, adding Centrelink to her extensive portfolio responsibilities. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Giving Ms Rishworth carriage of the NDIS would align oversight of the scheme with the newly created “foundational support” system for people with disabilities, which is already housed in her portfolio.
That system, passed by the parliament in August, is designed to minimise budgetary pressures by limiting the growth cost of the NDIS to below 8 per cent a year.
In an exclusive interview, Mr Shorten would not be drawn on the specifics of the reshuffle but told the ABC Ms Rishworth was “a very talented minister”.
“I think being the NDIS minister is an amazing portfolio. It requires passion, it requires caring about people, it requires the willingness to make the tough decisions … ” he said.
“It’s up to the PM to pick someone. All my colleagues are talented and frankly they’re as good a cabinet that’s been around in many, many years … He’s got a wealth of choices.”
PM gives rival an early mark
Mr Shorten, who led Labor to the 2016 and 2019 elections as opposition leader, announced his political retirement in September but agreed to remain in cabinet until this year to help roll out legislated reforms of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
His departure comes nine days earlier than expected, and before he is due to take up his new role as vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra in February.
Asked if he had been pushed to leave early to clear the decks ahead of a poll, Mr Shorten said that was not the case.
“The timing is right and it allows the prime minister to name the minister or ministers so the team can be established before the election,” he said.
Mr Shorten, who was central to the political demise of Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, is a long-time rival of Mr Albanese, beating him for the leadership in 2013 and then going on to serve in his cabinet after 2022.
In that capacity, he led a campaign for victims of the Coalition’s illegal robodebt scheme, culminating in a royal commission.
Bill Shorten’s retirement was announced late last year at a press conference in the prime ministerial courtyard. (ABC News: Andy Kennedy)
He has held the seat of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s inner west since 2007 and he led the Labor party for six years, stepping aside after losing the 2019 election.
With the federal poll due by May, there will not be a by-election in Mr Shorten’s seat of Maribyrnong.
Jo Briskey, who moved to Melbourne in 2019 and is regarded as a talented former unionist by her backers, has been preselected as the Labor candidate for the seat.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is also preparing to reshuffle the Coalition frontbench to replace his retiring foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, and the manager of opposition business, Paul Fletcher.
A reshuffle was flagged before Christmas but did not eventuate.
