South Australian Cabinet Reshuffle

19 January 2016

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill unveiled his revamped Cabinet this morning, which features two new ministers and a number of significant changes in portfolio responsibilities for existing ministers. Premier Weatherill said the reshuffle is designed to lessen the load of responsibility for key ministers while requiring other members of his team to “step up”. The announcement follows the resignations of ministers Gail Gago and Tony Piccolo from the Ministry last week.

Notable additions to the Premier’s new-look Ministry include former head of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association in SA Peter Malinauskas, who has been promoted to Cabinet less than two months after being sworn in as a member of the Legislative Council. Mr Malinauskas was appointed Mr Piccolo’s former roles of Minister for Police, Correctional Services, Emergency Services and Road Safety, while Northern suburbs MP Leesa Vlahos, another new addition to Cabinet, takes on the roles of Minister for Disabilities and Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

Minister Stephen Mullighan has replaced Deputy Premier John Rau as Minister for Housing and Urban Development, while Mr Rau takes on a number of new roles, including the newly-created position of Minister for the City of Adelaide. The Small Business portfolio has moved from Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis to Independent MP Martin Hamilton-Smith, while Chris Picton was appointed Assistant Minister to the Treasurer.

Minister Kyam Maher takes over from outgoing minister Gail Gago as Leader of Government Business in the Legislative Council, while also assuming the Employment and Science, and Information Economy portfolios.

Other key changes include:

  • Deputy Premier John Rau has been appointed Minister for the Public Sector, Business Services and Consumers
  • Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion Zoe Bettison adds the Status of Women to her responsibilities – a portfolio previously held by Ms Gago
  • Education Minister Susan Close takes over Ms Gago’s role of Minister for Higher Education and Skills.

See the Government’s media release here, including a full ministry list.

The Liberal Opposition also announced a minor shadow portfolio reshuffle last week, moving former Shadow Education Minister David Pisoni into the Transport and Infrastructure portfolio, and former Police spokesman John Gardner to Education. Corey Wingard was also appointed Shadow Minister for Employment, while Dan van Holst Pellekaan added Police and Regional Development to his responsibilities.

 

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