The Australian cabinet has been reshuffled by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He has even elevated several women to higher position in the hopes that the backlash against him and his government will ease. The backlash was because of the way Prime Minister Morrison decided to handle a sexual assault claim allegation in the parliament.
Before the reshuffle was done there were only 6 law makers that were women that were apart of Morrison’s cabinet. While Morrison has promoted women to helm the high-profile attorney-general and home affairs portfolio, he kept Christian Porter — who earlier this month vigorously denied allegations that he raped a fellow school debating-team member in the 1980s in his Cabinet. Morrison made the statement that “These changes will shake up what needs to be shaken up while maintaining the momentum and the continuity and the stability that Australia needs.”
Michaelia Cash becomes Australia’s first law officer replacing Porter, who now helms industry, science and technology. Karen Andrews becomes minister for home affairs, a super-portfolio covering border security, immigration and federal law enforcement, replacing Peter Dutton, who becomes defense minister. The previous minister of defense, Linda Reynolds, had been criticized by Morrison for her handling of separate allegations that a media adviser was raped by a colleague in her parliamentary office two years ago. She will move to the government services portfolio, and remain in Cabinet.
Michelle Grattan stated that “The problem is that this cultural issue of attitudes to women is so far reaching, so broad. His own experience and background is very limited when it comes to these sorts of issues,” she said.
Morrison’s personal approval rating has fallen 7 points to 55% in the past two weeks, according to a poll on an Australian newspaper. The survey showed his Liberal-National coalition trailing the main Labor opposition, 48% to 52%.
The prime minister has been personally criticized by rival lawmakers for his failure to adequately address the issues, which in the past week widened to include what he described as “disgusting and sickening” behavior involving a group of male government staffers who had shared images and videos of lewd acts for two years.
