Federal MP for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher appointed as Minister for Territories, Local Government & Major Projects by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The Malcolm Turnbull government has revealed the reshuffle of the front bench, which includes MP for Bradfield Paul Fletcher as the new Minister for Territories, Local Government & Major Projects.
The role for Mr Fletcher has been newly created following the deposition of Tony Abbott as Prime Minister on 14th September, 2015, which led to Malcolm Turnbull being sworn in as Australia’s 29th PM.
Mr Fletcher now takes on a Parliamentary front bench role that had become defunct following the election of the Coalition in September 2013.
Since the election, local government had become the de facto responsibility for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Warren Truss, who retains his position following Mr Turnbull’s cabinet reshuffle.
The local government portfolio went through some significant changes under the previous Labor government, depending on who was leader, where Anthony Albanese, Simon Crean, Mr Albanese again, and finally Catherine King held the role in that order.
Prior to taking on his new cabinet position, Mr Fletcher has had a significant role to play in the communications and technology sector as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications in the Abbott government.
And now Mr Fletcher brings his technology credentials to his new local government portfolio, as he had previously founded Fletchergroup Advisers, a strategy consultancy focusing on the communications industry.
In his new role, Mr Fletcher will face challenges in liaising with a sector that has become weary of the Coalition government’s austerity measures under Tony Abbott and former Treasuer Joe Hockey (who has been replaced by Scott Morrison and has also announced that he will not contest the next election), which hit local government hard when the 2014-15 Budget put a freeze on indexation of Financial Assistance Grants (FAG).
Following the announcement of the cabinet reshuffle, Mr Fletcher tweeted that he was “pleased & honoured” to be appointed as minister.
The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) responded to the appointment by then tweeting that “we look forward to working with” the new Minister for Local Government.
