Please wait. Contacting image service... loading
Hide article pages Show article pages
  1. Page 1
    Page 1 thumbnail
  2. Page 4
    Page 4 thumbnail

Article text

On this Page 1
Bury in Cabinet:
Holt chooses
woman
in reshuffle
By JONATHAN GAUL, Political Correspondent
The Prime Minister-designate, Mr Holt, named his first Cabinet
and Ministry last night. Nine portfolios have been reshuffled, two
Ministers have been promoted to Cabinet and two Liberal back
benchers become junior Ministers.
Two NSW Ministers who were dropped from Menzies ministries as junior
Ministers are promoted to two of the most senior portfolios.
They are the former Minister for Supply, Mr
Fairhall, 56, who becomes Minister for Defence,
and the former Minister for Housing, Mr Bury,
52, who bccomes Minister for Labour and
National Service.
Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin, 55, from
Queensland, bccomes the first woman Minister
for 15 years by her promotion from Government
Whip in the Senate to Minister for Housing.
Mr McMahon, 57, the former Minister for
Labour and National Service, becomes Treasurer,
and the Minister for Works, Senator Gorton, is
promoted to Cabinet as predicted.
MINOR CHANGES
The surprise of the Cabinet appointments is the
promotion of the Tasmanian former Minister for
Civil Aviation, Senatoq Hcnty, to Minister for
Supply, and the confirmation of his acting appoint
ment as Government Leader in the Senate.
New South Wales has gained an extra place in
Cabinet at the expense of Western Australia. The
balance is now NSW 4 (previously 3), Victoria 3
(j), Queensland 3 (.>). Western Australia ?- (2),
Tasmania 1 (1), South Australia 0 (0).
Among the junior portfolios, Mr Swartz, 54,
from Queensland, the former Minister fbr Health,
becomes Minister for Civil Aviation.
Dr Forbes, 42, from South Australia, the
former Minister for the Army, becomes Minister
for Health, and Mr Malcolm Fraser, 35, from
Victoria, is promoted from the Liberal backbench
to Minister for the Army.
Other more minor changes are: The Postmaster
General, Mr Hulmc, 58, retains his portfolio but
takes over the post of Vicc-Prcsidenl of the
Executive Council from Mr McMahon; the Minis
ter for National Development, Mr Fairbairn, 48,
retains his portfolio but becomes Leader of the
.House of Representatives, taking over from Mr
Holt; and the Minister for Air, Mr Howson, 46,
takes over the extra job of Minister assisting the
Treasurer from Dr Forbes.
The new Ministry will be sworn in by the
Governor-General, Lord Casey, at Government
House at Ham today, and will then officially
become the Government.
PASSED OVER
Mr Bury's rise from the Housing portfolio,
ranked 18th previously to Labour and National
Service, now ranked 12th, is the most spectacular
of the changes.
His appointment means that the Minister for
Shipping and Transport, Mr Freelh, 51, from
Western Australia, has been passed over for pro
motion as have the Minister for Immigration, Mr
Opperman, 61, and the Attornev-GenerM. Mr
Snedden, 39, both from Victoria.
This morning Mr Holt will hold a press con
ference and the new Ministry will meet for the
first time, at Parliament House, at 2.30 this After
noon.
Continued on Page 4.

' Continued Iron1 I'nye 1

The new Federal
Treasurer, Mi'
McMalion, is a gradu
ate in Law and Econ
omics from Sydney
University, and has
represented the Syd
ney suburban seat 01
Lowe sincc 1949. t

, He first joined the Men-1
1 zies Ministry .as Minister for
Navy and Air tn. 1951 and
cose through Social Services,
and Primary Industry to
Labour and National Ser
vice. which he look ovci

in 1958

He is regarded as the most
mialified of the top echelon
of Ministers to take ovci

the Treasury, and follows
the same line of progression
as the Prime Minister .desig
nate, Mr Holt, who held
Labour and National Ser
vice before becoming I tea

surer in 1958.

Mr Fairhall's promotion
lo the Dcfence portfolio isj
the final recognition of hisj
ability after ,1ns demotion
Trom the Interior and V o ksl
I portfolio in 1958 and the

long road back lo a senio.

portfolio. ,

Like Mr McMalion, he is
a "forty-niner," having helu
since 1949 the NSW scat of
Palcrson. an elcctoi ate
which lakes m most ot the
Hunter Vallcv from Ma t
land inland, excluding New

castlc

Mi l-airliall served his
time as ail electrical ap
U-enticc in a Sydney dock
yard and when only --
founded radio station -K.O
Newcastle. During the wai

was co-opted hv t»c
Government to bccomc sup
ervising engineer in charge
of armed forces radio and
signals in NSW.

Disagreed willi
Prime Minister

I After reccivi:ii- "he liucr

ior and Works portlolio n
'1956 lie resigned aftcv onb
I wo vcars after disagree

T -I.BR

Menzics

Three years later, in 1961.
nc was promoted to the
Ministry again, taking over
Supply. His lcvm 1 c f
1 wen the development of

INASA co-operation in Aus

tralia, ELDO rocketry, cv
pansion of defence indus
tries and <hc ,aP,c! 810
of weapons research

As Cabinet's only technic
ian and as the holder of
one of the four J u n ior
Defence portfolios for four
years, heis the best suited
of the Ministers foi the De

fence portfolio.

His first major task will
begin early next week, when
the British Minister of
Defence, Mr Dcn.s Healey

will arrive in p!1 Hrfence
vitaHv important defence

talks which could a^ct
Australia's defence role for

the next generation.

Senator Henty, 62, who

becomes Minislci loi Sup
ply, became Minister for
Civil Aviation in 1964. after
holding Ciisl;uiis and Excise
fioni 1956. He was elected
as « Senator for Tasmania
in 1950.

He succeeded the late
Senator Shane Paltridge in
the Civil Aviation portfolio,
and now succecds him as
(he Government Leader in
the Senate.

Senator Henty has been
acting Leader in the Senate
sincc September, when Sir
Shane became ill, and is not
regarded as a strong Leader,
having experienced several
backbench revolts in the
few months of his acting
leadership.

Competent Navy

Minister

Because ;>f this, it was
thought that the more
forceful Senator Gorton

was the lively man for the
Senate leadership. Balanced
against this, however, was
the feeling that Senator
Gorton might antagonise a
delicately balanced Senate.

The promotion of Sena
tor Gorton to Cabinet was
most likely because of his
position as numb.:r 13 in
the Ministry, first after the
inner Cabinet of 12.

His earlier promotion
has only been prevented by
I lie realities of coalition
government, with Country
Party representation, and
because he was a Victorian
ou the doorstep of already
Victorian dominated

C'abincts.

An Oxford MA. majoring
in history and politics, he
was onlv 39 when decied to
the Senate in 1950. a v<nin«
man in what was then at
least an old man's chamber.

Although he was a filthier
pilot in Spiliire.s and Hurri
canes during the war. his
first portfolio, which he re
ceived in 1958. was Navy.

After fiv.s years, he was
acknowledged as probably
the most competent Navy
Minister sincc the war.

!n 1962. Senator Gorton
took charge of ihc CSIRO.
which he continues, and in
1963 he was promoted to
Minister for Works, and.
uml.?r the Prime Minister.
Minister-in-charge of Com
monwealth Activities in
Education and Research, the
jobs he takes into Cabinet

with him.

Woman ill
Ministry

Senator Gorton has had
the responsibility of ad
ministering the Liberal
Country Party Government's
move into State Aid with
the science block subsidies
and capital grant subsidies
in the ACT.

A forceful and effective
debater, Gorton would have
been the natural heir to
Paltridge as Senate Leader,
but for the delicate balancd
of the Senate, with the fear
that he might antagonise the
crossbenches, and Govern

uicni backbenchers with re

bellious lendcncies.

Senator Dame Annabelli
June Mary Rankin, the lew
Minister for Housing, is the

only unmarried member ol j
the new Ministry and the
first woman to become a
Minister sincc Dame Enid
Lyons stepped down from
Cabinet in 1951.

Elected in 1946, she was
the first Queensland woman
from any political party in
the Federal Parliament. In
1957 she received the DBF.

Although the Whip's post,
which she held, is some
limes regarded as the last
step before receiving a port
lolio. this is not necessarily
so, as the Government Whip
in the House of Representa
tives, Mr W. Aston, from
NSW, has been passed over
in this reshuffle.

Part of the reason for
Dame Annabelle's promo
tion may be- connected with
the Government's concern
at its position in Queens
land, where rising unem
ployment and resentment al
the lack of northern devel
opment has created a
climalc of unfavourable
opinion.

Another factor will be the
effect on I he women's /ole
of Mr Holt's action in ap
pointing the lirst woman
Minister ;ifrcr <n lonu.

; Common Market

controversy

Mr Bury, 52, the new
Minister for Labour and
National Service, must have
been rated the best chance
for the job, if it were taken
on qualifications alone.

An Englishman and the
son of a Church of England
clergyman, he is an MA
from Cambridge in Econo
mics and Law. He worked
for the Bank of NSW in
London, Australia, New
Zealand and Fiji, and then
joined the Australian Trea
sury, representing Australia
al the International Bank
and the Interntaional Mone

tary Fund.

After winning the blue
riband seat of Wentworth,
which takes in Sydney's
wealthy eastern suburbs, in
1956. he became Minister
for Air in 1961, resigning
in August, 1962, after pub
licly criticising the Deputy
Prime Minister Mr Mc
Ewen. for his handling of
Australia's negotiations dur
ing the time of Britain's
proposed entry into the
European Common Mar
ket.

He was appointed to the
. new and politically tricky

post of Minister for Hous
i ing in 1963, establishing a

new department and finally,
only last month, winning re
cognition from the Reserve
Bank that housing finance
should not necessarily be
the first casualty of anti
s inflation measures.

In his new job he will
have to prepare the Com
- monwealth brief for the

coming basic wape eases,
administer the Stevedoring
;ind National Service Acts,
and try to implement :i plan
of adult . training in Aus

tralia. t

The new Minister /or lite
Army, John Malcolm
Frascr, 35, was only 25
when lie won the Victorian
Western District seat of
Wannon for the Liberals in
1955. An Oxford MA with
honours in philosophy, poli
tics and economies, lie has
been an active backbencher,'
particularly on' the Parlia
mentary Foreign Affairs

Commillcc.

$