19 July 2016•Update: 23 July 2016
By Jill Fraser
MELBOURNE, Australia
The official swearing in of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his newly chosen Ministers, including a 23-strong frontbench, the largest since 1975, has taken place in Canberra.
Tuesday's ceremony was officiated by Gov. General Peter Crosgrove in his official residence, Government House.
Having been returned to power by the slimmest of margins following the July 2 election -- the Government achieved 76 seats, the minimum required for governing in its own right -- Turnbull yesterday announced the largest cabinet line-up in 40 years.
Turnbull maintains his new ministry is a team that will "deliver a strong and secure future".
Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek, however, sees the move differently.
She described it as a need “to appoint all his friends and all of his enemies to the frontbench to try to keep peace” and "a sure sign that any authority the prime minister had before the election has been completely shattered".
Plibersek was referring to rumblings in the conservative ranks of the Liberal Party about strategies employed during the mammoth eight-week election campaign that failed to resonate with voters and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott still waiting in the wings for an encore performance.
Turnbull has made only minor changes to his new ministry and he resisted pressure from conservative party factions to appoint Abbott to his cabinet.
Two former female ministers, Defense Minister Marise Payne and former Assistant Treasurer and Small Business Minister Kelly O'Dywer, now have diminished roles.
In addition to losing responsibility for small business, O'Dwyer's title has changed to minister for revenue and financial services.
Part of Payne's responsibilities will now be handled by Christopher Pyne.
Pyne has been appointed to the newly created role of minister for defense industry, which will oversee the development of the multi-million dollar military technology and South Australia’s shipbuilding project, referred to in the defense white paper as the “most significant naval shipbuilding program since the Second World War.”
Plibersek described the changes to O’Dwyer’s and Payne’s roles as demotions. She expressed her disappointment at the reduced number of women in the ministry.
Most of the changes to Turnbull's frontbench were reshuffles rather than promotions.
Turnbull’s narrow election victory gives him only a slim majority when Parliament opens next month.
The Turnbull government has a majority of one seat in the 150-seat House of Representatives (Lower House), where parties with a majority form the government.
