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Queensland’s new premier, David Crisafulli, has unveiled his new cabinet, breaking a pre-election promise to automatically elevate his existing shadow team to the government frontbench.
The LNP leader repeatedly promised the shadow cabinet he took to last week’s election would be the cabinet after it.
He made the commitment as late as just three days before election day.
“I’ve said that many times, the cabinet, the shadow cabinet I’m taking to the election, will be the shadow, will be the cabinet after the election, if we’re elected to government,” Crisafulli said on 23 October.
“And it’s important that Queenslanders know that there’s great stability.”
But Crisafulli’s cabinet includes several changes, including putting the former leader Tim Nicholls in the health portfolio.
The registered nurse Ros Bates held the position in opposition, but has been sworn in as minister for finance, trade, employment and training.
“Tim will take over from Ros Bates, who, having requested a new challenge after the relentless prosecution of health for two terms, has been promoted into the ministry of finance, trade, employment and training, where she will help lead the charge on securing opportunities for investment and jobs,” Crisafulli said in a statement.
The shadow education minister, Christian Rowan, has not been given a ministry, instead being appointed leader of the house. Rowan is a former doctor.
Nicholls was a lawyer, and served as treasurer under the former Campbell Newman government.
The cabinet does not include ministries overseeing climate change, the Great Barrier Reef or mental health, and responsibility for tourism now falls to the environment minister. The cabinet does include a minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Crisafulli has appointed the longtime Sunshine Coast MP Fiona Simpson to the frontbench.
Simpson, who was criticised after a controversial 2002 speech she made in parliament promoting work done to help people “leave the homosexual lifestyle”, also voted against the decriminalisation of abortion in 2018.
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She will serve as minister for women and women’s economic security, minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, and minister for multiculturalism.
In her 2002 speech to parliament, Simpson promoted Christian evangelical ministry group Exodus.
“Today I was talking with a particular gentleman who is a former homosexual,” she said in the 2002 speech.
“They have a compassionate understanding and a desire to get alongside people who choose and who want to leave the homosexual lifestyle. This is about offering them options and not imposing only one set of values on other people.”
Simpson said the mission of Exodus was to help people “grow into heterosexuality over time”.
More than two-thirds of the new cabinet is men, with just six women in the 19-strong ministry.
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David Crisafulli: premier and minister for veterans
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Jarrod Bleijie: deputy premier, minister for state development, infrastructure and planning, and minister for industrial relations
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David Janetzki: treasurer, minister for energy and minister for home ownership
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Ros Bates: minister for finance, trade, employment and training
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Dale Last: minister for natural resources and mines, minister for manufacturing and minister for regional and rural development
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Tim Nicholls: minister for health and ambulance services
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Deb Frecklington: attorney general and minister for justice and minister for integrity
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John-Paul Langbroek: minister for education and the arts
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Dan Purdie: minister for police and emergency services
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Laura Gerber: minister for youth justice and victim support and minister for corrective services
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Brent Mickelberg: minister for transport and main roads
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Ann Leahy: minister for local government and water and minister for fire, disaster recovery and volunteers
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Sam O’Connor: minister for housing and public works and minister for youth
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Tony Perrett: minister for primary industries
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Fiona Simpson: minister for women and women’s economic security, minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and minister for multiculturalism
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Andrew Powell: minister for the environment and tourism and minister for science and innovation
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Amanda Camm: minister for families, seniors and disability services and minister for child safety and the prevention of domestic and family violence
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Tim Mander: minister for sport and racing and minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
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Steve Minnikin: minister for customer services and open data and minister for small and family business