The second Morrison ministry ( Liberal–

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

) was the 72nd ministry of the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

. It was led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

. The second Morrison ministry succeeded the first Morrison ministry following the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

. The ministry was announced on 26 May 2019 and was sworn in on 29 May. Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election, the ministry was succeeded by the Albanese ministry on 23 May 2022.

Final arrangement

On 19 September 2021, industrial, science and technology minister

Christian Porter Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government. He was a Mem ...

resigned from the cabinet after he was criticised for accepting an anonymous donation from a blind trust to fund his defamation claim against

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and reporter

Louise Milligan Louise Milligan is an Australian author and investigative reporter for the ABC TV ''Four Corners'' program. As of March 2021, she is the author of two award-winning non-fiction books. Her first novel, ''Pheasants Nest'', was published in 2024. ...

for publishing his rape allegation. Energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor took over Porter's portfolios on an acting basis. In a ministerial reshuffle on 8 October 2021, Taylor gained the industry portfolio, while defence industry minister Melissa Price gained the science and technology portfolio, with both retaining their own portfolios.

Alex Hawke Alexander George Hawke (born 9 July 1977) is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs from 2020 to 2022 in the Morrison government. Hawke has served as Member of ...

was promoted to the cabinet while retaining his immigration portfolio. Ben Morton was promoted to the ministry and was appointed the Special Minister of State and the Public Service Minister, while continuing to assist the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Tim Wilson was appointed the Assistant Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. On 25 October 2021, resources and water minister

Keith Pitt Keith John Pitt (born 31 August 1969) is an Australian diplomat and former politician. He is a member of the National Party and represented the Division of Hinkler in Queensland between the 2013 federal election and January 2025. He was a mem ...

was reinstated to the cabinet, after previously being demoted to the outer ministry in July 2021. On 2 December 2021, education minister

Alan Tudge Alan Tudge (born 24 February 1971) is an Australian former politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the House of Representatives between 2010 and 2023. He was a cabinet minister in the Morrison government from 2019 to 2022. Tudge grew up ...

stood down from the cabinet while allegations of his bullying and affair with his former press secretary were being investigated. On 4 March 2022, while the review cleared Tudge of breaking any rules, Tudge decided not to return to the cabinet and resigned.

Stuart Robert Stuart Rowland Robert (born 11 December 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business from 2021 to 2022, following his appointment as Minister for Government Service ...

was the acting Education Minister during Tudge's leave and after Tudge stood down.

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Outer ministry

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Cabinet

Party breakdown of cabinet ministers (since 25 October 2021):

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On 21 June 2021, Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Michael McCormack was replaced by former leader

Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who was the leader of the National Party of Australia from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2021 to 2022. Joyce was the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia during both ...

in a

leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply a spill) is a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (leader and deputy leader in ...

, resulting in a ministerial reshuffle of National Party members. Joyce was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister and

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the Government of Australia is a position currently held by Catherine King following the swearing in of the full Albanese ministry on 1 June 2022. The M ...

on 22 June 2021, taking over from McCormack. Details of the reshuffle of the other National party members were announced on 27 June 2021. The new ministerial arrangement took effect on 2 July 2021. McCormack was not given a ministerial portfolio and moved to the backbench. His supporters

Mark Coulton Mark Maclean Coulton (born 3 February 1958) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the National Party and he served in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2025, representing the Division of Parkes in New South Wales. He has served ...

and

Darren Chester Darren Jeffrey Chester (born 13 September 1967) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the House of Representatives for Gippsland in Victoria, representing the Nationals since 2008. Chester had served as the Minister for Veterans ...

were also stripped of their ministerial portfolios and moved to the backbench. Joyce's supporters

Bridget McKenzie Bridget Grace McKenzie (born 27 December 1969) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the National Party and has been a Senator for Victoria since 2011. She has held ministerial office in the Turnbull and Morrison governments, also s ...

and Andrew Gee were promoted to the cabinet, with McKenzie returning to the cabinet since her resignation in February 2020. McKenzie took over the emergency management portfolio (including drought) from deputy party leader

David Littleproud David Kelly Littleproud (born 4 September 1976) is an Australian politician who has been the leader of the National Party since May 2022. He has represented the regional Queensland seat of Maranoa since the 2016 federal election and was a cab ...

, while also gaining the regionalisation (formerly decentralisation), regional communications and regional education from Coulton and Gee. Gee gained the veterans' affairs and defence personnel from Chester. Littleproud retained agriculture and gained the Northern Australia portfolio from

, who retained resources and water but was demoted to the outer ministry.

David Gillespie David "Cement" Gillespie (born 22 March 1964) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward in the 1980s and 1990s. Gillespie played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies, ...

, also a supporter of Joyce, was promoted to the outer ministry and gained the regional health portfolio from Coulton. Gillespie was previously an assistant minister in the Second Turnbull ministry. As for the assistant ministry, Kevin Hogan became the Assistant Minister for Local Government in addition to his existing portfolios, while

Michelle Landry Michelle Leanne Landry (née Martin; born 15 October 1962) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2013 federal election, representing the Division of Capricornia. Landry served as the Assist ...

remained Assistant Minister for Children Families, but lost her role as Assistant Minister for Northern Australia.

Cabinet

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Cabinet

Party breakdown of cabinet ministers:

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Party breakdown of entire ministry:

Fourth arrangement

Since February and early March 2021, Defence Minister

Linda Reynolds Linda Karen Reynolds (born 16 May 1965) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Liberal Party and has served as a Senator for Western Australia since 2014. She held senior ministerial office as a cabinet minister in the Morrison g ...

and Attorney-General

had been criticised for their words and actions during a series of scandals that plagued the Morrison government. Reynolds had been criticised for the mishandling of a rape allegation and complaint by her staffer Brittany Higgins in 2019, while Porter had been accused of raping a 16-year-old when he was 17 in 1988. Reynolds and Porter subsequently took medical leave from 24 February and 4 March respectively, after which, foreign affairs minister

Marise Payne Marise Ann Payne (born 29 July 1964) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1997 until 2023, representing the Liberal Party. She held senior ministerial office in Coalition governments between 2013 and 2022, inclu ...

was acting defence minister on behalf of Reynolds and employment minister

Michaelia Cash Michaelia Clare Cash (born 19 July 1970) is an Australian politician currently serving as shadow minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. She previously served as the 38th Attorney-General of Australia from 202 ...

was the acting Attorney-General and acting industrial relations minister on behalf of Porter.

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party from 2 ...

was acting Leader of the House on behalf of Porter. In a ministerial reshuffle on 30 March 2021, Reynolds was demoted to government services and the NDIS, and Porter was demoted to industry and science. Dutton replaced Reynolds as Minister for Defence and officially replaced Porter as Leader of the House. Cash officially replaced Porter as Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations.

Karen Andrews Karen Lesley Andrews (née Weir; born 23 August 1960) is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison government as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology from 2018 to 2021 and as Minister for Home Affairs (Australia), Minister fo ...

took over Dutton's role as Minister for Home Affairs, and

took on Cash's role as employment minister. There were also changes to other ministers who were not plagued by the scandals.

Anne Ruston Anne Sowerby Ruston (born 10 June 1963) is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Families and Social Services in the Morrison government from 2019 to 2022. She has been a Senator for South Australia since 2012. Before entering pol ...

was appointed Minister for Women's Safety, in addition to her social services portfolio. Jane Hume was appointed Minister for Women's Economic Security, in addition to her superannuation portfolio.

Amanda Stoker Amanda Jane Stoker ( Fell; born 30 October 1982) is an Australian politician who served as a Australian Senate, Senator for Queensland from 2018 until 2022. She is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) and sat with the Libe ...

was appointed Assistant Minister for Women and Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations, in addition to her position as Assistant Attorney-General. Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price retained her portfolio but returned to the Cabinet. Her promotion to Cabinet would allow the Cabinet to return to its previous record of seven women. The reshuffle was aimed to "getting the right perspective" in the wake of the justice for women movement. There were no additions or removals of parliamentarians to the ministry.

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Between March 2020 and May 2021, Scott Morrison was secretly appointed to five additional ministries: Department of Health (14 March 2020), Department of Finance (30 March 2020), Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (15 April 2021), and the departments of Home affairs and Treasury (6 May 2021). Morrison said later that he hadn't used his additional powers, except in one instance in relation to a decision on the Pep-11 offshore gas exploration project. A ministerial reshuffle was undertaken on 22 December 2020. Health Minister

Greg Hunt Gregory Andrew Hunt (born 18 November 1965) is an Australian former politician who was the Minister for Health between January 2017 and May 2022. He was a Liberal Party member of the House of Representatives between November 2001 and 2022, repr ...

was given the aged care portfolio in addition his existing health portfolio. The previous aged care minister,

Richard Colbeck Richard Mansell Colbeck (born 5 April 1958) is an Australian politician. He has been a Senator for Tasmania since 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and served a previous term in the Senate from 2002 to 2016. Colbeck served as the Minister f ...

, remained as Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services. Colbeck also retained the sports portfolio, but lost the youth portfolio to

. Tudge was appointed as Minister for Education and Youth, and his previous urban infrastructure portfolio was given to Communications and Arts Minister Paul Fletcher. The previous Education Minister Dan Tehan was appointed as Trade Minister, taking over from

Simon Birmingham Simon John Birmingham (born 14 June 1974) is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for South Australia between May 2007 to January 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, he served in the Morrison government as Minister for Finance from ...

who became the Finance Minister two months prior. No additional parliamentarians were appointed to the Cabinet.

Zed Seselja Zdenko Matthew "Zed" Seselja (; born 27 March 1977) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory from 2013 to 2022, representing the Liberal Party. He was the Minister for International Development and the ...

and Jane Hume were promoted to the Outer Ministry, and

and

Andrew Hastie Andrew William Hastie (born 30 September 1982) is an Australian politician and former military officer currently serving as the shadow minister for defence. He has been Member of Parliament for the Division of Canning in Western Australia, si ...

were new additions to the Assistant Ministry. Steve Irons stepped down from the Assistant Ministry to make way for Hastie. Immigration Minister

David Coleman David Robert Coleman (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from 196 ...

, who was on personal leave since December 2019, returned from leave but was demoted to an Assistant Minister.

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resigned as deputy Nationals leader and from the Cabinet on 2 February 2020 because of a sports grants scandal, while Matt Canavan resigned on 3 February 2020 because he backed former Nationals leader

in the 2020 Nationals leadership spill. Following the spill, David Littleproud was elected as deputy leader of the Nationals on 4 February 2020. The portfolios held by Nationals ministers and assistant ministers were reshuffled, effective 6 February 2020. Littleproud took over the agriculture portfolio from McKenzie, retaining his drought and emergency management portfolios, and losing the water resources portfolio to

. Pitt, who was previously an assistant minister between 2016 and 2018, also took over resources and Northern Australia portfolio from Canavan.

continued to hold the veteran affair's and defence personnel portfolios, which were moved from the outer ministry to the cabinet.

's regional services portfolio was split up into regional health, regional communications and regional education, with Coulton retaining the first two as well as the local government portfolio. Andrew Gee was promoted to the outer ministry and took over the regional education and decentralisation portfolios and the post of Assistant Trade and Investment Minister from Coulton. Kevin Hogan was promoted to the assistant ministry and replaced Gee as Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister.

retained her portfolio and was additionally appointed Assistant Minister for Northern Australia. The new ministers were sworn in on 6 February 2020. The portfolios of Liberal ministers were unchanged, and

continued to be acting

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship is a ministerial post of the Australian Government and is currently held by Tony Burke since July 2024 in the Albanese ministry. The post was created in 1945 and its inaugural officeholder was Arth ...

on behalf of

. In October 2020,

Mathias Cormann Mathias Hubert Paul Cormann (; ; born 20 September 1970) is a Belgian-born Australian politician and diplomat who serves as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation a ...

retired from federal politics.

took over Cormann's roles as Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister for Finance in addition to his own trade portfolio on 31 October 2020.

became the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate. Despite the loss of one cabinet minister, Morrison opted not to make other ministerial changes at the time. The arrangement lasted until the reshuffle in December 2020.

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The first arrangement of the Second Morrison Ministry was sworn in on 29 May 2019. In December 2019, it was announced that Immigration Minister

would be taking indefinite leave for personal reasons, with

taking over his portfolio as acting minister. The arrangement became unaltered until the resignation of National Party senators

and Matt Canavan on 2 and 3 February 2020 respectively. Until the reshuffle on 6 February, Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was the acting Minister for Agriculture, taking over from McKenzie, while Water Resources minister

was the acting Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, taking over from Canavan.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison ministry, 2 Ministries of Elizabeth II 2019 establishments in Australia 2019 in Australian politics 2022 disestablishments in Australia 2022 in Australian politics Morrison 2 Cabinets established in 2019 Cabinets disestablished in 2022 History of Australia (1945–present) Liberal Party of Australia Morrison government National Party of Australia Scott Morrison

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References