EDITORIAL: Labor’s new cabinet line-up an admission of errors from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Sunday’s reshuffle is about as close to an admission that things haven’t been going all that well for Labor as we are likely to get from Anthony Albanese.

The impending retirements of Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor gave the Prime Minister the political cover he needed to finally move on failed ministers Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles — without the embarrassment of admitting they had made colossal mistakes in their respective portfolios of home affairs and immigration.

Instead, the moves were simply a logistical necessity. Nothing to see here. And don’t read too much into the fact that it’s the experienced and effective Tony Burke who has been handed responsibility for getting the portfolios back on track.

It is a monumental task. Ten months on, the Government is still dealing with the hangover from the High Court’s ruling that indefinite immigration detention where there is no prospect of deportation is unlawful. That decision resulted in the release of 152 criminal or otherwise unsavoury figures into the community and created a fiasco for the Government.

The upside is that Mr Burke is a safe pair of hands, unlikely to make the same sophomore errors that became routine under Mr Giles. That immigration will once again be brought under the control of a Cabinet minister too is a positive, given its immense importance to both national security and the economy.

But while Mr Burke will take on responsibility for unwinding much of the mess that has sprung up in home affairs and immigration, he won’t take on ownership of Australia’s chief spy agency.

Responsibility for ASIO will instead shift to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

Mr Albanese says it’s a move that makes sense, because Mr Dreyfus already has responsibility for the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and the Australian Transaction and Analysis Centre, through Labor’s slow dismantling of home affairs since 2022.

That may well be the case. Certainly, it has the backing of some who know what they’re talking about, including the agency’s former director-general Dennis Richardson.

Mr Richardson agreed that ASIO’s special status meant it was fitting that it reported to the Attorney-General, which it had done successfully before the former Coalition government created the Home Affairs mega-department in 2017.

Whether a future Coalition government would once again unite all the security and intelligence agencies under the Home Affairs banner remains to be seen. The temptation to do so would be strong, particularly to potential prime minister Peter Dutton.

There is danger in further allowing our national security to be used for political ends, yo-yo-ing back and forth between departments and portfolios depending on the government of the day.

Some things — and certainly the security of Australians — should be above politics.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor Christopher Dore.