AARON PATRICK: Is Anthony Albanese running a make-work program for Labor MPs with all his envoys

When Anthony Albanese selected his ministry this week, there was good and bad news for a Melbourne-based MP, Tim Watts, a 42-year-old who has spent almost his whole career in politics.

Mr Watts had lost his position as the assistant minister for foreign affairs, an entry-level government job that comes with the perks of international travel.

Instead, because Anthony Albanese believed Mr Watts was “very passionate” and had “built really strong relationships” with counterparts in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister made him a “special envoy” to the Indian Ocean, 3000km from his electorate in working-class western Melbourne.

Mr Watts was one of seven Labor MPs appointed special envoys this week, covering climate change, defence, the arts, housing, remote communities and men’s health.

The twilight zone

Operating in a twilight zone between the backbench and the ministry, none receive any extra legal powers or governmental responsibilities. They appear to be participants in a make-work scheme for Labor politicians.

“To manage relationships in the caucus the PM wants to find jobs for as many parliamentarians as possible,” says Stephen Bartos, a professor of government at Canberra University. “Creation of special envoys helps manage the expectations on the PM to give people roles.”

As the number of Labor MPs has grown, Mr Albanese has created more special envoys, who do not receive extra pay but may get extra staff.

Last year, as violence against Jews spread amid the war in the Gaza Strip, a Melbourne MP from an Egyptian family, Peter Khalil, was appointed the special envoy for social cohesion.

Mr Khalil was operating in a crowded field. There was a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, a special envoy to combat Islamophobia, a race discrimination commissioner, a human rights commissioner, an assistant minister for multicultural affairs and a minister for multicultural affairs. State governments employed people with similar jobs too.

Many meetings

Without any formal responsibilities, it is difficult to judge the envoys’ effectiveness. Mr Khalil told SBS last year he spent a lot of time in meetings “to understand the needs of stakeholders across Australia” and “engage in a way to find common ground”.

He was promoted to assistant defence minister this week.

The first Albanese government special envoys were appointed in 2022, when Queensland senator Nita Green was given responsibility for the Great Barrier Reef and a radio journalist-turned-politician, Susan Templeman, got the arts.

Ms Templeman used the job to encourage groups to apply for government grants, including the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, a Victorian school for circus performers which received $7.3 million in last year’s budget.

Based in Cairns, Senator Green said her job was “fighting for the investment and protection” of the reef. A list of Senator Green’s achievements included attending media briefings, going to academic conferences, visiting different parts of the reef, and helping grade five students at a Sydney private school with a class project.

She had no control over the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which reports to the minister for the environment, or the $1.2 billion allocated for the reef’s protection.

She attended UNESCO meetings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2023, and Paris last year as part of a government effort to convince the UN scientific and cultural organisation the reef was not in danger. But the then-environment minister Tanya Plibersek oversaw the campaign, and Australia’s newly appointed ambassador, Greer Alblas, conducted much of the lobbying in Paris.

Special envoys are expected to a publish an annual report explaining their contribution to society. Senator Green’s 32-page last year report read like a compilation of government press releases interspersed with 13 photographs of herself.

This week she was promoted to assistant minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Tourism. How much responsibility she will have is unclear, given there is already a minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Pat Conroy, a minister for international development, Anne Aly, who is also the Small Business Minister, and the Foreign Minister, Ms Wong.

Climate competition

When it comes to climate change policy, which potentially will have a big impact on the Pacific, the competition is even greater.

A former ABC journalist, Kate Thwaites, is the new special envoy for climate change adaptation and resilience. She works under Josh Wilson, the assistant minister for climate change, and Chris Bowen, the minister for climate change and energy.

There is also the Climate Change Department’s chief climate negotiator, Sally Box, who represents Australia at international climate negotiations with Kristin Tilley, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s ambassador for climate change.

If any of the ministers want advice from outside their department, they can ask Matt Kean, the chairman of the Climate Change Authority, an independent government agency.