Following the purge of veteran MPs after Labor’s landslide election victory, the Coalition has announced a new shadow treasurer and financial services minister that are thin on economics experience.
In a press conference on 28 May, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley announced a new-look shadow ministry – and it includes a Treasury portfolio with little in the way of financial services background.
Following Ley’s defeat of former shadow treasurer Angus Taylor in the bid for party leadership, it is little surprise that he didn’t maintain his spot in the shadow ministry, instead heading up the defence portfolio.
In his place is Ley’s deputy leader Ted O’Brien, who many had tipped as a top prospect for the shadow treasurer role, despite having just 18 months of economics committee service under his belt. He does, however, hold a Master of Economics (International Political Economy).
Shadow assistant treasurer and financial services minister Pat Conaghan, on the other hand, has no economics background to speak of at all.
First elected to federal Parliament at the 2019 election, the Nationals MP has a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New England and a Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law.
He was a member of the NSW Police Force from 1990–1997, then worked as a police prosecutor until leaving to establish his own legal practice in 2001.
Also within the portfolio are Tim Wilson, whose election is still subject to a limited recount in the seat of Goldstein, as shadow minister for small business, and Andrew Bragg as shadow minister for housing and homelessness.
Bragg is the current chair of the Senate standing committee on economics, while Wilson was the chair of the House Representatives standing committee on economics from 2018–2021.
Both Wilson and Bragg had been viewed as potential options for the shadow financial services minister role, and both have been vocal critics of the government’s proposed $3 million super tax.
Exiting the shadow ministry, however, is former financial services minister Jane Hume, who was dumped from the shadow finance minister role and the front bench entirely.
Under the Morrison government, she was the assistant minister for superannuation, financial services and financial technology from September 2019 to December 2020, minister for superannuation, financial services and the digital economy from December 2020 to May 2022, and minister for women’s economic security from March 2021 to May 2022.
Since June 2022, she has been the shadow minister for finance.
“She is an enormously talented, fantastic member of this team, who has contributed amazingly over her political career, will continue to do so and is a strong performer across a range of different subjects,” Ley said about Hume.
