Understanding the NSW Ministerial and Departmental reshuffle of 19 December 2021

The major focus in the media was the December 2021 Cabinet list and Ministerial responsibilities. While these are listed below for easy reference the links to the Administrative orders give a more detailed view of the restructure.

The Ministerial appointments announced were:

•         Dominic Perrottet Premier
•         Paul Toole Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional New South Wales, Minister for Police
•         Stuart Ayres Minister for Enterprise, Minister for Tourism and Sport, Minister for Western Sydney
•         Bronnie Taylor Minister for Women, Minister for Regional Health, Minister for Mental Health
•         Matt Kean Treasurer, Minister for Energy
•         Damien Tudehope Minister for Finance, Minister for Employee Relations, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council
•         Alister Henskens Minister for Skills and Training, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly
•         Brad Hazzard Minister for Health
•         Sarah Mitchell Minister for Education and Early Learning
•         Mark Speakman Attorney General
•         Rob Stokes Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Cities, Minister for Active Transport
•         Victor Dominello Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government
•         Anthony Roberts Minister for Planning, Minister for Homes
•         David Elliott Minister for Transport, Minister for Veterans
•         Natalie Ward Minister for Metropolitan Roads, Minister for Women’s Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence
•         Kevin Anderson Minister for Lands and Water, Minister for Hospitality and Racing
•         Dr Geoff Lee Minister for Corrections
•         Natasha Maclaren-Jones Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Disability Services
•         Sam Farraway Minister for Regional Transport and Roads
•         Steph Cooke Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience
•         Eleni Petinos Minister for Small Business, Minister for Fair Trading
•         James Griffin Minister for Environment and Heritage
•         Mark Coure Minister for Seniors, Minister for Multiculturalism
•         Dugald Saunders Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Western New South Wales
•         Ben Franklin Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Regional Youth
•         Wendy Tuckerman Minister for Local Government

The Administrative Orders

When government make such changes they also produce Administrative orders that clarify what Ministers have responsibility for what legislation, how ministers and government agencies align with departments and staff movements between Departments.

You can find details on Allocation of the administration of Acts and Ministers to whom Public Service agencies responsible in the Administrative Arrangements (Second Perrottet Ministry—Allocation of Acts and Agencies) Order 2021.

Details about who references to certain Ministers in legislation and documents now relate to, the establishment and renaming of Public Service agencies and the transfer of staff between Public Service agencies as well as amendment of Government Sector Employment Act 2013 No 40 are all covered in the Administrative Arrangements (Second Perrottet Ministry—Transitional) Order 2021

Examples relevant to Redfern Waterloo

It is in these documents that you find out for example that the Department of Planning Industry and Environment (DPIE) gets renamed the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) as Infrastructure all moves out of the Planning Cluster into Transport. Transport now includes ex Planning Minister Stokes’ new Ministries of Cities and Active Transport as well as Infrastructure. As part of this Greater Sydney Commission moves to the Department of Transport.

With the demise of the Minister for Water, Property and Housing there is a new Minister for Homes role that is taken on by the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts. This area includes the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC), Aboriginal Housing Office, Teachers Housing, Community Housing and Property NSW.

In a separate announcement on 21 December Kiersten Fishburn, the current DPIE Secretary has been appointed the Deputy Secretary of Cities and Active Transport and the head of the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) was appointed the new Secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) – see SMH’s NSW’s largest planning agency has three bosses in three months.

We have focused here on changes most relevant to planning and Redfern – Waterloo but you can use the Administrative order links above to work out what the current ministerial and departmental changes means for other government areas that might be of interest.

REDWatch 22 December 2021