TONY ABBOTT has set the scene for a bare-knuckle fight with the Government after a frontbench reshuffle that purged moderates from the Liberal Party's senior ranks and promoted a swag of hardline conservatives who had helped to bring down Malcolm Turnbull.
Declaring he wanted ''a fair dinkum Opposition'' and not ''a government in exile, unsure of its role'', Mr Abbott made changes that ensured climate change, industrial relations, debt and immigration would be battlegrounds at the federal election next year.
He tightened the conservative grip on the party by bringing back to the fold the former Howard government warriors Philip Ruddock, Bronwyn Bishop and Kevin Andrews.
The Government pounced, saying that ''extremists and climate change deniers'' had taken over.
''John Howard and Peter Costello would have struggled to be promoted in Tony Abbott's Liberal Party,'' a senior minister, Anthony Albanese, said.
Mr Abbott had promised not to settle scores after becoming leader, but yesterday he rewarded those who had opposed the emissions trading scheme and toppled Mr Turnbull.
The coup organiser, Nick Minchin, who believes climate change is a left-wing conspiracy to de-industrialise the West, took Ian Macfarlane's job in energy and resources. His deputy as Opposition leader in the Senate, Eric Abetz, took over industrial relations.
The shadow cabinet had six new faces, including the conservatives Barnaby Joyce, Tony Smith, Bruce Billson, Sophie Mirabella and Mr Andrews.
Scott Morrison, who pushed out Sharman Stone to become immigration spokesman, said: ''The strongest signal we can send to people smugglers is the election of a Coalition government.''
Among the moderates who survived, Greg Hunt had his climate change portfolio altered to ''climate action''. A former supporter of an emissions trading scheme, he has until the end of summer to draft a greenhouse gas reduction policy that does not include a market mechanism such as an ETS or a carbon tax.
The shadow cabinet was expanded from 20 to 21 members to accommodate Senator Joyce, who was given the finance portfolio. There are now four Nationals in the shadow cabinet. ''A couple of weeks ago they wanted to kick us out; now they want to be us,'' a National said of the Liberals yesterday.
Recriminations against leading moderates who backed Mr Turnbull or Joe Hockey in the spill last week were swift. Michael Ronaldson, Steven Ciobo, Michael Keenan and Ms Stone were stripped of key portfolios and demoted to the outer shadow ministry. Andrew Southcott was demoted from the outer shadow ministry to shadow parliamentary secretary.
Only four obvious Turnbull supporters were promoted. The most significant was Marise Payne, a senator for NSW, who was made junior shadow minister for the Coalition of Australian Governments. Three other backbenchers were promoted to shadow parliamentary secretaries.
A dismayed Liberal who kept his head down during the ruckus said the rules had changed. ''Howard put a premium on people doing their job. He put a discount on them being factional and disloyal. This is the complete opposite.''
But Mr Abbott said his was ''a balanced team''. ''I accept that some people have shifted. I accept that. But inevitably, if you are going to have a new team, there does have to be some change.''
The Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, described the decision to move Senator Abetz to industrial relations as further evidence that the Coalition under Mr Abbott was moving back towards Work Choices. ''The Liberal Party is spitting in the face of the Australian people, who so clearly rejected Work Choices and Australian Workplace Agreements at the last election,'' she said.
Mr Abbott was unbowed. He again flagged the reintroduction of AWAs, underpinned by an unspecified safety net, and said they were essential for workplace flexibility.
He also acknowledged that Mr Ruddock, Mr Andrews and Ms Bishop had at times been controversial and polarising but said they were also ''very significant and substantial politicians''.
Email a friend