New Australian government has only one female cabinet member

Chris Bowen

It’s a sad day for the nation when the cabinet of Afghanistan has more women in it than the cabinet of Australia, says acting Labor leader Chris Bowen.

Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott unveiled his ministerial line up on Monday, revealing the only woman in the cabinet is Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop.

The outgoing Labor government had six, Mr Bowen said.

“The cabinet of Afghanistan now has more women (three) in it,” Mr Bowen said.

“It is a disappointing day when Australia goes so backwards, so backwards.”

But equally worrying were the large sectors of the community that will be ignored by Mr Abbott’s decision not to have a minister for disability care, seniors/ageing, tourism, resources, energy and the financial services sector, Mr Bowen said.

Mr Bowen also criticised the coalition for an emerging pattern of promising one thing before the election and then doing another thing after.

He highlighted reports Mr Abbott’s government would not release their mid-year economic forecast until the January holidays.

He said it was a cynical breach of the promise Mr Abbott gave at his campaign launch last month to show the state of the books within 100 days of winning office.

“There will not be the normal scrutiny that you get in this building in other months of the year,” Mr Bowen said.

Mr Bowen also slammed Mr Abbott for not visiting Indonesia within a week of winning the election to discuss key issues between the neighbouring countries.

“Now we’re told (Foreign Affairs) Minister Bishop will catch up with (Indonesian Foreign) Minister Marty Natalegawa in New York for coffee,” he said.

Australian Greens Senator Richard Di Natale said Mr Abbott’s frontbench ignored the major challenges of the 21st century.

“Tony Abbott has made an art out of ignoring the science of climate change so it’s no surprise that he has failed to include science or research,” Senator Di Natale said.

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