Who are the major climate and energy players in the new ministries?

The new Labor government is off and running – with the first Albanese cabinet sworn in on Wednesday morning.

RenewEconomy has identified the new players driving Australia’s climate, energy, resources, and electric vehicle policies for the next term of government. They are a lot different from their Coalition predecessors.

Here’s a brief profile.

Chris Bowen – Minister for Climate Change and Energy

The widely anticipated pick – Bowen should be familiar with most involved in energy and climate policy.

Bowen served as the shadow minister for the portfolio since early 2021, leading an overhaul of Labor’s approach to climate policy. Bowen re-enters the federal cabinet, having previously served as immigration minister under the Gillard government and briefly as treasurer under Rudd.

Bowen comes from Labor’s Right Faction and brought a much stronger focus on economic opportunities and jobs to Labor’s approach to climate policy.

Bowen says he is out to ‘end the climate wars’ and will seek to avoid a potentially messy political fight when implementing Labor’s policies – including by avoiding the need to pass legislation altogether.

With the appointment of Bowen, Australia will have a minister for climate change for the first time since 2013 – as well as the first energy minister who drives an electric car. He owns a Tesla Model 3.

Jenny McAllister – Assistant minister for climate change and energy

NSW senator Jenny McAllister will take on the junior climate and energy portfolio.

McAllister is arguably one of the best credentialled in the parliament to deal with climate policy. Before entering parliament, McAllister served as the director of climate change, air and noise policy for the NSW state government, and joined consultancy AECOM as a strategic advisor for water and climate.

McAllister has regularly grilled the Morrison government on climate and energy policy – particularly through senate estimates.

As a senator, McAllister will be expected to take charge of any potential negotiations with the senate crossbench – including the expanded Greens contingent.

Tanya Plibersek – Minister for Environment and Water

Former Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek will take on the environment portfolio – at a crucial time when Australia faces a range of biodiversity crises, including ongoing declines in the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

Plibersek is one of the most experienced appointments to the environment portfolio, having held a range of cabinet positions under the Gillard and Rudd governments – including terms as the minister for health, human services and housing, amongst others.

While the environment portfolio is nominally separated from climate and energy policy matters – the oversight of new coal and gas developments will provide significant crossover, and bring Plibersek into the conversation about the future of Australia’s fossil fuel industries.

Plibersek will likely oversee the Albanese’s response to a growing volume of climate litigation – such as the failed attempt to establish a federal government ‘duty of care’ to protect young people from the future impacts of global warming.

Labor has said that it is willing approve new coal and gas projects where they “stack up economically and environmentally“.

Madeleine King – Minister for Resources

Western Australian MP Madeleine King has been appointed as the new minister for resources – a tricky portfolio given the push to open new coal and gas mines. King worked as a legal academic immediately before entering parliament.

King will replace Keith Pitt – but don’t expect a dramatic shift in the government’s views on the fossil fuel industry. While serving as the shadow resources minister, King gave a strong defence of Australia’s gas industry, telling the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association conference last year that she supported the Morrison government funding for gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin.

“We support opening up new gas reserves, subject to independent scientific assessments and effective environmental regulation,” King told the conference last year.

“For example, last month Labor agreed to support the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program Instrument in the Northern Territory. It is important that people are aware that the Beetaloo is a world-class, low-carbon gas basin containing about 3 per cent carbon dioxide.”

King has a family connection with the resources industry. Her father worked at the Kwinana Oil Refinery.

Catherine King – Minister for Transport

Victorian MP Catherine King will take on the transport portfolio – along with infrastructure – and will likely have oversight of the implementation of Labor’s commitments to electric vehicles.

Before entering parliament, King worked as a social worker, and later as a federal public servant and consultant, and had a brief stint as the minister for Road Safety under the Gillard government.

King has served as Labor’s transport spokesperson since 2019 and has been open in her support for greater electric vehicle uptake – describing the Morrison government’s lack of electric vehicle strategy ’embarrassing’.

Perhaps King should get an EV at the earliest opportunity.

Meanwhile, on the other side ….

The identity of the shadow climate and energy minister, indeed any other spokespeople, is currently unknown.

Former minister for energy and emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, is expected to be moved into a higher profile portfolio – tipped to be Treasury – and it is not clear who will take on the role of the Coalition’s spokesperson for climate and energy matters.

The former junior energy minister, Tim Wilson, lost his seat in parliament, leaving no clear successor for the opposition.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton will announce his shadow cabinet after negotiations with the Nationals. After retaining all their parliamentary seats, the Nationals are expected to demand increased representation within the Coalition’s shadow cabinet, with the Liberal party set to lose more than 20 seats in parliament.