PM chooses Faulkner as defence minister

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has chosen a safe pair of hands in veteran minister John
Faulkner to take charge of Defence a day after Joel Fitzgibbon quit as minister.
Mr Rudd described Senator Faulkner on Friday as the government's most experienced
cabinet member but warned that he had a tough job ahead of him introducing the
biggest restructure of defence in decades.
The appointment comes after Mr Fitzgibbon was forced to resign on Thursday for a
breach of ministerial standards after he failed to declare a string of gifts and
also allowed his office to assist his health fund chief brother, Mark, to lobby
defence officials for health services contracts.
The gaffe-prone former minister had also failed to satisfactorily resolve a defence
bungle affecting the pay of special forces soldiers which he had promised to fix
last October.
As expected, Mr Rudd overlooked a pool of new talent in his ministry and opted for
the steadying hand of Senator Faulkner, a senator for 20 years who served as a
minister in Keating government and held the portfolio of defence science and
personnel.
Senator Faulkner, 55, said on Friday he was delighted and honoured to take on the role.
He nominated the new white paper, a restructure of defence and Australia's
involvement in Afghanistan as key areas requiring his immediate focus.
"I acknowledge to you of course, that I am now right at the bottom of a very steep
learning curve for a new portfolio," Senator Faulkner told reporters.
But he put his new department on notice, saying he had high expectations.
"I have high expectations of Defence and I have a very high level of confidence that
those expectations will be met," Senator Faulkner said.
Mr Rudd expects to name a replacement for Senator Faulkner's former roles as cabinet
secretary and Special Minister of State "in the coming days".
It means a new face for the ministry which is likely to come from among the
parliamentary secretaries with former NSW ALP secretary Senator Mark Arbib and
former ACTU secretary Greg Combet regarded as the frontrunners.
Mr Rudd heaped high praise on Senator Faulkner, describing him as a man of great
character, experience and integrity.
"John Faulkner is a man of unquestionable integrity and strength of character and
that's been reflected in the multiple portfolios he's been responsible for in both
opposition and government," Mr Rudd said.
He would be a strong voice in cabinet for men and women in uniform.
"I have absolute confidence that Senator Faulkner will discharge this responsibility
with absolute professionalism and integrity for which his career is already known,"
Mr Rudd said.
The appointment attracted praise from a wide range of sources including the
Opposition, the Australian Greens, the defence establishment as well as academics
and commentators.
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop said the senator was an obvious choice for
Labor given his extensive parliamentary experience.
But she warned that the coalition would continue to investigate Mr Fitzgibbon's
breach of the ministerial code of conduct despite his demotion to the backbench.
Senator Faulkner said he had spoken in the past 24 hours to two former Labor defence
ministers, Kim Beazley and Robert Ray, both of whom held the portfolio for six years
each in the 1980s and 1990s respectively.
"I rang Robert for a bit of chat about this and I can confirm to you that Kim rang
me - five times," Senator Faulkner said.
Mr Beazley said the defence restructure set in train by Mr Fitzgibbon and requiring
the finding of $20 billion in savings would be hard to deliver.
"It'll require a pretty firm and experienced hand on the tiller and I think John has
that," Mr Beazley told Sky News on Friday.
"He'd have to be about the safest pair of hands on the front bench and it's a pretty
safe front bench."
Under the Keating government, Senator Faulkner was Minister for Veterans Affairs,
Minister for Defence Science and Personnel and Minister for Environment, Sports and
Territories from 1993 to 1996.
He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Senate for eight years.
Australian Industry Group chief executive, Heather Ridout, welcomed the appointment
saying Senator Faulkner was well-versed in defence matters and would bring
considerable expertise to the portfolio.
There was also praise from Greens leader Bob Brown who said Senator Faulkner had a
record of great integrity and was the best possible choice for the job.
Former senior defence official Hugh White, professor of strategic studies at the
Australian National University, described Senator Faulkner as an outstanding choice
with extensive knowledge and experience in the portfolio.
"And he has the weight of character to provide strong leadership for defence," he said.
"Defence is a hard organisation to lead and many who hold the portfolio never really
understand what is required to lead an organisation of that scale and complexity.
"Faulkner will do an absolutely outstanding job as defence minister and I think it
is very important that Rudd has shown how seriously he takes the task in defence by
being prepared to put one of his absolutely most experienced ministers into the
job," Prof White said.
"His manner and style and his weight and gravitas are just what is required to do
the defence job well. I don't think Rudd could have chosen better."
Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James said Senator Faulkner
was well regarded by the defence hierarchy and had a good background for the
position.
"We welcome the appointment. We actually thought he would get the job when they were
first elected," Mr James said.
"He has an excellent background, being an ex-minister for veterans affairs and a
minister for defence, science and personnel, albeit only for a year. He has also
served on the estimates committee reviewing the defence budget for well over a
decade and that gives him superb background.
"This bloke's knowledge of defence matters is deep and extensive and that's no doubt
why the prime minister has chosen him because it would be hard to parachute someone
else in with no background in defence matters."
Mr James said the only downside could be if Senator Faulkner chose to retire at the
next election, thus requiring the prime minister to find another defence minister.