Malcolm Turnbull says Victorian National Chester was demoted for ‘matters of geography’ when asked if it was paybackThe social services minister, Christian Porter, will become the attorney general under a major cabinet reshuffle that promotes key conservatives, brings in five new cabinet members and drops the infrastructure minister, Darren Chester. In a blunt statement Chester said he was “disappointed by the leader of the Nationals’ decision to exclude me from his cabinet team”. In addition to McKenzie and Littleproud, Liberals Michael Keenan, Dan Tehan and John McVeigh will join cabinet. Keith Pitt, another National who backed McKenzie over Canavan, was dumped from his role of assistant trade minister. George Brandis tipped to get London posting in Turnbull's cabinet reshuffle Read moreAt a press conference, Chester described the demotion as “character building”.

Source: The Guardian December 19, 2017 03:45 UTC