A Tasmanian senator best known for her campaign to ban transgender people from women’s sport has been named by Opposition leader Peter Dutton as the Coalition’s spokesperson for government services, the digital economy, science and the arts.
Senator Claire Chandler will be shadow minister stalking current science and industry minister Ed Husic in the forthcoming federal election, due within four months.
“Claire is a passionate Tasmanian who has been a proven contributor to the Coalition team,” Dutton said, announcing a reshuffle of portfolio responsibilities on the weekend.
“At a time when government services are going backwards under Labor, Claire’s strong policy mind and political advocacy will ensure government services get to those who need it. I am pleased to promote her to the Shadow Cabinet in these key portfolio areas.”
Chandler was elected to the Senate in 2019, aged 29. In 2021, she was appointed as chair of the Senate Finance & Public Administration Committee and deputy government whip., then the shadow assistant Minister for foreign affairs following the last election in 2022 when Labor came to power.
She has lived in Tasmania all her life, having grown up in the Huon Valley before studying law at the University of Tasmania, and then working in risk advisory for consultancy giant Deloitte in Hobart.
In May last year, Senator Chandler revealed that she was among several federal politicians targeted by Chinese hackers in 2021, in a state-sponsored attack, because she was a member of the the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a global group of legislators focused on China and concerns about democratic values, human rights, and a rules-based order.
“The targeting of democratically elected parliamentarians in this cyber hack is clearly an attempt by an authoritarian regime to find new ways to manipulate our democratic processes,” she wrote.
“While we have since been assured that this initial attempt wasn’t successful in extracting any information, the nature of malicious cyber activity is that hackers will probe defences for weaknesses until they find one.”
Western Sydney MP Melissa McIntosh, the member for Lindsay, has been promoted to the shadow cabinet as shadow minister for communications..
And in a move echoing US president Donald Trump tasking Elon Musk with cutting federal spending with the so-called DOGE (a project already downgraded in its ambitions and initial promises), Dutton has moved the Indigenous Northern Territory senator Jacinta Price from the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians to the newly created role of shadow minister for government efficiency.
“In this new role, Jacinta will be looking closely at how we can achieve a more efficient use of taxpayers’ money, where possible, at a time when a major cause of homegrown inflation is rapid and unrestrained government spending,” the Opposition leader said.
“Jacinta’s outstanding contribution to the Coalition message will stand her in good stead for this new position.”
The full Coalition shadow ministry is here.
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