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Government

Conroy granted beefed up comms role

Senator Stephen Conroy will retain his Communications, Broadband and the Digital Economy portfolio and will see his role expanded in the new government ministry announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning.
Written by Josh Taylor, Contributor

Senator Stephen Conroy will retain his Communications, Broadband and the Digital Economy portfolio and will see his role expanded in the new government ministry announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning.

Conroy will now also be "Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity", a role that appears to give the minister a whole-of-government responsibility for technology and broadband delivery.

"Stephen Conroy will continue in his special responsibilities including the responsibility for broadband. But we will build on that, with Stephen Conroy also serving as a minister assisting me to ensure that across the whole of government whether it's health, whether it's education, whether it's any part of government, we're working to maximise what the broadband network can deliver in those service delivery areas," Gillard said at a press conference announcing the ministry earlier today.

Senator Penny Wong will move from the Ministry for Climate Change, Water and Energy Efficiency to replace Lindsay Tanner as Finance Minister. Wong will be responsible for continuing the implementation of the recommendations of the Gershon review, including diverting savings back into government revenue as Gillard promised during the course of the election campaign.

Labor Senator, technology advocate and one of the main driving forces behind Government 2.0, Kate Lundy, has been given a role as the parliamentary secretary for Prime Minister and Cabinet and Immigration and Citizenship.

"I am honoured to have been appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister," Lundy tweeted earlier today.

The Prime Minister also announced that Nicola Roxon will retain her role as the Minister for Health. Roxon will now continue to oversee the $466.7 million roll-out of e-health across the country for the 2012 deadline.

Kim Carr will also stay on as Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science.

The cabinet is expected to be sworn in early next week.

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