Jason Clare appointed shadow communications minister
Former Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare has been appointed to the role of Shadow Communications minister as part of the new opposition front bench announced last week.
The move sees controversial former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy move to the Defence Portfolio despite last week telling the media that he had an “ongoing interest” in the communications portfolio.
The 41-year-old Clare will take the role after having previously served as Minister for Defence Materiel before being promoted in 2011 to the Home Affairs and Justice portfolios in the Gillard/Rudd governments.
He holds the seat of Blaxland, previously held by former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating, and is seen as a rising star within the Labor Party. Before entering Parliament Clare worked as a senior adviser to NSW Premier Bob Carr and as an executive at toll road operator Transurban.
However, Clare’s lack of experience in the technology and communications portfolio may put him at a disadvantage up against the new Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull, who has held the communications portfolio for a number of years and has worked as a journalist and in tech start up Ozemail.
