| Ninth Labour Government | |
|---|---|
 27th Government of Cygnia | |
  Julia Gillard, 39th Chancellor (2017–2021) and Anthony Albanese, 42nd Chancellor (since 2021) | |
| Date formed | 2 January 2017 |
| People and organisations | |
| President | Quentin Bryce (2017–2020) Carmen Lawrence (2020–present) |
| Chancellors | Julia Gillard (2017–2021) Anthony Albanese (2021–present) |
| Vice Chancellor | Tanya Plibersek (2017–2021) Richard Marles (2021–present) |
| No. of ministers | |
| Member party | Labour |
| Status in legislature | Majority 2017–2021: 157 / 302 2021–present: 155 / 301 |
| Opposition party | National |
| Opposition leader | Malcolm Turnbull (2017–2018) Scott Morrison (2018–present) |
| History | |
| Election(s) | 2016 • 2020 |
| Legislature term(s) | 58th • 59th |
| Predecessor | Fourth National |
The Ninth Labour Government is the 27th and incumbent Government of Cygnia. It officially began operation on 2 January 2017 after being elected at the 2016 Cygnian federal election. It was headed by Julia Gillard, the 39th Chancellor of the United Cygnian States, from 2017 until 2021. The government was re-elected at the 2020 federal election, after which Gillard retired and was replaced by Anthony Albanese, who became the 42nd Chancellor.
Major policy initiatives of the Ninth Labour Government include the Clean Energy Act, asylum seeker policy, Mineral Resource Rent Tax, National Broadband Network, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, reforms in school funding, and implementation of recommendations from the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
On 18 January 2017, Gillard announced the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Rene Le Miere and Chief Justice Virginia Bell ahead of the retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Robert French on 30 January.
Transition period and inauguration[]
The governmental transition period began following Gillard's election to the chancellorship in December 2016, though Gillard had chosen Willem Korthals to begin planning for the transition in May 2016. The Gillard-Plibersek Transition Project was co-chaired by Joseph Chatfield, Raymond Yong and Peter Steiner. During the transition period, Gillard announced her cabinet and ministry appointments. In December 2016, public servant Martin Parkinson accepted Gillard's offer to serve as Cabinet Secretary. Gillard assumed office upon the opening of the 58th Congress on 2 January 2017, and that evening was officially commissioned along with the other members of her ministry by President Quentin Bryce, succeeding Malcolm Turnbull.
Term of government[]
Climate change[]
In the lead-up to the 2012 federal election, Gillard pledged that as Chancellor in the next government she would build a "national consensus" for a carbon price by creating a "citizens assembly", to examine "the evidence on climate change, the case for action and the possible consequences of introducing a market-based approach to limiting and reducing carbon emissions", over the course of one year. The assembly was to be selected by an independent authority who would select people from the electoral roll using census data. After losing the election, the Cygnian Labour Party incorporated this policy into their platform for the 2016 election. It was implemented after the Second Gillard Government was inaugurated.
During the 2016 campaign, Gillard also promised a £2,000 rebate for people to update pre-1995 motor vehicles. Costed at £400 million, the government said it would remove heavy polluting cars from circulation. After a delay, the Cleaner Car rebate, also known as the Cash for Clunkers scheme, was introduced.
In February 2017, Environment Minister Tony Burke controversially reversed a decision made by his National predecessor Greg Hunt to approve the proposed Carmichael coal mine. The New Zealand state government took the Ministry of the Environment to court over the reversal, and in the ensuing Supreme Court case the justices voted 4–3 in favour of the Ministry, citing Article V, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, which gives federal law precedence over state law, and which the Court interpreted as allowing the government to reverse executive decisions affecting states made by predecessors.
The Gillard Government in 2018 announced an expansion of the Cleaner Car rebate to cover electric cars, spearheaded by Minister Burke. The amendment passed easily in the House, but faced a far more challenging debate in the Senate, as senators from Katter's National, Liberal Democratic and Palmer United parties all sided with the National opposition against the rebate. The Greens at first opposed the bill, saying that it didn't go far enough, but ultimately they threw their support behind the government, and the rebate came into force at the beginning of 2019.
More to come
[]
The first case of SARS-CoV-2 in Cygnia was detected on 25 January 2020 in Melbourne. On 31 January, the Gillard Government announced mandatory quarantine measures for returning Cygnians from China, and banned foreign nationals travelling from that country. The quarantine rule was extended to passengers returning from Persia on 29 February, Korea on 5 March, and Italy on 11 March. The government then announced a ban on all foreign nationals entering Cygnia, effective midnight on 19 March, with a required supervised 14-day isolation period in designated quarantine facilities for Cygnian citizens returning home. As a temporary measure, several hotels across the nation were hired by the government to host quarantined arrivals, with the state and federal governments bearing the cost. After several breaches in the hotel quarantine system in Victoria and Carolina, the government transitioned to dedicated quarantine facilities at the end of 2020.
The Gillard Government has established a number of agencies and bodies to assist with governmental response to the pandemic. These include the National Cabinet and the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission. A human biosecurity emergency was declared on 18 March under the Biosecurity Act 2015 by President Carmen Lawrence on the advice of Health Minister Catherine King.
More to come
Personnel[]
Cabinet appointees[]
Judicial appointments[]
Cygnian Supreme Court[]
There were two vacancies on the Supreme Court of the Union during Gillard's tenure. Gillard appointed two new Supreme Court Justices as well as a Chief Justice:
- Virginia Bell, replacing Chief Justice Robert French – 2017
- Rene Le Miere, replacing Robert French – 2017
- Debra Mortimer, replacing Geoffrey Nettle – 2020
| ||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||