Victoria’s Labor government has created a new ministerial role to counteract what it deems to be the infiltration of the “manosphere” into the minds of Australian boys and young men.
Premier Jacinta Allan’s new cabinet was sworn-in at Government House in Melbourne on April 15 morning.
She picked Harriet Shing to become health minister, replacing Mary-Anne Thomas as she and three other veteran MPs resigned from politics in the lead-up to the November state election.
Shing will also take on ambulance services and return to her previous role as water minister.
Health was a major political battleground at the 2022 Victorian election following the COVID-19 pandemic and is tipped to be a focus of the 2026 campaign, with public health systems across the nation remaining stretched.
The 49-year-old upper house MP described her promotion as an enormous privilege rather than a potential headache.
“I’m the daughter of a local GP and I’m the granddaughter of a nurse,” Shing said.
“I know first hand just how hard our extraordinary health workforce works.”
Box Hill MP Paul Hamer, Kororoit MP Luba Grigorovitch, Eureka MP Michaela Settle, and Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke were all sworn into their new roles.
Hamer debuts in local government, youth justice and corrections, Grigorovitch takes on youth, carers and volunteers, and Settle tackles agriculture and regional development.
The inaugural men and boys minister said he had watched Louis Theroux’s documentary, Inside the Manosphere, and found it “quite shocking.”
“That is part of the issue we’re looking at now where these people, influencers, they are having for want of a better word influence on young Victorian men and it’s definitely unhealthy.”
Men and boys are facing different challenges and pressures from five to 10 years ago, Premier Allan said.
“We cannot deny that there has been societal change,” she said.
In another high-profile move, Attorney-General and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny brushed aside workload concerns after adding finance and violence reduction to her list of responsibilities.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, who unveiled an election pitch on the same day to boost bail and sentencing laws for children, suggested Kilkenny didn’t deserve her promotion.
“To see the attorney-general given another portfolio when she has mismanaged being the first law officer [of] the state ... I think should be of concern to Victorians,” Wilson said.
Elsewhere, Nick Staikos replaced Shing as housing and Suburban Rail Loop minister, and the portfolios of women and girls were piled onto the plate of Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines became the government’s lower-house leader.
