Labor’s new backroom man comes out of the shadows. The sunlight is very bright

1 week ago 4

When Sam Rae, the minister for aged care, strides to the dispatch box, he always buttons his jacket like a man with something important to say.

He buttoned his jacket when asked in question time on Monday about a 90-year-old man with Parkinson’s who has been told he will have to wait up to 12 months for a government care package to help him stay at home.

Sam Rae, a man in a hurry, buttons his jacket on the way to the dispatch box this week.

And he buttoned his jacket when Opposition Leader Sussan Ley crowed on Wednesday that the Coalition had forced the government to deliver 20,000 home care packages two months earlier than planned.

But Rae had nothing to say on her key claim: that he had been sidelined when his government decided to bargain with the Coalition this week, after facing the reality that the crossbench, Greens and opposition were prepared to unite to deliver it a loss in the Senate.

Just how far Rae had been pushed out of the negotiations between his boss, Mark Butler, and opposition counterpart, Anne Ruston, is not clear. But for a man with no shortage of self-confidence, Rae hasn’t been eager to claim personal credit.

“This is a fantastic outcome for older Australians and their families who have the certainty that more care is on the way,” Rae said in answer to Ley, smiling like a man who knows he is eating humble pie.

It was a bipartisan moment, Rae said, taking another mouthful. Ruston deserved thanks, he said, munching on a final slice.

But Rae, or whoever dictated his answer, allowed one indulgence. There had been “remarkably considerable debate on this topic”, he said.

The newish minister has been relentlessly targeted in question time by the Liberals, Nationals and crossbench over the aged care reforms. On Monday alone, Rae faced nine hostile questions, many more than the prime minister or Butler.

The Coalition, battered as it is, knows a weak spot when it sees one.

It applied similar treatment to then-immigration minister Andrew Giles last year after the government struggled to contain the fallout from the High Court’s ruling that the indefinite detention of criminals who could not be deported was unlawful.

Anthony Albanese moved Giles to the much safer portfolio of jobs and skills.

Rae isn’t going anywhere. For one thing, he’s too important a factional player, with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Labor MP-turned lobbyist Stephen Conroy’s numbers behind him. For another, whatever displeasure he feels at being singled out is hidden behind a thick hide and near-permanent public smile.

But in his transition from an anonymous backbencher running the numbers for his patrons to a minister in his own right, Rae has endured quite the baptism of fire. In a portfolio where, in large measure, the Coalition has been eager to work with the government to fix a major hole in the Commonwealth’s bottom line, Rae has been exposed in a last-minute climbdown.

“How do you feel about your position in the ministry, knowing that people with far more experience than you have been demoted for factional priorities?” ABC host Sally Sara asked Rae bluntly on Thursday morning.

It was a reference to the sorest spot for Rae: that his elevation to the ministry came as part of factional machinations that resulted in industry minister Ed Husic and attorney-general Mark Dreyfus losing their roles.

Rae didn’t hesitate. “I’m very, very proud to get to serve in the Albanese Labor ministry,” he said. “We are very fortunate in that we have a huge rank of swelling talent and I’m really proud to get to serve in the position that I do get to serve, it’s a great honour.”

You could almost hear the grin, and the suit being buttoned.