Former Minister for Industry, Innovation, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr yesterday issued a thank you message, before being sworn in as Minister for Manufacturing and Defence Materiel today.
Rumours of a Federal cabinet reshuffle first surfaced on Monday morning and was confirmed later that day by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Senator Carr’s new role as Minister for Manufacturing and Defence Materiel has been reported widely as a demotion and more importantly considered to be a risky move which coud cost the manufacturing industry in the future.
Senator Carr was Australia’s first Innovation Minister. Under his direction, the department has made a number of significant changes and added new funding schemes to help Australian Industry.
Below is Senator Carr’s out going message as Innovation Minister:
“I would like to express my thanks to all those I have worked with over the past four years.
I, and my ministerial and electorate office staff, have been inundated by texts, emails and phone calls from well wishers and I thank you sincerely.
Your messages of support and acknowledgment of the importance of our work have meant a great deal to me. I hope to respond to you all personally in the weeks ahead as I take up my new role as Minister for Manufacturing and Defence Materiel.
Whilst this change of portfolio was not of my choosing, it is a job I am honoured to do.
I look back with pride at all we have achieved in partnership, in a time of phenomenal change for Australia.
It was my longstanding ambition to bring researchers and industry together to meet the challenges of the future. I was proud to serve as Australia’s first Innovation Minister; and I am pleased that this work will continue.
The recent reshuffle is not a reflection of our efforts or our achievements. We have worked hard, and the Prime Minister has paid tribute to that.
I want to pay particular tribute to the extraordinary efforts of the officers of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research and its agencies. We would not have achieved so much without them.
I look forward to working with my colleagues, Minister Combet and Minister Evans, in the expanded portfolio of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. We will work hard to ensure that manufacturing has a future in this nation.
I am confident that the partnerships we have built over the past four years will stand us in good stead. We have unfinished business and I have no doubt that we will continue to work well together.
Yours sincerely,
Senator Kim Carr"