Whitlam MP Stephen Jones has been promoted in Labor leader Anthony Albanese's new opposition ministry.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Jones will take on the role of shadow assistant treasurer and shadow for financial services.
His main priorities will be developing Labor's policies on tax and revenue.
Mr Jones will also lobby to ensure the government implements the Banking Industry Royal Commission recommendations.
He said the appointment came after he spoke with Mr Albanese last week where he indicated he wanted to move into a core financial role.
"I'm excited about having the responsibility," Mr Jones said.
"I have loved my regional services, local government, territories and regional communications roles.
"I was able to shift government policy because the government regularly copied and pasted my ideas and speeches, and then announced them as policies.
"Now I want to be more involved in key policy making."
Mr Jones said his role was about ensuring a government had the money to pay for the services people wanted and expected.
"A government can have the best social policy and the best proposals for infrastructure but unless there is money to pay for it then those policies don't amount to anything," he said.
"I will spend the next three years working on Labor's tax and revenue details.
"I will be revisiting my work in my first and second terms where I focused on economics."
Mr Jones' appointment sees the Illawarra become the centre for Labor's federal and state economic policies.
Keira MP Ryan Park is the opposition treasurer for NSW Labor.
Mr Jones said he and the Labor team would be holding the government to account.
"The government went through the election campaign without scrutiny and all the problems Labor drew attention to are still there," he said.
"There is still a revenue problem and the banking Banking Industry Royal Commission recommendations still need to be implemented."
The MP said he looked forward to spending more time at home because his regional services role took him to remote parts of Australia.
He was proud to be at the table helping to make key policy decisions.
"I want to be part of developing Labor's economic policies and communicating our policies to the public," Mr Jones said.
"That communication of Labor's economic policies has let us down and we can be better at telling people about them and responding to them."
Mr Jones said he looked forward to working closely with Mr Albanese and the "very talented frontbench".
"I have a very good relationship with Albo and I am sure he will be a regular visitor to this area over the next three years," he said.
Mr Jones said his focus would always be his role as Whitlam MP and he would continue to lobby for funding for the region.
