I believe that this is errant nonsense, put about by someone, who very obviously knows B'all about the new front bench!?
Take new resource Minister Gary Gray as an example; former oil company executive and highly accredited economist!
Clearly not the L plate dunce the author, in my view, mischievously and vexatiously claims?
Others have already performed very competently as ministerial secretaries and so forth, and might even consider such ignorant statements as libellous?
If however, the author has any actual evidence of "L plate" incompetence, now might be a good time to disclose; or, in other words, put up or shut up!?
Moreover, most of the front bench remains; but, with expanded portfolios and additional ministerial secretaries assisting.
A very wise man once remarked, if you are going to tell a lie, make sure it's a great big whopper.
So big in fact, very few would believe anyone would have the temerity to tell such a huge porky, and therefore, all but compel belief.
And various members of the highly opinionated media, have a rep for never ever allowing the facts to get in the way of a good story or opinion piece.
[No names, no pack drill. All white?]
Perhaps if the author bothered to validate the facts, this piece of patent political propaganda, wouldn't have seen the light of day?
Rhrosty.

What do Bob Carr and Julia Gillard have in common? An amazing capacity for incompetence.

Julia, with her background in unions and conveyancing, has been given a position which is far, far beyond her. Bob Carr, with his amateurish interest in history and long association with the rotting corpse of NSW LABOR has made a fool of himself on the world stage on numerous occasions thus far.

And why is Julia putting off the looming election, forcing us to put up with her for even longer? Answer: She can't bear to accept that she is a failure and so is her feeble Government.

She is destroying the LABOR Party for no other reason than her own conceit and love of power! She could save a bit of face if she brought the election forward or resigned now! Will she?

No way!

Teresa--Seeing that your lot look like being in power shortly, here are a few tips on how to get people to engage with your stuff. Firstly when you speak of someone loathing a colleague this is a turn off for me as is the reference to arrogance. Secondly,the piece is then so likely to be partisan that is is not worth reading. Perhaps we could start again. Cheers.

Better idea, reduce the foreign aid budget by 5.i billion, then it won’t matter who runs the rubbish.

<< Richard Marles' hands on approach was a very necessary foil to the arrogant, pontificating approach of Bob Carr who in one of his first acts as Australia's new Minister for Foreign Affairs threatened Papua New Guinea (PNG) with sanctions and to organise world condemnation and isolation in relation to that country's elections - cowboy antics from an egotist. >>

Hold on there Theresa. Why don’t you put the strongest negative interpretation this that you possibly can!

Could it possibly be that Bob Carr was simply saying some home truths about the PNG elections, which have followed many very softly-softly pussy-footed comments from others in Australian politics over the years, to no avail?

Could it be that a fundamental part of our huge aid support deal for PNG should be the requirement for them to have totally free and fair elections, in the interests of getting the best possible standard of politics and governance for their people?

Crikey, I get the very strong feeling that if Carr had said anything, no matter how gently, you would have still totally lambasted him.

Home truths need to be stated now and then.

I reckon the opposite criticism is much more valid. That is; that Australia has not done enough to work with PNG to get their political paradigm on track…. and that we could therefore be criticised of being complicit…. and that Carr should have been commended for letting it be known that this situation needs to change.

The usual partisan babbling that we've come to expect from politicians of all stripes. Still, a step up from Ms Gambaro's usual schtick of telling migrants to wear deodorant I suppose.

Please, do tell us, in detail, what specific changes you would make to Australia's foreign aid program if your party were to form government?